On the dark streets of Mumbai, the paths of a missing dancer, a serial killer, and an inspector with a haunted past converge in an evocative thriller about lost love and murderous obsession.

After years of dancing in Mumbai’s bars, Tara Mondal was desperate for a new start. So when a client offered her a life-changing payout to indulge a harmless, if odd, fantasy, she accepted. The setup was simple: wear a blue-sequined saree, enter a crowded railway station, and escape from view in less than three minutes. It was the last time anyone saw Tara.

Thirteen years later, Tara’s lover, Inspector Arnav Singh Rajput, is still grappling with her disappearance as he faces a horrifying new crisis: on the city’s outskirts, women’s dismembered bodies are being unearthed from shallow graves. Very little links the murders, except a scattering of blue sequins and a decade’s worth of missing persons reports that correspond with major festivals.

Past and present blur as Arnav realizes he’s on the trail of a serial killer and that someone wants his investigation buried at any cost. Could the key to finding Tara and solving these murders be hidden in one of his cold cases? Or will the next body they recover be hers?

Listening Length

12 hours and 18 minutes
Author

Damyanti Biswas
Narrator

Sneha Mathan
Audible release date

Jan. 1 2023
Language

English
Publisher

Brilliance Audio
ASIN

B09S6V2F47
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	12 hours and 18 minutes
Author	Damyanti Biswas
Narrator	Sneha Mathan
Audible.ca Release Date	January 01 2023
Publisher	Brilliance Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B09S6V2F47
Best Sellers Rank	#49,751 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #1,046 in Crime Thrillers (Audible Books & Originals) #1,079 in Police Procedural Mysteries #3,361 in Suspense (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5

3,506 global ratings

5 star		31%
4 star		38%
3 star		22%
2 star		6%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from Canada

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Audrey Driscoll

A Tense Psychological Thriller

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on February 16, 2023

Verified Purchase

From the gorgeous cover to the last page, this book is definitely a gripper. All the necessary elements for a psychological thriller are here: vulnerable, desperate women, an overworked police force with hints of corruption in high places, the glamour of the movie business, at least two crime bosses, and a seriously troubled killer. Add to that the intriguing setting of Mumbai, India. The book does not shy away from the dirt and poverty of the city, in contrast to the luxuries enjoyed by the wealthy.
As the bodies of murdered women are uncovered, the reader is given harrowing peeks into the mind of the murderer. Interwoven with these are the personal stories of bar dancer Tara and police inspector Arnav. Action scenes are humanized by elements of guilt, shame, regret, and broken trust. I was keen to find out what happened next and read the book quickly. At times it was a bit of a blur, as the characters raced from one place to another, almost always using cell phones to communicate and gather evidence.
The primary characters are well-developed and sympathetic. Enough is revealed about the secondary characters that they are distinct and memorable. I was particularly impressed by journalist (and Arnav's sometime girlfriend) Nandini, and his police colleague Tukaram. A character named Bilal is also intriguing and surprisingly sympathetic, given his relationship to the murderer.
Clues are scattered throughout the book, prompting me to formulate theories as I read about the identity of the killer. The ending includes a few shocking revelations and is both heart-wrenching and satisfying.

Helpful

Yashvi Shah

A Fabulous Indian Murder Mystery!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on January 5, 2023

A huge thank you to the author for reaching out and providing me with an eARC!

The first chapter was enough to captivate me and sweep me away into the muggy swamps and slums and through the crowds and the dark streets of the busiest city in India, Mumbai.

Amongst powerful elite film stars and businessmen, corrupt police officers, dangerous mafia dons, and shady government ministers, detective Arnav Singh Rajput finds himself in the middle of murder mysteries that ties the underworld, police officials, the film industry, and a strip club together. With a serial killer on the loose and cold cases coming to light, Arnav can’t help but let his mind wander to fourteen years ago when he last saw the love of his life, Tara, a young, troubled girl who worked at the strip club. She was last seen at a train station wearing a blue sequinned saree, a piece of material prominent as evidence in the recent murders Arnav is investigating.

I grew up watching Bollywood films of all genres. The Blue Bar felt like a cinematic, action and thriller-packed Indian murder mystery movie, which enhanced my reading experience to a whole new level! The vivid descriptions of criminal investigations and the underworld, the explicit settings, brilliant plotting, and character depth were written so well!

Beyond the writing lies the fleshed-out characters of Arnav and Tara. I loved young Arnav and young Tara even though with the glimpses into the past. The characters of Arnav and Tara, fourteen years later, felt like everything had changed, but their relationship and connection remained the same. I loved how they fit together so perfectly while having individual character development!

The ending felt overly fast-paced and rushed, especially after all the drama faded away, and things with the murder mystery were explained too quickly. The Blue Bar was definitely not the end of it, and despite being super excited for the sequel, I wish the ending was fleshed out and detailed more. It felt like a time jump, and certain things were skipped or ignored.

Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed The Blue Bar, and I absolutely loved the fact it had short chapters! I can’t wait to see what Damyanti Biswas comes up with in the sequel!

Helpful

Whitney

An atmospheric riveting ride!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on December 10, 2022

This book is an atmospheric and wild ride. I loved the dual perspective and seeing the story from multiple viewpoints, including the serial killer themselves. I loved that it highlighted the corruption in the city, from officers on the police force, celebrities, and political figures. I loved the thread of romance throughout. And most of all I loved the setting in Mumbai. I felt like I was there in the streets, the homes, eating the food. Definitively check this one out!
Thank you to the author for an ARC copy.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

J. Ivanel Johnson

I feel richer and a little more mature for having read it.

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on January 9, 2023

This book is an in-depth and complex work of art. That's not to say it's a difficult read; it certainly isn't. But there are so many layers of it, all of which I love and have studied - or wished to study - in various 'lives' I've led.
It is first and foremost a captivating noir mystery. It is also a provocative love story, between man and woman, between close friends, between mother and daughter. There are parallels and there are paradoxes. There are smoothly woven, subtle comparisons and then eye-blinking contrasts. It has hints of the exotic and then slaps of the downright shocking - the first in worlds some may wish to travel, and the latter in worlds most may never wish to see, but should have to. And Damyanti Biswas makes us. Because we shouldn't go through a life anywhere on this planet sticking our heads in the sand.
The ending in particular had such symbolic ironies that I found myself catching my breath. This piece of literature could be studied in any high school or university classroom, anywhere around the globe, in any language.
The Blue Bar is entertaining, educational and engrossing. I feel richer and a little more mature for having read it.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Sydney Bristow

No real depth

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 1, 2022

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The story has everything I hate - an annoying female lead whose choices make no sense whatsoever, multiple points of view including the 'mind of the serial killer' (yawn) that adds nothing to the story & several obvious errors from poor editing (a character is going for a bath but takes a shower, isn't hungry at all but is suddenly tucking into a breakfast he's so ravenous). The author switches back & forwards in time during a chapter, but doesn't flag it up properly, so it becomes very confusing & annoying. The killer is obvious from the beginning & the whole story is very dark, with every cliched twist imaginable. It does run along at a pretty good clip however, but I was just left feeling as if it had no real depth or surprises.

17 people found this helpful

Tambok

Mumbai Noir.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 2, 2022

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It took a couple of chapters for me to get into The Blue Bar by Damyanti Biswas but once I did I really enjoyed it and it turned into a "one hit" read. The problem was that the author has a habit of throwing things into the story, mostly cultural references or allusions to character's pasts, then only explaining them several pages later which had me starting off confused and finding the book initially hard work and a bit flat.
Thankfully once the characters are introduced properly.I'd got used to the author's writing style and the quite intricate story gets going it's gripping and entertaining stuff.

The book begins in Mumbai with Inspector Arnav Rajput at a grisly crime scene where the decapitated and dismembered corpse of a woman has been found. When Rajput finds that there have been several similar crimes going back several years and flags up his suspicions that a serial killer is on the loose he finds a whole list of people,on both sides of the law, keen to shut him up.
As well as the murder investigation the story takes in Rajput's past,part of that being former lover and Bar Dancer Tara back in Mumbai 13 years after disappearing without saying a word.
With Tara being sucked into the investigation Rajput doesn't know who to trust with rampant political, business and police corruption financed by gangsters........all of them with an interest in stopping his investigation.
There's plenty of action and an atmospheric depiction of Mumbai with it's shanty towns, street vendors,the Bollywood crowd and an underworld split on religious factions, it was almost like the book James Ellroy might have written if he set one of his books in Mumbai.
There is the occasional editorial clanger and I did initially struggle with it but was very soon gripped.

14 people found this helpful

Squeaky Joe

Descriptive and atmospheric, at times.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 6, 2023

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A Mumbai police officer striving to solve a spate of murders, finds himself hindered at every turn. It seems someone is keen to stop him tracking down a serial killer. Troubled by his own past, Inspector Arnav Singh Rajput can’t escape the memory of his former lover, Tara, who disappeared years before. As he discovers the remains of dismembered bodies, he must also deal with corruption within the police force.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. Initially, it was the vibrant cover and the first few pages that grabbed my attention, but when I got several chapters in, the changing POVs and the addition of several characters with similar sounding names did confuse me a bit. As you’d expect with this type of police procedural, there’s the usual storyline around police corruption and political shenanigans. I liked the central character of Arnav, although his essentially kind-hearted outlook doesn’t make up for the familiar history of challenges he faces, and it would’ve been nice to see something different. Also, the pace of the story isn’t helped by all the regular descriptions of domestic activities. While these give us an insight into the day-to-day lives of the folk involved, they do nothing to move the plot forward.

Anyway, all whining aside, the author’s descriptions of Mumbai paint a vivid picture of the city, bringing the locations and atmosphere to life.

2 people found this helpful

Boingboing

Mumbai Murder

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 15, 2022

Verified Purchase

There's something about Mumbai that seems to inspire writers of murder mysteries. It's a much more interesting place than many of India's megalopolises and if you know the city, I always find that helps a lot when trying to follow the action.

This book follows a serial killer with a taste for cutting up women's bodies and the policeman who is trying to find him.

A Mumbai police procedural will always spend almost as much time dealing with police corruption as with trying to find the bad guy. This one follows that model.

It's a slow start. The POV of multiple characters takes a while to bed in. And there are some interesting questions around whether we should feel sympathy for an evil person who was once a victim themself.

Lots of interesting characters - not always entirely believable but interesting none the less. I enjoyed it a lot and will look out for the next in the series.

2 people found this helpful

Seriesbooklover

mumbai noir

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 8, 2023

Verified Purchase

I couldn’t put down The Blue Bar by Damyanti Biwas and my experience of reading the book was made all the better when I started to read this on holiday in India.
I’ve seen this referred to as Mumbai Noir and I can see why but this book is so much more than that. I loved the rich descriptions of Mumbai- the people, the locations, the chaotic world of Bollywood and felt so hungry with all the references to food.
Arnav Singh Rajput is the Detective obsessed with solving a gruesome murder that no one really wants to him solve. As with all fictional Detectives, he has his own internal conflicts.
The murder mystery is complicated by the political and celebrity landscape of Mumbai and this adds so much more complexity to the story. The corruption and the impact of this are believable, particularly how the powerful and rich can get away with the most gruesome offences ( not just in India but all over the world).
The plot races along, with no slow bits and there is plenty of action and shootouts.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes edgy thrillers set in a non-western environment and with complex and interesting characters and I can’t wait to read the next book.

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