Title: A Will To Kill
Author: RV Raman
Publisher: HarperCollins
Genre: Mystery thriller
First Publication: 2019
Language: English
Major Characters: Bhaskar Fernandez, Harith Athreya
Book Summary: A Will To Kill
An ageing and wheelchair-bound Bhaskar Fernandez has finally reclaimed his family property after a bitter legal battle, and now wants to reunite his aggrieved relatives. So, he invites them to his remote Greybrooke Manor in the misty Nilgiris – a mansion that has played host to several sudden deaths; a colonial edifice that stands alone in a valley that is said to be haunted by the ghost of an Englishman.
But Bhaskar has other, more practical problems to deal with. He knows that his guests expect to gain by his death, and to safeguard himself against violence, he writes two conflicting wills. Which one of them comes into force will depend on how he dies.
Into this tinderbox, he brings Harith Athreya, a seasoned investigator. When a landslide occurs, temporarily isolating them and resulting in a murder, Athreya finds that murder is not the only thing the mist conceals.
Book Review: A Will To Kill
A Will To Kill by RV Raman is absolutely, unequivocally brilliant!!! It’s perfectly penned, ingeniously imagined, cleanly executed whodunit crime thriller I have read recently.
What would you do if you were invited to a place raved about everywhere, a place where your friend, someone you met once, your colleague, or some old pal invited to you to? Or maybe if you were called in for employment, to be a secretary or detective or even a butler! Would you go? Why wouldn’t you, right? It’s your friend calling you, your old pal! Or it’s just another small job but with good money, why refuse it?
But what if it weren’t what you thought it was? And what if you could never come back?
A few people were called to Greybrooke Manor, the famous colonial mansion which has seen some strange deaths, by Bhaskar Fernandez, a wheel-chair bound old man. Harith Athreya was called for a specific jobs! It’s when your sins come out in the open and death follows everyone!
Follow these guests with their wicked past as you figure out who the culprit actually is and whether others are dying by accident/suicide or are they all being murdered! Follow the guests as the story builds and as they turn against each other in a fruitless attempt of finding the killer!
Watch their psychological break down as they avoid each other and yet try to stay together, and as they try to trust someone but suspect them all the same! With everything being out in the open and yet hidden!
What would you do as your fellow guests attempt suicide, get murdered, turned against each other or wait peacefully for the end, what would you do and who would you trust?
Guests desperately try to protect themselves and figure out which of them is the killer. Or maybe there is someone else hiding there? This story had me consumed from the start, always wondering who was behind everything and which one would be the next victim. The story is captivating and intelligent, without any boring or slow part, because they all had potential to be the murderer. At the end, you may claim to have known who the murderer was all along, but you can’t forget all those times you almost hysterically changed your mind.
A Will To Kill is an excellent novel. It was very intriguing, and by half way I didn’t want to put it down – I needed to know what was going on! Author RV Raman’s writing is quick and on edge, it’s realistic, and he did a brilliant job with the intricacies. I really enjoyed this and I definitely want to read more from him.
