Deceptively witty, profound and fiercely provocative, Manu Joseph's crackingnew novel focuses on ordinary people caught up in political forces andreligious division whilst also giving us a gripping chase - can an imminentterror attack be stopped? - with an ingenious twist. On the day that Hindu nationalists and their controversial leader have won aspectacular election victory, a large apartment building collapses in Mumbai.The rescue operation finds only one survivor, a man trapped under a beam,mumbling in delirium. But what he is saying is that two people are on their wayto carry out a terror attack. Not only must they get him out, the police must findout what he knows, and act quickly.; A young woman, Akhila Iyer, a medical student but also a notorious prankster,has rushed to the scene. She is small and light enough to crawl along to thetunnel to the dying man to administer painkillers as they try to dig him out of therubble. Akhila is the only link between him and the police, hearing what he iswhispering.; Elsewhere, a young intelligence agent, Mukundan, is assigned to shadow thetwo terror suspects, one of whom is a teenager and the sweetheart of herstreet, the enigmatic Laila. And so the chase is on ...; Manu Joseph's new novel poses some very big questions, but at its heartare the ordinary people, the watchers and the followers, and those who aretrapped when buildings fall. About the Author Manu Joseph is the author of two previous novels, Serious Men (winnerof the Hindu Literary Prize and the PEN/Open Book Award) and The IllicitHappiness of Other People (shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize andthe PG Wodehouse Prize for the Best Comic Novel). He lives in Delhi andis a columnist for The Mint Lounge. He used to write the `Letter from India'column for The International New York Times.