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The Menon Investigation
When Inspector General Vijay Menon reopens the old file of a police officer’s murder, he expects dead ends and faded trails. But as chance conspires with his investigative instincts, the case begins to crack open, leading him not only to the culprits but to truths far more unsettling. What begins as the pursuit of justice quickly transforms into a personal reckoning for Vijay as the crime he thought he was solving turns into his own trial, dismantling the fictions of who he thinks he is and what he stands for.
A deftly layered excavation of caste, colourism and individual complicity in institutional violence, The Menon Investigation subverts the rules of the police procedural through its cast of unusual perpetrators and imperfect victims. With sparkling dry humour and a paradox-ridden protagonist at its centre, this is a masterful portrait of a tragedy profoundly Indian.
A deftly layered excavation of caste, colourism and individual complicity in institutional violence, The Menon Investigation subverts the rules of the police procedural through its cast of unusual perpetrators and imperfect victims. With sparkling dry humour and a paradox-ridden protagonist at its centre, this is a masterful portrait of a tragedy profoundly Indian.
- GenresFiction
237 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 30, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 4, 2025
My hero, the writer of _Chronicle of an Hour and a Half_ (which I spread around like missionaries did with the Bible), has caught lightning in a bottle once again. With a thesis draft deadline hanging over me like a Damoclean sword, I still pulled an all-nighter for his new novel, a rare feat in the past three years. As always, he spares no one yet humanises everyone, even those who commit ‘inhumane’ acts. He has written another searing story about people crushed by the system, especially Indian mothers. Truly, nobody writes about them the way he does. I’ll definitely be going back to savour the language. (for instance: ‘He was poor and criminal enough to know that justice was a rare and necessary exception, not the rule.’)
September 7, 2025
Okay wow…
The Menon Investigation is not a boring police story at all. Yes, a cop reopens an old murder case, but the book is actually about way more than that.
It shows how unfair the world can be- like caste, colour, and how the system hides things. And Inspector Menon? He’s funny, confused, smart and flawed all at the same time. You’ll either like him or want to shake him.
The best part? It makes you laugh at some points, and then suddenly makes you think really deep about life. I didn’t expect that from a crime novel.
If you like murder mysteries but also want something real and powerful, this one will hit hard. Easy to read, hard to forget.
The Menon Investigation is not a boring police story at all. Yes, a cop reopens an old murder case, but the book is actually about way more than that.
It shows how unfair the world can be- like caste, colour, and how the system hides things. And Inspector Menon? He’s funny, confused, smart and flawed all at the same time. You’ll either like him or want to shake him.
The best part? It makes you laugh at some points, and then suddenly makes you think really deep about life. I didn’t expect that from a crime novel.
If you like murder mysteries but also want something real and powerful, this one will hit hard. Easy to read, hard to forget.
September 6, 2025
Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari’s much anticipated second novel is an investigative thriller.
A high ranking policeman, Vijay Menon investigating the murder of sub inspector, Kannan Moses, a Dalit Christian (a moniker that doesn’t make sense theologically). Vijay is a dark skinned man. He feels betrayed for having been born a Menon but with dark skin.
Saharu has once again proved that stereotypes are a great way of understanding our society.
See who the butt of a joke is among innocent tongues and you’ll find where the rot began. In his first novel it was the affair between the wife of an expatriate and a younger man. In this novel it’s the stereotypes of skin colour, caste and clergy.
The State is god and all its subjects are but marionettes in the hands of the trinity - the police, politician and lawyer. As one of the characters in the book says, it’s not an act of sin or moral failing but a societal disorder that begets crimes done in the service of maintaining societal norms.
What in some places felt like the use of age old tropes, only lent more weight to the culmination of the crime’s denouements.
I’m not a keen reader of crime/investigative fiction but once I finished reading The Menon Investigation I found myself going back to certain characters and pages and reckoning a very meaningful and subversive big picture - a microcosm we live in and can survive in only by submitting to its order. An order steeped in bigotry and puritanism. If you’re born with privilege and can live with contradictions and hypocrisy, you might just make it in this world. Otherwise the best you can hope for is self destruction while you take down a couple of “well read assholes” with you. Even that is only a remote possibility.
The writing is ornate and atmospheric. You can trust Saharu to turn a phrase; Dialogues that pack a punch.
If I were to brand this novel with a genre it would be, socially realistic family noir.
Saharu has been very vocal about his literary heroes and the subtle nods to Don DeLillo’s White Noise like characters and their preoccupations with death was really fun to recognise as a reader.
For all its morosity, it has a great sense of humour and makes for a very engaging read.
A high ranking policeman, Vijay Menon investigating the murder of sub inspector, Kannan Moses, a Dalit Christian (a moniker that doesn’t make sense theologically). Vijay is a dark skinned man. He feels betrayed for having been born a Menon but with dark skin.
Saharu has once again proved that stereotypes are a great way of understanding our society.
See who the butt of a joke is among innocent tongues and you’ll find where the rot began. In his first novel it was the affair between the wife of an expatriate and a younger man. In this novel it’s the stereotypes of skin colour, caste and clergy.
The State is god and all its subjects are but marionettes in the hands of the trinity - the police, politician and lawyer. As one of the characters in the book says, it’s not an act of sin or moral failing but a societal disorder that begets crimes done in the service of maintaining societal norms.
What in some places felt like the use of age old tropes, only lent more weight to the culmination of the crime’s denouements.
I’m not a keen reader of crime/investigative fiction but once I finished reading The Menon Investigation I found myself going back to certain characters and pages and reckoning a very meaningful and subversive big picture - a microcosm we live in and can survive in only by submitting to its order. An order steeped in bigotry and puritanism. If you’re born with privilege and can live with contradictions and hypocrisy, you might just make it in this world. Otherwise the best you can hope for is self destruction while you take down a couple of “well read assholes” with you. Even that is only a remote possibility.
The writing is ornate and atmospheric. You can trust Saharu to turn a phrase; Dialogues that pack a punch.
If I were to brand this novel with a genre it would be, socially realistic family noir.
Saharu has been very vocal about his literary heroes and the subtle nods to Don DeLillo’s White Noise like characters and their preoccupations with death was really fun to recognise as a reader.
For all its morosity, it has a great sense of humour and makes for a very engaging read.
September 29, 2025
Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari’s The Menon Investigation is not your typical whodunit. On the surface, it follows Inspector General Vijay Menon reopening an eight-year-old cold case,the murder of Sub-Inspector Kannan Moses, a Dalit Christian. But very quickly, the book reveals itself to be less about the crime itself and more about the social and moral crimes lurking beneath the surface of Indian society like casteism, colour prejudice, institutional corruption, and the hypocrisies that power structures feed upon.
This is not an easy book. Not because the book is impenetrable,it is, in fact, highly readable, but because it forces the reader to look squarely at the rot we would rather leave hidden. The author doesn’t allow the comfort of a clean resolution or the thrill of a purely procedural investigation. Instead, he makes the investigation a mirror of the State, of the institutions that hold it up, and of the protagonist himself.
At its heart, this book is an excavation of identity. Vijay Menon, a high-ranking officer with a dark complexion, carries within him a constant dissonance, a Menon by caste marker, but betrayed by his skin, a symbol of the very biases he benefits from and despises. This contradiction defines him and makes him both insufferable and deeply compelling.
The book also probes the idea of institutional violence, how caste hierarchies and systemic prejudices are perpetuated not by extraordinary villains, but by everyday complicities. In one sense, Menon’s pursuit of justice is really a pursuit of self-understanding. The “trial” is not just of culprits but of Menon’s own illusions. The result is a narrative that destabilises the familiar rules of the police procedural and morphs into something closer to social tragedy.
✍️ Strengths :
🔸Vijay Menon is one of those rare characters who linger in your head long after you’ve closed the book. He is not designed to be likeable; he is designed to be human. His humour, insecurities, contradictions, and half-baked ideals make him a paradox in motion. That alone elevates the book beyond genre fiction.
🔸The book takes the scaffolding of a police procedural and turns it into a meditation on privilege, prejudice, and the mechanics of power. The author shows that murder investigations don’t exist in vacuums,they are shaped by history, caste, and communal fault lines.
🔸The writing is atmospheric without being indulgent. Dialogues cut sharp, and the narrative voice carries both weight and wit. Author's sentences linger with rhythm and punch, proving again why he is considered one of India’s most exciting literary voices.
🔸A surprising strength is the humour. It sneaks in at unexpected moments, disarming the reader. Rather than making light of suffering, it sharpens our perception of injustice by showing how absurd it all is.
✒️ Areas for Improvement :
▪️While the book subverts the genre, it still occasionally leans too heavily on familiar tropes of “corrupt system” and “dark-skinned man facing prejudice.” These are important, yes, but at moments they feel over-explained instead of allowed to breathe in the narrative.
▪️The momentum occasionally sags in the middle, where the narrative lingers more on Menon’s internal monologues than the case. While this deepens characterisation, some readers may feel the investigation itself is sidelined.
▪️The ending, devastating as it is, may frustrate readers who expect tighter closure in crime fiction. The author deliberately resists tying all knots, but the choice might alienate those coming to the book looking for a “mystery solved.”
In conclusion, it is less a police procedural and more a social reckoning wearing the clothes of a crime book. It demands from its readers not just attention, but introspection. Yes, it has flaws like occasional indulgence, uneven pacing but its thematic depth, its dry humour, and its refusal to play by the rules make it a powerful and unforgettable work. Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari proves here that literature’s true role is not merely to entertain but to unsettle, to provoke, and to remind us of the invisible violences that shape our lives. If his debut showed promise, this second book confirms mastery.
This is not an easy book. Not because the book is impenetrable,it is, in fact, highly readable, but because it forces the reader to look squarely at the rot we would rather leave hidden. The author doesn’t allow the comfort of a clean resolution or the thrill of a purely procedural investigation. Instead, he makes the investigation a mirror of the State, of the institutions that hold it up, and of the protagonist himself.
At its heart, this book is an excavation of identity. Vijay Menon, a high-ranking officer with a dark complexion, carries within him a constant dissonance, a Menon by caste marker, but betrayed by his skin, a symbol of the very biases he benefits from and despises. This contradiction defines him and makes him both insufferable and deeply compelling.
The book also probes the idea of institutional violence, how caste hierarchies and systemic prejudices are perpetuated not by extraordinary villains, but by everyday complicities. In one sense, Menon’s pursuit of justice is really a pursuit of self-understanding. The “trial” is not just of culprits but of Menon’s own illusions. The result is a narrative that destabilises the familiar rules of the police procedural and morphs into something closer to social tragedy.
✍️ Strengths :
🔸Vijay Menon is one of those rare characters who linger in your head long after you’ve closed the book. He is not designed to be likeable; he is designed to be human. His humour, insecurities, contradictions, and half-baked ideals make him a paradox in motion. That alone elevates the book beyond genre fiction.
🔸The book takes the scaffolding of a police procedural and turns it into a meditation on privilege, prejudice, and the mechanics of power. The author shows that murder investigations don’t exist in vacuums,they are shaped by history, caste, and communal fault lines.
🔸The writing is atmospheric without being indulgent. Dialogues cut sharp, and the narrative voice carries both weight and wit. Author's sentences linger with rhythm and punch, proving again why he is considered one of India’s most exciting literary voices.
🔸A surprising strength is the humour. It sneaks in at unexpected moments, disarming the reader. Rather than making light of suffering, it sharpens our perception of injustice by showing how absurd it all is.
✒️ Areas for Improvement :
▪️While the book subverts the genre, it still occasionally leans too heavily on familiar tropes of “corrupt system” and “dark-skinned man facing prejudice.” These are important, yes, but at moments they feel over-explained instead of allowed to breathe in the narrative.
▪️The momentum occasionally sags in the middle, where the narrative lingers more on Menon’s internal monologues than the case. While this deepens characterisation, some readers may feel the investigation itself is sidelined.
▪️The ending, devastating as it is, may frustrate readers who expect tighter closure in crime fiction. The author deliberately resists tying all knots, but the choice might alienate those coming to the book looking for a “mystery solved.”
In conclusion, it is less a police procedural and more a social reckoning wearing the clothes of a crime book. It demands from its readers not just attention, but introspection. Yes, it has flaws like occasional indulgence, uneven pacing but its thematic depth, its dry humour, and its refusal to play by the rules make it a powerful and unforgettable work. Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari proves here that literature’s true role is not merely to entertain but to unsettle, to provoke, and to remind us of the invisible violences that shape our lives. If his debut showed promise, this second book confirms mastery.
December 15, 2025
There are layers to this book that explores different aspects of life in a country like India. It opens with the murder of a man on a beach in Kozhikode in the early hours of the morning. The assassins do not know each other and do not know who they are taking out. The murder proceeds as per plan and then the police investigation begins and it is royally botched up. Eight years after this, IG Vijay Menon steps in to reopen the investigation.
Now Vijay is not anything like your typical investigators. He is xenophobic and rabidly casteist although he struggles to contain both of this. He is the father of two girls, both of whom are entirely opposite to his mindsets and worldviews. The author employs subtle wit and dark humour to highlight the differences between father and kids. Vijay’s younger daughter is a leftist and during the initial portions of the novel is getting a hang of being such a person and this leads to a lot of unintentional hilarity. Add to this is Vijay’s relationship with his wife of many years and all in all, he is not a happy human. A big portion of the novel is Vijay’s inner monologue and is quite fun to read.
Then we come to Shyamu and his mother Nelly who live in a remote tribal colony deep in Wayanad. They shun any contact or interactions with governmental agencies or people for certain obvious reasons. Shyamu and Vijay have their lives on a collision course and the novel unfolds as they find their way to each other.
This is a novel that reinforces the message of how power tramples upon the lives of the less fortunate. Although the antagonists feel a bit cartoonish, the overall narrative is interesting enough to keep going. The usage of language is also the cherry on the cake.
A good read.
Now Vijay is not anything like your typical investigators. He is xenophobic and rabidly casteist although he struggles to contain both of this. He is the father of two girls, both of whom are entirely opposite to his mindsets and worldviews. The author employs subtle wit and dark humour to highlight the differences between father and kids. Vijay’s younger daughter is a leftist and during the initial portions of the novel is getting a hang of being such a person and this leads to a lot of unintentional hilarity. Add to this is Vijay’s relationship with his wife of many years and all in all, he is not a happy human. A big portion of the novel is Vijay’s inner monologue and is quite fun to read.
Then we come to Shyamu and his mother Nelly who live in a remote tribal colony deep in Wayanad. They shun any contact or interactions with governmental agencies or people for certain obvious reasons. Shyamu and Vijay have their lives on a collision course and the novel unfolds as they find their way to each other.
This is a novel that reinforces the message of how power tramples upon the lives of the less fortunate. Although the antagonists feel a bit cartoonish, the overall narrative is interesting enough to keep going. The usage of language is also the cherry on the cake.
A good read.
October 8, 2025
The book opens with three people - A, B and C hired to commit a murder. There is supposed to be a fourth one, D, but he is late. A is the driver. D is supposed to shoot the man who jogs on the beach every day. B and C are supposed to stab him in case the shooting doesn’t kill him. Finally, they have to burn him, even if he is dead. They aren’t supposed to talk and get to know each other. They aren’t supposed to stop anywhere, but they do stop at a tea seller's because D is late.
This murder felt equal parts horrific and equal parts mundane. It was described in a matter-of-fact tone, like the four people were planning a picnic on the beach.
The book then fast forwards to IG Menon. Here we delve into Menon’s mind. He has been assigned the cold case of the eight-year-old unsolved murder on the beach. For two long chapters, Menon muses about the state of his marriage, his erectile dysfunction and his concern for his two daughters, as well as pondering the cold case and its previous investigation. Menon’s mind was not a happy place. It felt suffocating. I felt sorry for him even as I was repelled by him.
Vijay Menon is not your typical dashing detective with brilliant investigative skills. He is an anxiety-ridden, paranoid man who believes that this investigation might be doomed. Because it is a sub-inspector who was killed, and he rightly deduces that the ultimate perpetrators must be powerful to have ordered the murder of a policeman.
This is not a whodunnit or even a whydunnit. This felt more like a scream, a provocation. Not because this story is something new. It is, in fact, a story that has been a headline so many times in almost every state in India that it has become routine. But the way it is laid out here, in the form of a mystery, a cold case, a detective, an expectation of a resolution, even though Menon’s premonition has warned the reader early on that even if the crime is solved, the perpetrator or perpetrators identified, there may not be any justice.
The provocation is not that there is no justice, but that the lack of justice comes with a mountain of injustice on which is piled one more to sweep everything under the rug. The end of this book left me with an enduring feeling of shame. Because I wasn’t surprised by the ending. In fact, I couldn’t think of a more apt end for this story. At least not one that would feel realistic. And how shameful and sad it is to live in a world where to expect justice is to venture into the realm of fantasy.
The writing is erudite, which I didn’t mind, even though I was looking up words on every other page. The story is told from multiple perspectives, but the voices were distinct. Every character behind the words and everything they felt leapt off the page. As I read, I related to the various characters, from Menon and Shyamu to the Bishop and the AG. I felt their feelings even as the analytical part of me was disgusted by the hypocrisy and the unfairness; I recognised my own hypocrisy and self-deception. It is what I loved about this book. It laid bare the basest instincts of humans and refused to let the reader, me, live in my world of comfortable deception.
This is not a police procedural or a thrilling mystery, but fans of books that dig deep into a crime and criminals and solvers of crime will thoroughly enjoy this one.
For more reviews visit https://bookishexperiences.wordpress.com
This murder felt equal parts horrific and equal parts mundane. It was described in a matter-of-fact tone, like the four people were planning a picnic on the beach.
The book then fast forwards to IG Menon. Here we delve into Menon’s mind. He has been assigned the cold case of the eight-year-old unsolved murder on the beach. For two long chapters, Menon muses about the state of his marriage, his erectile dysfunction and his concern for his two daughters, as well as pondering the cold case and its previous investigation. Menon’s mind was not a happy place. It felt suffocating. I felt sorry for him even as I was repelled by him.
Vijay Menon is not your typical dashing detective with brilliant investigative skills. He is an anxiety-ridden, paranoid man who believes that this investigation might be doomed. Because it is a sub-inspector who was killed, and he rightly deduces that the ultimate perpetrators must be powerful to have ordered the murder of a policeman.
This is not a whodunnit or even a whydunnit. This felt more like a scream, a provocation. Not because this story is something new. It is, in fact, a story that has been a headline so many times in almost every state in India that it has become routine. But the way it is laid out here, in the form of a mystery, a cold case, a detective, an expectation of a resolution, even though Menon’s premonition has warned the reader early on that even if the crime is solved, the perpetrator or perpetrators identified, there may not be any justice.
The provocation is not that there is no justice, but that the lack of justice comes with a mountain of injustice on which is piled one more to sweep everything under the rug. The end of this book left me with an enduring feeling of shame. Because I wasn’t surprised by the ending. In fact, I couldn’t think of a more apt end for this story. At least not one that would feel realistic. And how shameful and sad it is to live in a world where to expect justice is to venture into the realm of fantasy.
The writing is erudite, which I didn’t mind, even though I was looking up words on every other page. The story is told from multiple perspectives, but the voices were distinct. Every character behind the words and everything they felt leapt off the page. As I read, I related to the various characters, from Menon and Shyamu to the Bishop and the AG. I felt their feelings even as the analytical part of me was disgusted by the hypocrisy and the unfairness; I recognised my own hypocrisy and self-deception. It is what I loved about this book. It laid bare the basest instincts of humans and refused to let the reader, me, live in my world of comfortable deception.
This is not a police procedural or a thrilling mystery, but fans of books that dig deep into a crime and criminals and solvers of crime will thoroughly enjoy this one.
For more reviews visit https://bookishexperiences.wordpress.com
September 11, 2025
3.5 stars
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