• Title  – The Ekkos Clan
• Author – Sudipto Das
• Publisher – Niyogi Books
• Genre – Fiction
• Pages – 260
• ISBN – 978-93-81523-95-7
• Price – 350 INR

Blurb on the Book – Someone wants Kratu’s whole family dead. Is it personal vendetta or is it because they have access to Kratu’s grandmother Kubha’s stories, which conceal perilous secrets.

The eventful lives of Kubha and her family span a hundred years and encompass turbulent phases of Indian history. From her ancestors, Kubha inherited a basketful of stories. Kratu, a graduate student at Stanford mentions Kubha’s stories to Afsar Fareedi, a linguistic palaeontologist, in a casual conversation.

Afsar quickly figures out that the – bedtime tales contain rich linguistic fossils and layers of history. Afsar, Kratu and his best friend Tista travel across continents to trace the origin of her stories. Their journey also leads them to discover one of the oldest civilizations of the world. But will their efforts also unearth the causes behind the series of murders.

Review – The book has a very interesting cover. Tinted in earthly notes of brown with a glimpse of a horse’s head drawing inspiration from the seals found around the ruins of the Indus valley civilization. The back cover bears a sketch roughly outlining a female, holds immense significance as the whole book revolves around it.

The book is a thriller ride that explores the history of the subcontinent in a wonderful fashion. He takes the reader for a ride through exotic places, thrilling twists and turns and very real characters. The book somehow bridges the gap between fiction and non-fiction making it a unique read it also seeks inspiration from astronomy, touching upon the depths of linguistics too.

I learnt about the linguistic paleontology for the first time in this book and it sure was an enriching experience. I wish to congratulate Sudipto Das for he has presented the ancient Indian history in a very authentic way, without getting swayed away or being preachy. In most places he has implicitly provided authentic sources.

The Aryan history, the origin of the Rig Veda, the development of the class system, the origin of the Hindu lineage and more have been presented wonderfully. The book is deftly woven around centuries of Indian history.

With strong characters the book oozes in inspiration right from the beginning. The strength of character and grit shines bright as the characters face every situation with determination.

The major distraction in the book is the number of characters. In the start it took me lot of effort to remember the names of the numerous characters and how they were linked to each other. In some places the gory scenes made me go edgy but the book is unputdownable. Another gray area is the extensive use of terms in Bengali that greatly slows down the pace of someone like me who has no knowledge of the language.

Besides, I’d like to suggest that the glossary of regional language terms be at the bottom of the page instead of the end of the chapter to avoid meddling with the flow of reading.

The language is lucid and the cracking plot is well drafted with lot of research done to put together this enriching read. The characters are young and easy to connect with.

The ending is rather simple but the book makes for a journey with moments to cherish than just a thriller read.

I’d recommend this book to anyone who enjoys thriller wrapped in history that draws inspiration from science creating an out-of-the-box book.

About the Author – Sudipto Das, an engineering professional (B.Tech. IIT, Kharagpur) lives in Bangalore with his family. History, culture, language, writing and music are of special interest to him. Member of an amateur music band, Kohal, he also enjoys travelling.

The Ekkos Clan is his debut book.

Rating – 3.5/5