Age of Vice

eBook

Published Jan. 3, 2023 by Riverhead Books.

ISBN:
978-0-593-32881-1
Copied ISBN!
2 stars (1 review)

This is the age of vice, where money, pleasure, and power are everything, and the family ties that bind can also kill.

New Delhi, 3 a.m. A speeding Mercedes jumps the curb and in the blink of an eye, five people are dead. It’s a rich man’s car, but when the dust settles there is no rich man at all, just a shell-shocked servant who cannot explain the strange series of events that led to this crime. Nor can he foresee the dark drama that is about to unfold.

Deftly shifting through time and perspective in contemporary India, Age of Vice is an epic, action-packed story propelled by the seductive wealth, startling corruption, and bloodthirsty violence of the Wadia family — loved by some, loathed by others, feared by all.

In the shadow of lavish estates, extravagant parties, predatory business deals and calculated political influence, three lives become dangerously intertwined: …

6 editions

Completely changes from great to terrible 1/3 of the way in

2 stars

In the first 1/3 or so of this book, I was ALL-IN. A Slumdog Millionaire-type story of a kid who uses his wits and generous spirit to take advantage of any small bit of luck that comes his way. But then the narrator’s perspective shifts, and by the time we got to Neda’s story, I was just bored. The heavy-handed morality also got to me — I don’t drink or use drugs, but the piling on of alcohol as a signifier for all social ills got very tiresome. So, too, did the non-stop, unnecessary violence. It basically turns into a gangster drama that isn’t particularly interesting. 2 stars for the first 1/3.