Book Review: Don't Tell The Governor, a tale of deceit, money and a quest for power
Book: Don’t Tell The Governor
Author: Ravi Subramanian
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers India
Pages: 312
Price: Rs 299
Review:
Set in the fast paced world of banking and finance, coupled with corrupt politics, this is the perfect potboiler. The story is about the rut (much like deer rutting to obtain supremacy and control over the other) between the RBI governor and the central government of India.
The novel beautifully weaves through the exotic world of power, politics and lobbying, equally matched by glamour and blitz, and presents, in thinly fictionalised form, several recent events that have hogged the headlines across Indian newspapers over the past few years namely, demonetization, IPL and match fixing, terrorism and fake currency, the surgical strike against Pakistan, Indian public sector banks and their bad loans, Vijay Mallya and Mehul Choksi, and a whole lot more. Author Ravi Subramanian very cleverly stitches fact with fiction in this short but unbelievably fast novel, with references to IPL match-fixing and the celebrities attached.
The story begins with the appointment of a new RBI governor, Aditya Kesavan, a tenured professor of economics at the prestigious New York University and a best selling author. He is handpicked by the Prime Minister of India himself – in the hope that the outsider would be easier to “influence” unlike the previous one who had proved to be quite troublesome for the government.
The story goes ahead as the governor gets mixed up with a beautiful actress, who is married to another man but falls for his handsomeness. Mix in a couple of extravagant scams and a seriously fast pace, you have the novel, “Don’t Tell The Governor” by Ravi Subramanian.
The prose is simply written, with a splash of complicated financial lexicon explained minimally for the layman to understand, and sufficiently pique the reader’s interest.
Don't Tell The Governor is an interesting read, for thriller lovers and for those who have an interest in politics and financial matters. The author's unique skill to blend both, and pack it into a crafty thriller is very good. It is also indicative of how things run in the upper echelons of power, that most of us remain blissfully unaware.
