Black Suits You by Novoneel Chakraborty: a review

F.R.E.A.K!!!

I am speechless right now. It has been an hour since I finished reading the much awaited book of the season, Novoneel Chakraborty’s 8^th, Black Suits You and I can still feel my heart beating louder than it ever had and my parched throat. (Did I mention that I did not even touch water for the past 4 hours that I have been reading this?) His last release, Forget me not Stranger (concluding part of the stranger trilogy) had to face a lot of criticism as much as it garnered the love of a few set of readers. His readers clearly were divided into this fine line but I can give it in writing (quite literally so) that this book would again unite them into being one- lovers. The mysterious cover that came up with a tagline during its teasers “You think you know your partner? Think again” more than makes up everybody’s mind into buying this book and the blurb of the book, adds on to the feeling.

According to the blurb- Twenty-seven-year-old Kiyan Roy is the reclusive author of the bestselling erotica trilogy, Handcuffs. When he appears in public for the first time to promote his books, his readers fall in love with his good looks and wit. However, one of them gets too close. Kiyan is followed and seduced by a mysterious girl who pursues him across cities, book events, hotels, luncheons and media interviews. Soon, he becomes obsessed with her and falls for her charms. As Kiyan gets sucked deeper and deeper into this dark and twisted love affair, he is forced to surrender all control. His life and career slowly begin to unravel as this girl lead him down a dangerous path. But is it already too late to rectify his mistakes? Will the path to desire end in doom? Black Suits You is a gripping, fast-paced and clever psychosexual thriller that will keep you guessing till the end.

And it surely stood by what it promised. This clever psychosexual thriller kept me guessing till the end on the edge of my seat. The book, to begin with, is divided into three parts and as often as I have heard the author exclaiming, this book is also about the 3 Act structure that he believes in. Every act brings with itself different twists, turns, answers, questions and with every act ending, you would be more than eager to know what the next act has in store. Disappoint, it will not. Now that I have told you about the 3 acts that are there in the book, let me speak about the cover.

I agree to the part that probably there would be a lot of people who would be disappointed with the cover at first glance because the title says Black Suits You and the cover is in green but trust me on this, if you have read the book only then would you understand why was it so necessary to be what it is. You open the book and then you see the prologue. As I kept on flipping through the pages and rolling on this roller coaster of a book, I had a smile on my face. Or, was it a smirk? I would never know but what I know right now is the fact that I would love to read this book again. "Clever" would be an understatement when this book would be described because the way this has been written, it undeniably has an essence of Novoneel Chakraborty which was missing in his last book. This book is so many questions and answers, all at the same time.

Coming to the narrative and the story. This book has been written with a lot of sincerity and it shows in the way it has come out. You get to read every feeling that the author has wanted to express through the book. The story has twists. Oh wait, TWISTS. In a very typical Novoneel way, the author leads on the reader to think about something totally else while he ends up writing what he wants to write and the surprise quotient for the reader is unmistakable. The literary device that is used in the story is unique and it also makes sure that the reader keeps glued to the story. Since it is a psycho sexual thriller, the book has sex. A lot of it. And the way that the term "psycho sexual thriller" has been used in the book speak volumes. It plays with your mind and I dare say this here, do not believe what you feel or see in this book. It is wonderful to see a narrative which has used "sex" as a major weapon in the book and has yet remained in its boundary, never treading into the cringe worthy genre.

The characters. Ah, the characters! Kiyan Roy, Kashti and Anaysha. I will not say who my favourite was because all of them were such wonderfully layered that it might spoil all the fun. Such well framed characters are the soul of any novel and Black Suits You works because of them. Without them being what they are, this story would have been incomplete. This story is a very limited character story and the book doesn't have more than 10 characters (it is far lesser in number) which make the book all the more worthwhile. The moments that you spend with these characters make you love them, hate them, be sympathetic towards them and be unsympathetic towards them all at the same time. This book is all that people would want to read from mister bestselling author! Given the different small elements and hints that the author has left at different places of the book, it would really be up to the readers to understand them and feel the roller coaster of the book. Eagerly, I would wait on what you think after reading the book.

Coming to the cons of the book I would want to say that since I have been following the works of the author since book 1, this book lacked the one liner quotes that he is famous for. But having said that, there are enough paragraphs that would suit your status and display pictures. Dangerously treading the lines of a few of his earlier books, this book takes a U turn and brings with itself an essence that is its own. I also didn't like the font in which Black Suits You was written. There weren't any grammatical errors in the book and the flow was well maintained all throughout. The end is something that I loved and that is why, I am requesting you, earnestly- DO NOT READ THE LAST PAGE FIRST. Expectations, fulfilled. Satisfaction, achieved. For me, this book would be 4.75 out of 5.

And,

"You came to me wearing a story,

I stripped you bare, making sense.

You teased me with your naked thoughts,

And we make love, intense..."