Ardhendu Bose, a fatherless middle-class Bengali boy brought up by a domineering and vicariously ambitious mother, tries to escape from the failures of life, in the arms of his Punjabi girlfriend, a BPO job that is sheer drudgery, the mindless somersaults of Crystal, his six-year-old Labrador, and in the company of the never-say-die and Texan drawl trawling Manoj.
But everything is set to change overnight. A loser from a B-grade Indian business school, Ardhendu is summoned for an interview by RED, the fourth largest Life Sciences company in the world. His life takes a turn for the better, or so he believes, when he is chosen over an IIM hopeful, to be Executive Assistant to President, India Operations, RED. Finally, he gets a life, works with people with exotic names he pronounces effortlessly as though he were one of them, drinks their fine spirits, attends their parties, and climbs the ladder rapidly. Till that epiphanic moment in a penthouse balcony when it becomes clear that there is a price to pay to be a part of that world…of predators.
A frightful and thought-provoking tale of hunts blurring lines between humans and vampires, The Company RED is the first novel of the RED trilogy by Shantanu Dhar.
About the Author
Shantanu Dhar earned a Bachelor’s in English Literature from the University of Pune, Nashik and a Post- graduate degree in Human Resource Development from Pittsburg State University, Kansas, USA. Currently employed with a major Indian conglomerate, he writes regularly for business magazines on human behaviour at the workplace, and has been deeply inspired by Greek tragedies and Gothic novels in his fictional writing.
He lives in Greater Noida with his wife and two young children, and spends his early mornings cycling on open wide roads and his evenings listening to his eclectic collection of jazz at a decibel his family members and neighbours may have much to say about.