Six Suspects

By: Vikas Swarup

Narrated by: Lyndam Gregory

Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

Seven years ago, Vivek Rai murdered Ruby Gill in a restaurant in New Delhi because she refused to serve him a drink. Now Vivek Rai is dead, killed at a party he had thrown to celebrate his acquittal. Six of the guests are discovered with guns in their possession and are taken in for questioning. Who are these six, and what were they doing that night?

In this elaborate mystery, we join Arun Advani, investigative journalist, as the lives of the six unravel: a corrupt bureaucrat, an American tourist infatuated with an Indian actress, a stone-age tribesman on a quest to discover a sacred stone, a Bollywood sex symbol with a guilty secret, a mobile-phone thief who dreams big, and an ambitious politician prepared to stoop low. Each is equally likely to have pulled the trigger.

©2009 Vikas Swarup (P)2009 BBC Audio

Critic reviews

"The author of Q&A (2005), the novel that became the film Slumdog Millionaire, returns with an equally high-concept tale that uses a murder investigation to launch a riotous tour of contemporary India...a teeming, beguiling Indian panorama wrapped in a clever whodunit." ( Kirkus Reviews)
"A fizzy romp seems to be the main thing he has in mind. Oddly enough, that ambition turns this formulaic-sounding book into a refreshing oddity. It bears no resemblance to any of the cookie-cutter genre books of this season." ( The New York Times)

Great story

Loved this book! Very interesting and entertaining. Love how the author entertwines all the suspects.

Interesting book but horrible narration

Funny and engaging story, but I have never, ever, heard a worse southern accent. It is so bad that it makes the otherwise good book painful. Think Ted Kennedy and Forrest Gump, with British emphasis thrown in. I cannot believe that this made it through even a cursory edit - these are not small subtle errors but entire nerve-grating sections with bizarre distortions. If you are sensitive to poor narration, think very carefully about listening to this.

Six Suspects

Very entertaining, funny at times and interesting.
I really enjoyed the book.
Had me going til the end

An Enjoyable Read

This book was a lot of fun. It kept me guessing throughout. I don't recommend this book for people who are fans of mysteries but not fans of Indian literature.

My biggest complaint is regarding one of the six suspects. The character is cartoonish and absurd, if likeable.

The narrator is very good with most of the voices. It's a treat to hear him prounounce the names of characters and places.

Alive with Character

What made the experience of listening to Six Suspects the most enjoyable?

This is a great story with complex characters and while you may not like all characters, they are all very real. The author has so much proficiency with the craft of writing that he can deviate from the central point in the history, tell the story of the six suspects and bring all the lines into the central plot where the murder of an unapologetically corrupt man takes place. From then on, we are taken into the conclusion of this brilliant story.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The American suspect. He was just hilarious.

What about Lyndam Gregory’s performance did you like?

He was amazing! He can change his accent and voice very well and even the American accent was excellent. Kudos to him. He brought this story to life.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

YES!!!! I borrowed this CD audiobook from the library first, but could not listen to it just as I drove. I got the audible version and now I listen to it continuously!!!

Any additional comments?

I am certainly going to look for more work from both the author and narrator. Excellent.

A Stunner! A great Who Done It?

Vivek Rai shot bartender (pretty, young, college student) Ruby Gill to death in a restaurant in New Delhi. This murder was witnessed by many and yet Vivek Rai was acquitted. He then throws a party to celebrate his escape from justice and is shot to death at his own party. Who done it!? There are six suspects - ALL of whom have great reasons to see him dead. This is really six stories interwoven by a master storyteller. Part funny, part tragedy, part pure creative imagination. Syntax, vocabulary, structure is beautiful. Wonderfully done! This is a real keeper! The accents (except for the Texan) are great. This is from the author of Slumdog Millionaire.

Fresh and engaging, but ya gotta be in the mood

This is a very unique approach to the "who done it," with quirky, Indian cultural sensibility and a great deal of commentary on Indian life between the lines, if you are listening. Excellent dialects with subtle variation for all but the Americans, with the worst Texas accent in the history of the spoken word. It started a bit slow for me, until I got into the rhythm of the story development, but I ultimately enjoyed the book a great deal. The length proved not to be too much, as I had originally thought. It was necessary to fully develop all the subplots.

Interesting premise but the book dragggggggggs on

I'm also really interested to know if upper caste Indians really call everyone lower bastards or bi***es and MF. It just seems to exceed what is realistic. Thankfully the end is pretty good and a couple of the story lines are good and that makes it more or less worth the read/listen.

Beyond wonderful

As always VS tells a wonderful story with complex characters. Not only I eager to follow the story - I care about each and every one, even villains have elements of Ghani. I'm a huge fan of VS. He is one of those writers who has enlarged my world. The narration is also fabulous.

Unexpectedly charming story with some issues

It took me a while to realize that this book wasn’t taking itself that seriously. Once that clicked, it softened the edges of the more disturbing aspects of the story. The corruption in Indian government was addressed but there were some things that seemed to be swept under the rug, including characters being sacrificed without enough real honor. The twist is...fine.

Narration was solid except for the American character, Larry Page. He’s a Texan caricature reminiscent of 30 Rock’s Kenneth, but stupider. Those chapters are essentially unlistenable.