My fascination with historical thrillers led me to read Ashwin Sanghi's novels- The Rozabal Line and Chanakya's Chant.
Is Sanghi really the Indian answer to Dan Brown? His first novel, The Rozabal Line has a very Brown-esque feel to it, particularly the theme which deals with Jesus Christ having settled down in India after surviving his crucifixion. It seems to me that a lot of authors have tried to cash in on the success of Brown's The Da Vinci Code. Though the whole prospect of using Jesus' life as a subject in a potboiler is bound to make a reader pick up the book while casually browsing through titles, does this book really live up to the hype? My answer would be both a yes and a no. Sanghi seems to have done his research well, the book rolls of at top speed with many sub plots and heads towards a surprising, and for me, a satisfying conclusion. However, the style of writing could have been much better. The author seems to have found a wealth of information and conspiracies on the subject and found the need to include everything in his book.. There are historical happenings on different continents that are apparently all linked together and the mind boggling amount of information, gets overwhelming and confusing. The narrative is like that of a history text book, with headings and dates and like a text book, it gets draggy and boring. Another aspect is the lack of a prominent protagonist. The character of Vincent Sinclair is the only one that fits the criteria for a protagonist but his lack of page space (as in, screen space in a movie) makes one wonder whether Sanghi really wanted the reader to think of him as a protagonist.
Still, for a first time writer, Sanghi has done very well, in spite of the book's shortcomings, a fan of historical thrillers will definitely enjoy the book.
Here is a Youtube trailer for the book. Interesting way of marketing!
