A hard-boiled, fast-paced narrative about sexual and political corruption in contemporary India

Ajit Vajpayee is a drifter. A confused Marxist and a voyeur, his is a life of little action and desperate thoughtsabout political ideology, violence and sex. One empty afternoon in Lucknow, a mysterious man who knows his darkest secrets and shares his disillusionment with women offers him an opportunity for adventure: he must spy on a ministers wife, a woman, he is told, with a genius for deception. The unlikely mission takes Ajit to Bombay and Bihar, and he finds himself hopelessly caught up in a murky world of low politics, high crime and twisted carnality.

An erotic thriller set against the backdrop of caste conflicts, mafia intrigue and the amorality of a modern world driven purely by ambition and wealth, The Ministers Wife is a racy and rewarding read.