Amazon.ca:Customer reviews: The Blue Bar

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From Canada

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on December 7, 2022

This was different from other books that I usually read. It was a mix of romance, thriller, and police procedural, so that definitely kept things interesting. And y’all, I was actually so invested in the romance. Arnav and Tara’s relationship was so much fun to read about. It had a bit of a star-crossed lovers vibe and I loved that!

I would say my favourite part of the story was the POV of the killer (yeah, yeah, there’s something wrong with me). It was just so creepy to read from his perspective and not know who he could be.

I did find that the story was a bit slow at times, and I struggled to keep track of all the characters. But there were also many moments where there was so much happening and I was glued to the pages. I also loved the amount of detail, and the writing was very well done!

I received this book for free as part of an Instagram book tour.

One person found this helpful

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From other countries

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

Karen Lawler

Attention getting Detective Mystery with an exotic place in Mumbai

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 18, 2023

Verified Purchase

The Blue Bar by Damyanti Biswas's book got your attention from the first page. I have read several Indian based books. This book takes place is Mumbai which is an exotic place to base this mystery story of detective Arnav Rajut. He has been a detective for a long time and has investigating dead women's bodies that have surfaced and have been dead for quite some time. It is discovered that these are all "bar girls". It is chilling that the heads, hands, and feet have been removed making it very difficult to identify them. It seems that even higher ups in the police are involved so Arnav doesn't know who to trust. Arnav has been involved with a bar girl himself named Tara but she has disappeared from his life until one day on his investigation she reappears.
The plot and characters in this book are well developed and complicated. The story is a "can't put down" story. My only complaint was for Non Indian readers, there are difficult and confusing names for the characters and Indian words. I found at some times I was confused as to who and what? In the book Henna Artist, the author had a listing of characters and a glossary of Indian words. This was very helpful and I think would have aided this book for the Non Indian readers. Many names were very similar and terms were not given a description of meaning. Other wise, Mumbai and all of the culture was so very interesting.

One person found this helpful

Fettler

This book will likely "do your head in".

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 3, 2023

Verified Purchase

This book will likely "do your head in" as it did mine. The pedantic methodology of the way things seem to work in India is exemplified in this book and is, as I have found when visiting India, to be the norm. This is the first book in the series but the last for me.

Bird Lover

Interesting Novel

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 25, 2023

Verified Purchase

The story line was an interesting mystery, but I struggled to be able to follow. I’m sure it was the names, places, and songs as it was all foreign to me. Then as the story switched people and dates I actually quit listening, turned the book off. I just couldn’t follow. One day as I started driving this book was came in! Because I was driving and unable to change books, as I listened, something clicked. I was understanding more of the dialog as names became familiar to me. I know I missed more of the story line than I would have liked but I did finish the book and found the ending intriguing. I liked what I was able to understand of it and the story as I understood. I would recommend this book to someone more worldly than myself.

garry johnson

Could Have Got four Stars.

Reviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on January 8, 2023

Verified Purchase

The setting was great. First time to read a book set in Mumbai ( Bombay ). Enjoyed Googling the locations and places the book went into. The writing was good, the story had a lot going for it. Was two stories in one, the murders and Arnav and Tara's affair. Read up to around 50% where the story started to bog down then fast forward to the last few chapters. Could not take Arnav, another Harry Bosch or Jo Nesbo knock off. Problems in his past, contempt for authority, smarter than his colleagues, a vendetta against the police commissioner. All been done before. Why not a regular cop who just gets on with his job. For me, at least, the story would have read better. If you can handle the super cop then this is not a bad book. The characters, the story , the great location make it different and worth taking a look at.

linda.j.m

Ok thriller, twists and turns

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 13, 2022

Verified Purchase

Thought I'd try new author for a change . Narrative was ok, got lost a few times , wasn't a fan of the diary notes , thought could have done without as following story line . Not bad as a first novel.

2 people found this helpful

frogman

A Good Read, But to Great

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 25, 2023

Verified Purchase

A good read, but not great. It was a little hard to follow in the beginning, but got better as pieces of the puzzle fell into place. About midway, it began to become a page turner. Some issues that should have been given more detail, near the end, didn't happen. I can't give more details or it might spoil the ending. It's not clear why one character is called the Item Number, when it is obvious who that person is. a little more detail should have been given to some loss ends. Not bad for a first effort, but I'm not sure if I will read the next book in the series.

M. Kuhlka

Translate PLEASE!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 14, 2023

Verified Purchase

I liked the story, I liked the setting and the characters, but frustrated when names, expressions and even grammar that didn't make sense, made me feel like I was missing something.

Those not familiar with the language, customs, etc... of other countries, would like to learn what they are and what they mean, here I didn't learn anything, other than for some reason they use SIR or DON after a last name, is that the way it is in India, is that a translation mistake?

I wish authors or editors or publishing houses will take this in consideration. I want to read a book and follow along with no need for a Goggle translator or library books.

MsAliExplainsAll

The Blue Bar is very gory and scary

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 12, 2023

Verified Purchase

The Blue Bar is very gory and scary and not sure why it came up on my Kindle recommendations. I generally like to read Indian authors but this one was a hard pass for me. Very gory very scary, not what I want to be reading at night. Good story, but as usual, I guessed the whodunit.

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

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The Blue Bar

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