Review: A Circle of Souls by Preetham Grandhi

Book Details:
ISBN: 978-1-59955-235-4
Pub. Date: June 2009
Publisher: Sweetwater Books
Format: Paperback, 342 pages

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author for review.

From the Cover:

The sleepy town of Newbury, Connecticut, is shocked when a little girl is found brutally murdered. The town's top detective, perplexed by a complete lack of leads, calls in FBI agent Leia Bines, and expert in cases involving children.

Meanwhile, Dr. Peter Gram, a psychiatrist at Newbury's hospital, searches desperately for the cause of seven-year-old Naya Hastings's devastating nightmares. Afraid that she might hurt herself in the midst of a torturous episode, Naya's parents have turned to the bright young doctor as their only hope.

The situations confronting Leia and Peter converge when Naya begins drawing chilling images of murder after being bombarded by the disturbing images in her dreams. Amazingly, her sketches are the only clues to the crime that has panicked Newbury residents. Against her better judgement, Leia explores the clues in Naya's crude drawings, only to set off an alarming chain of events.

In this stunning psychological thriller, innocence gives way to evil, and trust lies forgotten in a web of deceit, fear, and murder.

My Take:

A Circle of Souls falls into the fast-read thriller category. I finished the book in just two days, basically in about 4 reading sessions. The chapters are quite small and the author is very capable of encouraging the reader to keep turning the pages.

I found the characters to be interesting, especially the psychiatrist, Peter. The author's background in psychiatry provides a captivating look into the world of childhood mental disorders, while not distracting from the plot. Peter's care for Naya during her time of distress provides a thread of hope throughout the book.

The mystery behind the killer was somewhat easy to guess about middle-way through the book. The characters saved the book, in my opinion, the mystery would not have held up with lesser characters. I did find one mistake in logic, concerning Peter's connecting Naya's drawing to a newspaper article concerning the death of Janet, that was a little hard to get past. Peter's problem solving skills were quite good, although I was a little disappointed at the lack of any real contribution from the police or FBI agent Leia Bines.

The ending provides the correct amount of closure with both the mystery and the disposition of the characters. I did feel that the fight scene near the end had a made-for-TV feel to it. The author is much more successful with suspense building and character development than action scenes. Still, as a psychological thriller, the book is a success. I do not know if Preetham Grandhi plans on writing another novel, but I hope that he does. I would read it.


About the Author:

Preetham Grandhi, M.D., immigrated to the United States from Bangalore, India to pursue a career in child and adolescent psychiatry. After his graduation from Yale, he has been the chief of service for House 5 at Bronx Children's Psychiatric Center. He is devoted to helping young children gain insight into their emotional and behavioral needs and empowers them to maximize their inner potential. A Circle of Souls is his debut novel.