A friend once told me that writing becomes easier if you do it regularly. Last year even if I wasn’t writing daily, I did book reviews at least once a week. By the end of 2020, I could write a review in a day! Yes, completing a review in one day is huge for me!! 2021 started off well with the review of the first book in Artemis Fowl series. Since I prefer doing the review of a series once all the books are complete, I didn’t do the review of any other Fowl books separately. For this reason, I haven’t written a single word in the last 1.5 months! Now I feel as if I’m back to square one with my writing. I feel so rusty! Anyway, I’m yet to do the review of Artemis Fowl. This review is due today and hence went ahead with this first.
Lies, Damned Lies and Tragedy takes us through the life of Avil Gill. He goes from being an orphan with no one to care for him to become the art director of “Goa Museum and Emporium of Art”. He stops at nothing to make sure he succeeds in his endeavors. He takes on an ambitious project of displaying the Van Gogh paintings. But this takes a turn in the wrong direction when the paintings get stolen. Will Avil be able to get the paintings back and save his career?
The book started off really well with a captivating prologue. I liked the plot as a whole. The book moves between the present and Avil’s past right from his childhood. But the author does this expertly and there was never a confusion as to which timeline I was reading about. I also liked how realistic Avil’s character was. He is far from perfect and is ready to go to any length to realize his dreams. The book is written in simple language and very easy to read.
However realistic it may be, I prefer a book’s ending to either be a happy one, something that blows my mind or moves me emotionally. This book’s ending was none of it. I felt as if there was no closure. Also, there were no likable characters. Sometimes we start to like Avil but then he always has an ulterior motive for his actions which makes us hate him. One character I did like was Enna, Avil’s wife. But she doesn’t have much of a role in the book.
My Rating: 3⭐/5.