RBI Governor at centre of Ravi Subramanian's next thriller

Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan may have stopped making headlines every other day but his tenure is enough inspiration for leading thriller writer Ravi Subramanian to pen a novel with RBI governor at its centre and demonetisation perhaps its climax.

"Don't Tell The Governor" will be published by HarperCollins India.

According to a statement released by the publisher, the novel appears to be set in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement of demonetisation, the first anniversary of which was recently met with mixed reactions.

"When the Prime Minister declares demonetisation at 8 pm on 8th November, it leaves the nation stunned. But the Governor, who should have ideally been a party to the decision, is at a crossroads. He has just carried out the most brazen act in his life -- yet, it looks like it might also be his most foolish.

"Will he be able to pull himself out of the mess he has got into or will he be condemned for life? Will he manage to retain his autonomy or meekly surrender to the forces behind the massive scam? Or is he going to be the victim of a very sinister plot? Running desperately out of time, the Governor has one week to set things right," the statement says on the book.

Diya Kar Hazra, Publisher - Fiction at HarperCollins India, refers to Subramanian as "a master storyteller" and said that it is a terrific novel that will have the readers on the edge of their seats. He also says that the novel has a very inventive and original plot -- one that only Subramanian could have come up with.

"The world of finance has always intrigued me. Bankers are grey. And where there are grey humans, there will be stories waiting to be told. I am delighted to be publishing my next book, Don't Tell the Governor, with HarperCollins. This will be my most ambitious financial thriller yet," said Subramanian, himself a banker.

Subramanian also believes that a thriller is an overall experience. A reader would not want to finish it in 20 days; he wants to read it immediately and would be happy to finish more chapters in a day.

"I can come and kill you but that is not enough. What if after stabbing you I begin to twist and turn the dagger inside your body? It is the final twist which makes a thriller -- 'Oh damn! What a book'," he had said in an earlier interview to IANS.

And the timely plot of his novel provide enough reasons to believe that he sticks to his rules.

--IANS

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