EDEN FALLS by Ajay Chowdhury

4* I think the author's Asian name, Aisha's too, plus the RAW mention (Hritikh fan here) made me get this - it's a good tale, scarily true to real life in some aspects.

Sci-fi absolutely isn't my thing. I was scared as a kid by watching "V", so yeah. But, this isn't a scary sci-fi book, at least not from one side. It's people and their quest for more, for power, control, leverage and world domination that's the scary parts, and all too true to 2026, with a barely disguised Stephen Miller type, a No47 type, a Muskrat type, and hangers on. 

The tale features an NRI, Aisha, who's married to Adam for sort-of-'Indian'-reasons that I can relate to - vaguely Asian person here. She's Muslim, he's Caucasian American and a Nobel prize-winner. He has an ego, she's on the rebound, and tbh, he probably is too.

Tension is good in the tale, with a death on their honeymoon, Adam going missing, Adam's ego coming into play, Adam's ex coming to the rescue, krav maga et al. There's fights, a road trip, lies and deceit, 2 really unmatched but decent female leads, who, I think likely end up friends. The type you don't always see or speak to, but who're there in need. They're both well rid of s certain person central to the tale, who started off with good intentions, got his ego boosted, had a eureka! moment, then got his head turned again, but tried to do the right thing for a person close to him. Once. There's baddies from different countries, with different motivations, pride being one of them, but pretty much all the other stuff mentioned above as scary comes into play. There are eyes, ears, sensors, chips not of the eating variety, and more amazing-sounding technology in theory, but we see the practice of it at its worse. Because, people.

The tale ends in very mixed feelings for me. Muskrat got what he deserved. They who delivered what Muskrat deserved kind of redeemed themselves a little, but did that make them a 'murderer'? Their partner in crime had the best intentions and I was happy to see them happy for the most, in the place I grew up, which was idyllic then, not so much as portrayed here. I think Aisha did the right thing at the end, and hopefully, none of the old sort-of-'Indian' stuff kicks in, with 'what will people say?' and the likes. She's been through too much at the hands of 2 self-serving, lying guys, and tbh, this current one's betrayal was worse, I thought. I can't see life stopping her, or for her, so that was a satisfying ending. 

The book is left open-ended. There's potential that the Muskrat type will live on in a different way, but, please that the voice and physical aspects don't get restored. Or that a fawning follower doesn't get ideas to make himself invaluable to his 'master' and do a Benny from The Mummy with his sort-of-Imhotep. And please let there always be failsafes and people with morals who're prepared to do the right thing, whatever the cost. 

Sorry for the coded references, but I'm trying not to spoiler a pretty decent, page-turning, wake-at-2am-and-just-have-to-read-just-a-little-bit-more book.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Random House UK, Vintage, for my reading pleasure.