Sunday Times

Anita Nair is a feminist and highly regarded Indian novelist. A Cut-Like Wound is as startling a debut crime novel as you are likely to read this year. Set in Bangalore, it opens with the horrific murder of a young man who worked as a prostitute. The killing is...

Crime Chronicles

The magazine, SIGHT AND SOUND, voted the movie, VERTIGO, the greatest movie of all time. The title, like the competition, is dubious. But it proves that we are all suckers for stories about identity. Crime fans, as much as anyone, are obsessed by identity. A detective...

Morning Star

Another police story in which atmosphere is as important as plot is Anita Nair’s A Cut-Like Wound (Bitter Lemon, £8.99) but this time we’re facing the murderous heat of Bangalore in August. Inspector Borei Gowda is, on the surface, a typical fictional...

New Internationalist

Anita Nair’s excellent new novel is something of a departure from her previous books, with their nuanced, intricate examinations of relationships and social status. Set during Ramadan in the steamy heat of Bangalore, A Cut-like Wound takes the form of a police...

Booklist

Inspector Borei Gowda’s constant bucking of the Bangalore police department’s political conventions has earned him exile to a sidelined precinct. Still, he has a reputation for incredible investigative skills, and it’s those skills that rookie...