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    A Dead Hand: A Crime in Calcutta
    Unavailable
    A Dead Hand: A Crime in Calcutta
    Unavailable
    A Dead Hand: A Crime in Calcutta
    Audiobook9 hours

    A Dead Hand: A Crime in Calcutta

    Written by Paul Theroux

    Narrated by Neil Shah

    3/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Best-selling author Paul Theroux has been hailed as a “masterful and mesmerizing storyteller” (Booklist). Theroux’s A Dead Hand unfolds around Jerry Delfont, a travel writer living in Calcutta and suffering from writer’s block. But when Jerry receives a letter from a wealthy fan requesting help, he soon finds himself entangled in a mystery involving a dead boy and an innocent man fleeing for his life.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books Audio
    Release dateJan 1, 2010
    ISBN9781449825805
    Unavailable
    A Dead Hand: A Crime in Calcutta
    Author

    Paul Theroux

    PAUL THEROUX is the author of many highly acclaimed books. His novels include The Bad Angel Brothers, The Lower River, Jungle Lovers, and The Mosquito Coast, and his renowned travel books include Ghost Train to the Eastern Star and Dark Star Safari. He lives in Hawaii and on Cape Cod.

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    Reviews for A Dead Hand

    3/5

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    • 3/5
      This dead hand was ham-fisted: a slow-moving, lethargic, repetitious mystery with no sympathetic characters (apart from the Indian chambermaids) and a denouement which felt like a deus ex machina. Ughhhhh.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed the setting and descriptions of Calcutta; I liked the mystery within the story; I did not enjoy the painful paragraphs dealing with the protagonist's feelings, reactions, and longings for Mrs. Unger. I found it very repetitious and felt it would have made a great suspenseful mystery if Mr. Theroux had developed that theme more and spent less time describing the writer's almost "adolescent" obsession with the saintly philanthropist. Hard to believe all that. I felt other characters could have been developed more fully to add to the plot and I kept reading because I wanted it to meet my expectations. It did not.
    • 2/5
      Had a real problem with the main female character and the hero's infatuation. Just didn't ring true.
    • 4/5
      Known for his travel essays, Paul releases a novel that takes us to the hidden areas of Calcutta not commonly visited by tourists. A travel writer with writer's block, receives a letter that intrigues him. He decides to visit the author of the letter and in doing so, he is unwittingly drawn into a mysterious woman's web of tantric massages, the slums of Calcutta, orphaned children, rescued children, temple sacrifices, oh and a dead body wrapped in a carpet that appeared one evening in an Indian boy's hotel room.Who's the dead boy? Why was he sought out to help? Who really is this mysterious rich woman who seems to do so much for the poor children in India? What really lies behind the iron gates of her mansion? What is her son hiding?Theroux has a wonderful way of describing places and scenes that is so evocative you feel as if you're there. You feel the heat, the dust and you smell the poverty, the fear and the ecstasy. And just when you're sitting comfortably in the story, he injects a prickling down the back of your neck. Nothing is as they appear, but what are the risks of delving into the mystery to find the truth?
    • 3/5
      This book is not up to the standard of Theroux's best fiction. It's as if Theroux said to himself: murder mysteries look easy to write - I think I will try one. In any event the words "dead hand" in the title refer both to the protagonist - a travel writer suffering writer's block - and a clue to a murder. Although the book does not succeed as great fiction, it does succeed in being wonderfully evocative of India. Think of it as fictional travel writing - Theroux's true metier. In this way, the book reminds me of Cuba And The Night by Pico Iyer. This is a like work of failed fiction by a great travel writer, which book nevertheless beautifully captures a sense of place. For a chuckle, Theroux also works his real persona in as a travel writer.
    • 2/5
      "A Dead Hand" is a murder mystery. Jerry Dalfont, a travel writer with writer's block, a "dead hand," is in Calcutta at loose ends since he cannot write. He is summoned by Mrs. Unger, an rich American philanthropist, to solve the mystery of the body of a small boy discovered in the hotel room of one of her employees.As he works on the mystery Unger works on him. She takes him under wing and teaches him all about Trantric massages and reveals her Hindu side. In the meantime Dalfont works with the local police and pokes around a little on his own.An interesting part of the book is when Dalfont meets the famous travel writer, Paul Theroux, in Calcutta. Theroux is not too complimentary of himself in the encounter. I had never read a writer writing himself in the story before.The book was ok but I definitely didn't love it. It needed a little less Tantric sex and lot more story and character development. The book telegraphs the end pretty far out. I rate this 1.5 stars out of 4. I love Theroux's non-fiction but I've never quite got into his fiction.
    • 3/5
      He writes well, but overall this is not my kind of story. More sex than I like, a mystery I never got all that involved in. I would not recommend it as a way to learn more about India.On the other hand, assorted paragraphs about the writer's life, travel writing, writer's block, and a visit between the narrator and Paul Theroux were very interesting.
    • 4/5
      A good read. The story had me intrigued and I finished reading it in two sittings as I wanted to know if my suspicion would be confirmed.