This latest release from Deepti Kapoor is not your conventional crime thriller-slash-police procedural. It is very far from it. Rather, Kapoor has delivered an expansive, cinematic literary thriller. 

At the outset, five people are killed when an expensive car ploughs into pedestrians on a busy street in New Delhi. Narratively speaking, the ripples from this event propel readers into a tale of corruption, greed and revenge, with the legendary, criminal Wadia family at its centre. Orbiting this are Kapoor’s three central characters, who grapple with the powerful forces that only enormous amounts of money and influence can command, as well as their own deeply personal struggles. 

We first meet Ajay, a young man from a poverty-stricken neighbourhood in a village in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, and follow his journey to become a ‘Wadia man’ in the employ of Sunny, the ultra-rich heir to the Wadia criminal enterprise. Ajay has a good heart, but the slow erosion of his spirit and moral compass leads him to pursue redemption through revenge. Sunny is a different kettle of fish, decidedly uneasy about his father’s amoral and unethical activities. He wants out, but like any other opponent of his father’s empire, finds it increasingly difficult to make a clean break. For Neda, an investigative reporter and erstwhile lover of Sunny’s, the challenge is to maintain her core and independence as a journalist to avoid losing her moral centre. All three characters are flawed, but Kapoor has written them with great empathy, such that readers willconnect with each. 

Age of Vice demonstrates Kapoor’s formidable talents as a storyteller. It was a fantastic book to see in 2023 with. We’re in for a great year if we keep getting gems like this one!

Julia Jackson is the assistant manager at Readings Carlton