A Circle of Souls - Preetham Grandhi

A Circle of Souls is a debut novel for author Preetham Grandhi.

It opens with a violent scene in which a 'slaaf' (a word never really defined, but that I took to mean slave) makes a sacrifice to his master. I must admit that this opening prologue did turn me off a bit. A young girl has gone missing in the town of Newbury.

FBI agent Leia Bines, who specializes in child cases, is called in. She herself is fighting some demons, having failed to secure the rescue of a child in her last case.

Dr. Peter Gram is a child psychiatrist at the local hospital. A young girl is brought in suffering from what seems to be horrible nightmares. But her nightmares start revealing facts about the missing girl's disappearance - something she would have no way have knowing.

The book diverges from the standard crime novel and explores reincarnation and destiny as part of the plot. The details of Indian culture and beliefs definitely added much to the novel.

Grandhi has created an excellent, believable character in Gram. As Grandhi is a child psychiatrist himself, this characters's actions and dialogue and settings ring true. Agent Bines is a character I would like to see again - I think she could be developed further. The whodunit became obvious to me about three quarters of the way through, but didn't detract from the read at all. I did find the ending went on a little longer than necessary, almost as an added aside to try and develop the 'personal' part of the story between Peter and Leia.

Not my usual style of crime thriller, but all in all, a solid debut crime novel with some paranormal aspects. A second novel is planned featuring Dr. Peter Gram.