Sacred Games

Have a transcontinental flight ahead of you? Do you like your reading material to multitask as a doorstop or possibly a weapon? "Sacred Games", a novel by Vikram Chandra, manages to fit in the account of the rise of a Bombay gangster, the mystery surrounding his death, a handful of other crimes which may or may not be connected, details about the noble police inspector trying to make sense of it all, a brief detour into a tragedy of Partition, and enough Hindi obscenities to make your Mumbaiker grandfather weep with shame into a mere 947 pages. A list of the main figures and a glossary of the many Hindi terms used in the book (it's not exhaustive but many- particularly said obscenities- are pretty easy to figure out) help keep all the action straight, but it also helps that the characters are so engaging and the plot so gripping that you'll have a hard time putting it down. This book turned waiting for late friends, doctor's appointments, and trains from a nuisance into opportunities to dive back into the book that usually passed far too quickly. Of course, taking advantage of them meant lugging it everywhere I went, and even with the paperback that was no small task. But on top of all its other potential uses, it'll give you a workout! And they say print is dead.