Under the Eye of Kali (An Anita Ray Mystery)

Susan Oleksiw
Five Star (2010)
ISBN 9781594148712
Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (03/10) 

 

Summers in India are hot. The air smells different. The food is unlike anything the Westerners have ever tasted before. The light is not like the one at home. Those brave enough to come to India quickly learn that nothing will ever be the same after they come back from India. If they ever return…

Four American women meet over breakfast at a charming Hotel Delite. Two of them, nurses Jean and Marge, are travelling together. Emily is part of a larger group and Candy is traveling alone. The breakfast conversation reveals that Jean is planning to continue her voyage to Thailand and shall then be smuggled into Burma on a secret humanitarian mission. This fact both impresses and worries Anita Ray, a young Indian-American woman who helps manage her aunt’s hotel. The worries soon escalate when tragedy strikes – one of the four women is found deathly ill and a second one has vanished. How are those events connected? Do they have anything to do with the man following Anita everywhere? And why is Anita’s aunt Meena so upset over Anita’s suitor Anand?

“Under the Eye of Kali” by Susan Oleksiw is a wonderfully complex and colorful book, which manages to capture the elusive magic of India wonderfully well without descending into the predictable and cliché-filled descriptions found in so many other works. The writing is delightful, smooth and fluid. The characters, even the relatively minor ones, are truly complex and original. Ms. Oleksiw deftly inserted many insightful observations of the reality of India’s past, present and future into a gripping, fast-moving mystery with a twist.  This is the kind of mystery that will definitely appeal to the readers who enjoy books set in an exotic and well-defined locale, with charming and quirky characters and with a believable, yet original and entertaining story. I would not be surprised if it inspired a strong desire to visit India as well, but if the reader decides to do so, he or she should remember the warning from the first paragraph. Nothing will ever be the same upon your return. Just ask Emily!

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