Maya, the blindfolded: her mistake? She trusted him by Prasad Bag – Book Review

Maya – the name signifies so much for so many people in India. However, here, we are discussing Prasad Bag’s debut novel Maya, the blindfolded… her mistake? She trusted him. The novel has a very unique title and it signifies very much the essence of the novel. It unfolds the mystery that awaits the readers… but not all of it. Prasad Bag’s writing has the prowess of keeping the readers’ interest intact except on occasions where you can feel it all going a little slow. Overall, the novel does demand critical scrutiny and that is what I am doing in this book review for The Book Blog.

The novel opens with a normal scenario. Readers meet a woman who is working for a reputed company that helps other companies encrypt their data. Maya, the protagonist, is good at her work. She has friends at work. She has someone who is not her friend (and not foe as well). Mrs Pinto – is someone who is always looking for opportunities to play down Maya for any reason.

Maya lives in the neighbourhood of an old widowed lady. In her influence, she starts believing that she sees ghosts and can talk to them. Bhagat, the ghost of a person who claims to be the landlord or the owner of the property, starts appearing around Maya and making her life miserable. This ghost angle plays a big role in the progress of the storyline. Readers will find horror elements playing a major role in the novel’s overall appeal. The author has managed to maintain the interference of the horror in the main murder mystery at a very moderate level that does not take away the thriller element.

The main murder mystery that the novel deals with is when Mrs Pinto is murdered by someone inside the office premises. The blame comes on Maya because she was present there when it supposedly happened. When all these episodes fall down on Maya, she also loses her memory because of an accident. So, the novel records not only the struggle of a young woman against her hallucinations or real interactions with ghosts but also her recovery from a situation in life where she almost lost everything! The novel can also be interpreted from this angle if someone cares to do it.

What happens in the novel? What is the reality of the ghost episodes? Why does the ghost of Mrs Pinto appear near Maya if Maya is her killer? The novel has built some interesting and exciting episodes of supernatural and thriller that readers will enjoy.

Critically, the novel goes one or two steps further from the usual thriller episodes we have been reading for a few years. Prasad Bag has walked beyond the conventional set-up of such novels and he has tried to offer something new to the readers with an amalgamation of imagination, realism, magical realism, horror, thriller and mystery. The language complements the contemporary set-up of the novel’s scenes and also keeps the novel within the reading range of teenagers, youths, and people who want to enjoy fiction rather than understand the nuances and critical aspects of it.

Buy the novel from Amazon India – click here to go to the Amazon buying page

Review by Saurabh for The Book Blog