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Book Review: Tarun Mehrishi Spectres of Vengeance weaves facts with fiction for a thrilling spy tale
In his second outing, The Portrait of a Secret's author Tarun Mehrishi delivers a cinematic story about using vengeance to deliver justice to India's enemies.
What happens when justice fails? In a world teetering between rule and retaliation, author Tarun Mehrishi presents the proposition of vengeance becoming the law with a rattling, unsettling, urgency. His new work is a thriller titled Spectres of Vengeance, which is built upon this very premise and attempts to lull the reader into the landscape of covert operations, moral quagmires, and a heavy scent of retribution.
Meet the protagonist: Amitabh Mehta – a formidable chief of intelligence, whose personal history with the infamous hijacking of flight IC 814 shadows every decision. Grappling with old wounds, new threats, and the line between righteousness and vindication, he gets the nod for a covert assassination programme targeting enemies of the nation across the globe. This is when the novel posits a sharp question: if you kill your enemies wherever they are, does the enemy begin to reside within?
The character building might be complete with the male lead, but for all its bravado, the novel also as some poignant pauses. There are moments of stillness, like when the couriered file doesn’t arrive, or carried whispers in a corridor, and the haunting memory of a deadly hijacking. These emotional pivots let the narrative breathe before unleashing the next big salvo. This is where the ‘spectres’ from the title truly shine. The invisible forces of history, guilt, regret, and ambition hover over the characters as they flicker between duty and darkness. The ideological fulcrum of the novel is anchored by an undercurrent of loss, a legacy of unresolved trauma, and aching political and systemic failure.
The structure of the narrative is taut, where covert ops meet national myth-making and the fog of contemporary geopolitics. The action scenes — an IAF base attack, a failed mission, a mole revealed — are built to be cinematic yet deeply rooted in Indian soil. Weaving fact with fiction, the author creates a quick-paced tale of ruthless international intrigue, exploring a story beyond the usual pulse-racing action one expects from the genre. As a reader, one may find oneself questioning the Machiavellian approach, but still find sympathy for the cause.
However, the author does fall prey to the tropes of the game. At times, the layering of conspiracies feels dense, with cliches like mole-within-government, secret programmes, and global sorties further propelling the plot. For readers who prefer their thrillers lean and mean, this one might feel overstuffed with details. There are moments when the moral calculus becomes heavy-handed, begging the question, can the machinery of assassination ever be moral?
But, if you’re comfortable with moral ambiguity and want more than gun-fire and one-liners then this work of writing offers a reflective pulse beneath the action. It’s equal parts adrenaline and introspection within the ruthless landscape of the Indian political soil.
Title: Spectres of Vengeance
Author: Tarun Mehrishi
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Price: ₹399
