The Shadow Throne displays taut writing and nail-biting suspense in a debut that is chillingly believable. Will this unlikely trio succeed in navigating the treacherous, shadowy politics of India and Pakistan?

A mysterious murder at the Qutub Minar triggers a call to ace journalist Chandrasekhar from his cop acquaintance, Inspector Syed Ali Hassan. The victim is unlike anyone Chandra has ever seen: a white Caucasian male who has all the looks of a throwback to Greek antiquity. Soon after, Hassan calls in to report the case has been taken away from him in all likelihood by RAW the Research & Analysis Wing, the uber-agency of Indian intelligence.

What began as a murder enquiry soon morphs into a deadly game of hide-and-seek within the shadowy world of Pakistan’s ISI and India’s RAW; and Chandra, his friend history professor Meenakshi Pirzada and Hassan find themselves in a race against time to avert a sub-continental nuclear holocaust. As the action moves to its hair-raising climax among the Hindu Kush Mountains of Afghanistan, Chandra must face up to the fact that Inspector Hassan is not all that he seems…

Aroon Raman is research and innovation entrepreneur who runs his own materials science company. He is a regular contributor to The Hindu and has also contributed occasionally to Outlook magazine and the Times of India on business issues.