Tag: Novellas in November

About the Book

In the rain-slick alleys of Kamathipura, truth is a luxury few can afford. When Meher disappears, the city shrugs—but one man refuses to forget.

Vishy, a solitary book seller with a past he won’t speak of, begins a quiet rebellion against apathy. As he searches for Meher, the shadows grow darker, and the cost of remembering becomes unbearable. 

The Forgotten Daughter is a story of grit, grief, and the fragile hope that someone, somewhere, still cares.

Format: ebook (148 pages) Publisher: N/A
Publication date: 28th September 2025 Genre: Thriller

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My Review

Set in Kamathipura, a seedy suburb of Mumbai which is home to the city’s red light district, this slim novel reveals Mumbai’s dark underbelly as Vishy undertakes a search for a missing girl. It’s not the mean streets of Los Angeles that is his hunting ground but the dark alleys and rundown tenements known as ‘chawls’.

The atmosphere of the poorer parts of the city is so vividly described you can almost feel yourself walking alongside Vishy. ‘The air was a thick tapestry of a thousand competing smells – the sharp tang of leather from a tannery, the aroma of spices from a communal kitchen, the chemical bite of a plastics recycling unit, and the ever-present, underlying scent of poverty and poor sanitation.’

And if you are, then you’re probably drenched because this is a rain-soaked city. ‘The monsoon didn’t fall on Mumbai; it waged a war of attrition. It was a siege in its third month, a relentless liquid assault that turned alleys into canals and roads into churning brown rivers.’

Vishy’s search takes him from Mumbai to Goa, uncovering a vile trade and corruption in high places. ‘A city like Mumbai doesn’t have secrets; it has a conspiracy of silence.‘ Those involved are motivated by greed, political ambition or fanaticism, leaving no room for morality. It’s highly organised and ruthlessly efficient with connections spread across the world.

Fortunately, Vishy has people he can call on for help; people who know Mumbai like the back of their hand or possess an almost telepathic insight into who’s doing what in the city. One of his key contacts is computer wizard and expert hacker, Romi, who helps Vishy unlock vital information revealing the full scope of the operation he is up against.

Vishy is a fantastic character. Like all memorable protagonists of noir thrillers, there are events in his past he would like to leave behind, but cannot. The fact we don’t get a complete picture of these makes it all the more enticing. Vishy’s strong sense of justice, along with the ability to look after himself in a fight, is what sees him through a series of increasingly dangerous situations, including a car chase along narrow roads that becomes ‘a brutal, grinding duel’.

In under 150 pages the author manages to incorporate all the elements you’d expect of a thriller without the story ever feeling rushed. I really enjoyed The Forgotten Daughter and I’m looking forward to Vishy’s next case which, the author promises, is on the way.

My thanks to the author for my digital review copy which arrived serendipitously in time for Novellas in November.

In three words: Atmospheric, gritty, suspenseful
Try something similar: The Blue Bar by Damyanti Biswas

About the Author

Born in India, Anirudh Joshi won a UK scholarship at 12, studied at LSE, then globe-trotted through Japan, Singapore, Oman, New Zealand, Barbados, landing in California. A lifelong book lover who dabbled in writing, he finally—at 71—published something worthy of his name. Favourite authors include Raymond Chandler, Giovannino Guareschi, and Marathi writer Pu La Deshpande.