Lurid book jacket notwithstanding, Avirook Sen`s dissection of the trial of Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, following the mysterious murder of their young daughter Aarushi, is an incisive piece of well, reportage. Sen has trimmed virtually all the fat off the bone but what remains still tends to baffle, bemuse, dismay the reader. The real revelation appears at the end of the book, in the contents of the narco-analysis tests done on some suspects.
Somewhere along the line, this becomes less about a heinous murder and more about investigative lapses, alarming prejudices, political and judicial intervention, plumb bad luck, and a media gone berserk.
While Sen`s book (he calls it non-fiction crime) is clear reporting, it however, is not unbiased reporting. Putting all the facts (and it is a considerable amount) he has mustered before the reader, the author makes clear the possibility, the probability, of Aarushi`s parents being innocent.
The mystery, however, sadly endures.