Kansa by Prassant Kevin is a crime thriller with Professor Black as it’s lead. The first book in a supposed trilogy, the story follows the Professor primarily and his exploits on the way to find the renowned serial killer of the country, Kansa.
Maher is found on the highway, and the doctors say she is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. ACP Saargi is brought in to talk to the woman, but she seems nothing more than a walking dead. The details of the case seems eerily similar to the ones that shocked the nation until 3 years ago, that of the return of the Kansa, the child killer, the one who had murdered more than 40 pregnant women and their unborn babies. It is then that Saargi somehow persuades Professor Black to join hands with her to locate and destroy this inhumane killer. It is the Professor who makes Maher talk and share the details of her capture and escape from the monster, in return, giving her his word - that she will be the one to kill her tormentor. While Saargi and the Professor dig deep into the labyrinth of a tailored and shocking past, unknown to them is the fact that danger is lurking over them and their family. In the course of capturing the infamous killer, the ACP and the Professor face a lot of troubles, one of them being the murder of the Professor’s foster parents, which ultimately puts him on a “no holds barred” mode.
What will happen now? With his own past as dark, will the Professor find the person responsible for the ruin of so many families? Can he dig into the long lost lives of those who were apparently connected to the killer and find a way? Above all, will he be able to keep his promise to Maher?
The story is narrated in third person and I found the language mediocre. Editing is not good, which unnecessarily hampers the novel’s credentials, where a single word could have served the purpose, a group of them is used. The plot is strong and the suspense created couldn’t have been better, but it started wavering my faith in the book once I started encountering the problems which am gonna mention next. The chapters seemed jumbled towards the end, something that had already happened, was mentioned in a later chapter that it will happen - Arjun was shown meeting Roy after his arrest and the death of Professor’s parents, but after a chapter or so, Professor was asking about letting him go? How is it possible that Arjun met Roy while he was still in jail?. Maher’s escape from the hell hole was never explained, how do I as a reader, come to terms with it? Another instance was when Professor told Saargi he’ll be back only after finding the answer, but immediately in the next chapter I found them discussing the case! It was probably a goof up, but it did nothing but confuse me. There also was this case of not following up on evidence provided earlier in the book - the necklace that lady gives to the doctor, what was it’s purpose and who was she? It seemed by her remarks that the necklace held something important, so why wasn’t it mentioned again once Professor found it? A loophole I found was when Raima’s secretary sends the Professor details of the charity done by her to Mira and Roy’s research, so why did she send a pic of the table with letterheads? What did she know and was she helping the Professor? If yes, then why? Lastly, the biggest suspense, even after the truth was revealed, for me was the parentage of Professor Black. I know he had a grandfather named Devank, who had died years ago. It was never mentioned earlier that he was adopted, and suddenly his adoptive mother, before dying hands him over to the doctor and his wife, whom he calls his step mother and father! They should be his foster parents and not step. Then there is also the matter of his age. Initially in Mussoorie, he was aged at 15 yo, but then later it was mentioned that his adoptive mother had died when he was 14 yo and from then onward he had been living with his “step parents”. How? Again, confusion. Keeping aside the flaws, I found the story interesting and hope the sequel would be better and would not leave such open points. Like I said, my faith wavered, yes, but when I look back now, I think I can ignore them all and live in peace.