History Literature / SixSuspects

''Six Suspects'' is the second novel by Vikas Swarup, the author of ''Literature/QAndA'', the book that inspired ''Film/SlumdogMillionaire''.

''Six Suspects'' is the second novel by Vikas Swarup[[note]](who is best known for writing ''Literature/QAndA'', the book that inspired ''Film/SlumdogMillionaire'')[[/note]]. Seven years ago, Vivek "Vicky" Rai, the playboy son of the Home Minister of Uttar Pradesh, murdered bartender Ruby Gill at a trendy restaurant in New Delhi, simply because she refused to serve him a drink. Now [[WhoMurderedTheAsshole Vicky Rai has been killed]] at the party he was throwing to celebrate his acquittal. The police recover six guests with guns in their possession: Mohan Kumar, a {{corrupt bureaucrat}} who claims to have become Mahatma Gandhi; Larry Page, a [[{{Eagleland}} dim-witted American tourist]] infatuated with an Indian actress; Eketi, an [[BadassNative Onge tribesman]] on a quest to recover a sacred stone; Shabnam Saxena, a renowned [[UsefulNotes/{{Bollywood}} Bollywood actress]]; Munna, a mobile-phone thief [[IJustWantToBeSpecial who dreams big]]; and Vicky Rai's own father, Jagannath Rai, an [[CorruptPolitician ambitious politician]] prepared to stoop low. The book slowly unravels the lives and motives of the six suspects, before revealing which is the killer.

* WhoMurderedTheAsshole: Vicky Rai was such a terrible person, who victimized so many people, that there are no less than six suspects in his murder, including his own father.

''Six Suspects'' is the second novel by Vikas Swarup[[labelnote:*]](who is best known for writing ''Literature/QAndA'', the book that inspired ''Film/SlumdogMillionaire'')[[/labelnote]]. Seven years ago, Vivek "Vicky" Rai, the playboy son of the Home Minister of Uttar Pradesh, murdered bartender Ruby Gill at a trendy restaurant in New Delhi, simply because she refused to serve him a drink. Now [[WhoMurderedTheAsshole Vicky Rai has been killed]] at the party he was throwing to celebrate his acquittal. The police recover six guests with guns in their possession: Mohan Kumar, a {{corrupt bureaucrat}} who claims to have become Mahatma Gandhi; Larry Page, a [[{{Eagleland}} dim-witted American tourist]] infatuated with an Indian actress; Eketi, an [[BadassNative Onge tribesman]] on a quest to recover a sacred stone; Shabnam Saxena, a renowned [[UsefulNotes/{{Bollywood}} Bollywood actress]]; Munna, a mobile-phone thief [[IJustWantToBeSpecial who dreams big]]; and Vicky Rai's own father, Jagannath Rai, an [[CorruptPolitician ambitious politician]] prepared to stoop low. The book slowly unravels the lives and motives of the six suspects, before revealing which is the killer.

%%* LotsaPeopleTryToDunIt

** Jagannath's are telephone conversations written as bare dialogue and stage directions, suggesting they are transcribed from a recording.
** Eketi's are told from the third-person omniscient, being mostly limited to Eketi's viewpoint, but a couple of times switching to Ashok's perspective, and once having Dolly do something that is unseen by Eketi.

*** And when Mohan switches to his "Gandhi" personality, the narration switches from a subjective account that includes his thoughts and feelings, to an objective account that only tells us his actions (the reason being [[spoiler:that this "personality" is actually the spirit of Ruby Gill, which the reader doesn't find out until near the end; a subjective account would have revealed her identity immediately]]).

%%* WhoMurderedTheAsshole:

* {{Diary}}: Shabnam's chapters are entries from her diary.

* {{Transgender}}: Dolly and the other ''hijra'' encountered by Eketi.

''Six Suspects'' is the second novel by Vikas Swarup[[labelnote:*]](who is best known for writing ''Literature/QAndA'', the book that inspired ''Film/SlumdogMillionaire'')[[/labelnote]]. Seven years ago, Vivek "Vicky" Rai, the playboy son of the Home Minister of Uttar Pradesh, murdered bartender Ruby Gill at a trendy restaurant in New Delhi, simply because she refused to serve him a drink. Now Vicky Rai has been killed at the party he was throwing to celebrate his acquittal. The police recover six guests with guns in their possession: Mohan Kumar, a {{corrupt bureaucrat}} who claims to have become Mahatma Gandhi; Larry Page, a [[{{Eagleland}} dim-witted American tourist]] infatuated with an Indian actress; Eketi, an [[BadassNative Onge tribesman]] on a quest to recover a sacred stone; Shabnam Saxena, a renowned [[UsefulNotes/{{Bollywood}} Bollywood actress]]; Munna, a mobile-phone thief [[IJustWantToBeSpecial who dreams big]]; and Vicky Rai's own father, Jagannath Rai, an [[CorruptPolitician ambitious politician]] prepared to stoop low. The book slowly unravels the lives and motives of the six suspects, before revealing which is the killer.

* JAccuse: Arun Advani's open letter at the end of the novel, thusly titled, and even compared on a breaking news segment to Émile Zola's famous letter.

* {{Transsexual}}: Dolly and the other ''hijra'' encountered by Eketi.

** Jagannath's are telephone conversations written as bare dialogue and stage directions, suggesting they are transcribed from a recording
** Eketi's are told from the third-person omniscient, being mostly limited to Eketi's viewpoint, but a couple of times switching to Ashok's perspective, and once having Dolly do something that is unseen by Eketi
** Mohan's are told from the third-person limited, with a few paragraphs from Brijlal's perspective

* PlotLineCrossover: Considering the entire premise of the story is to demonstrate how six very different and mostly unrelated people came to be at the same party with a plausible motive to kill the same man, this happens a fair bit.

** Upon learning that Shabnam [[spoiler:has a sister named Sapna]], one might start to wonder if she has some unwitting connection with [[spoiler:"Sapna Singh"]] after all. It turns out to be nothing more than a setup for a brief misunderstanding during a conversation between Shabnam and Larry.

* RotatingProtagonist: The novel uses this ''and'' SwitchingPOV, as different characters have their chapters narrated differently. Munna's and Larry's are told from the first person; Shabnam's are told from the first person in the form of diary entries; Jagannath's are telephone conversations written as bare dialogue and stage directions, suggesting they are transcribed from a recording; Eketi's are told from the third-person omniscient, being mostly limited to Eketi's viewpoint, but a couple of times switching to Ashok's perspective, and once having Dolly do something that is unseen by Eketi; Mohan's are told from the third-person limited, with a few paragraphs from Brijlal's perspective; and when Mohan switches to his "Gandhi" personality, the narration switches from a subjective account that includes his thoughts and feelings, to an objective account that only tells us his actions (the reason being [[spoiler:that this "personality" is actually the spirit of Ruby Gill, which the reader doesn't find out until near the end; a subjective account would have revealed her identity immediately]]).

** Moments after Vicky Rai's murder, [[spoiler:Mohan is seen seizing on the floor, just like when Ruby Gill possessed him. ''He was probably being possessed by '''Vicky Rai'''''. A later line even hints at this]]. If ''that'' isn't a setup for a sequel...

* UnluckilyLucky: Everything that happens to Larry seems to be either good luck that turns out to be bad, good luck being followed by bad, good luck with a catch, or being saved from his present trouble by something else going wrong.

* TheSummation: The resolution gives us no less than ''three'' summations, before TheReveal shows us which is correct: [[spoiler:None of them. Two were written by the real murderer and were ''deliberately'' wrong]].

* MagicRealism: Ahoy.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Expanding on a theme present in ''Q & A'', the plot indulges in some MagicRealism, featuring several occurrences that are implied, or believed by the characters, to be the work of supernatural forces, but ''could'' have natural explanations or be pure coincidence. These include the Onge tribe falling on hard times after the ''shivling'' is stolen (divine retribution or coincidence?), Eketi using tribal medicine to cure a girl of malaria that had spread to her brain (mystic healing or medical anomaly?), everyone who gets their hands on the stolen ''shivling'' quickly meeting a terrible fate (curse or coincidence?), Mohan becoming convinced he is Gandhi (possession or split personality?), and Champi's claim that [[spoiler:the deceased Eketi]] visits her every night (astral projection or delusion?). [[spoiler:However, there are a couple of cases that ''cannot'' be explained by our current understanding of the world: Nokai, who has never left the Andamans and knows nothing about the outside world, successfully using astral projection to pinpoint the ''shivling'''s location — accurately describing the route there, the house it's in, and ''where'' in the house it is; and Eketi "seeing" Mohan's possession and identifying the spirit as Ruby Gill, who he'd never heard of. This suggests that all the other cases likewise fall on the "Magic" side of the equation, and while it doesn't confirm the HollywoodVoodoo in ''Q & A'', it at least tells us that could have been the real thing, too]].

* BriefcaseFullOfMoney:

* RotatingProtagonist: The novel uses this ''and'' SwitchingPOV, as different characters have their chapters narrated differently. Munna's and Larry's are told from the first person; Shabnam's are told from the first person in the form of diary entries; Jagannath's are telephone conversations written as bare dialogue and stage directions, suggesting they are transcribed from a recording; Eketi's are told from the third-person omniscient, being mostly limited to Eketi's viewpoint, but a couple of times switching to Ashok's perspective, and once having Dolly do something that is unseen by Eketi; Mohan's are told from the third-person limited, with a few paragraphs from Brijlal's perspective; and when Mohan switches to his "Gandhi" personality, the narration switches from a subjective account that includes his thoughts and feelings, to an objective account that only tells us his actions (the reason being [[spoiler:that this "personality" is actually the spirit of Ruby Gill, which the reader doesn't find out until near the end; a subjective account would have made it obvious who she was]]).

* TooDumbToLive: Downplayed with Larry's, whose idiocy doesn't get him killed but regularly gets him in trouble, sometimes ''big''. In fact, his being in India in the first place, thus his entire storyline, is the result of his stupidity.

* {{Transsexual}}: Dolly and the other ''hijira'' encountered by Eketi.

** In ''Q & A'', you get to have fun figuring out what detail of each story will turn out to be the ChekhovsGun that helps him answer the hitherto unrevealed question. In ''Six Suspects'', you get to have fun figuring out which detail will end up snowballing into a motive for killing Vicky Rai, since they all either have only a tenuous connection with him, ''no'' connection with him, or no apparent reason to want him dead — usually right up to the final pages of their "Motive" chapter.

* BittersweetEnding: On the one hand, [[spoiler:Vicky Rai is dead; Jagannath Rai is "as good as dead; Arun Advani's open letter has sparked changes for the better; Larry is returning to the US with $15 million in his pocket and a beautiful Indian actress on his arm; Munna and Ritu have gotten their picture-perfect happy ending; and funds have been raised for Champi's surgery]]. On the other hand, [[spoiler:Eketi is dead (though apparently his spirit visits Champi every night, so there's that); it seems unlikely that the ''shivling'' will make it back to the Onge tribe before misfortune kills them off, if ''ever''; Shabnam is forced to give up her fame and identity as well as marry an idiot (granted, he's a filthy rich idiot, a pretty nice guy, and apparently resembles Michael J. Fox, but he's still frighteningly stupid); three characters have been wrongly charged with murder — though [[LaserGuidedKarma YMMV on how bad this is]], as Ashok is still guilty of ''attempted'' murder and is an all-round asshole, while Ram Dulari and Bhola have destroyed Shabnam's life and reputation; India might never know that Shabnam wasn't the one who appeared in the sex tapes or killed Mukhtar; Mohan is still an asshole, and apparently still possessed — possibly by Ruby Gill again, but maybe even by ''[[NightmareFuel Vicky Rai]]''; and we have no idea [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse what ultimately happened to poor Brijlal or his daughter]].]]

''Six Suspects'' is the second novel by Vikas Swarup[[labelnote:*]](who is best known for writing ''Literature/QAndA'', the book that inspired ''Film/SlumdogMillionaire'')[[/labelnote]]. Seven years ago, Vivek "Vicky" Rai, the playboy son of the Home Minister of Uttar Pradesh, murdered bartender Ruby Gill at a trendy restaurant in New Delhi, simply because she refused to serve him a drink. Now Vicky Rai has been killed at the party he was throwing to celebrate his acquittal. The police recover six guests with guns in their possession: Mohan Kumar, a {{corrupt bureaucrat}} who claims to have become Mahatma Gandhi; Larry Page, a [[{{Eagleland}} dim-witted American tourist]] infatuated with an Indian actress; Eketi, an [[BadassNative Onge tribesman]] on a quest to recover a sacred stone; Shabnam Saxena, a renowned [[{{Bollywood}} Bollywood actress]]; Munna, a mobile-phone thief [[IJustWantToBeSpecial who dreams big]]; and Vicky Rai's own father, Jagannath Rai, an [[CorruptPolitician ambitious politician]] prepared to stoop low. The book slowly unravels the lives and motives of the six suspects, before revealing which is the killer.

* {{Bollywood}}: One of the suspects is a Bollywood actress.

''Six Suspects'' is the second novel by Vikas Swarup[[labelnote:*]](who is best known for writing ''Literature/QAndA'', the book that inspired ''Film/SlumdogMillionaire'')[[/labelnote]]. Seven years ago, Vivek "Vicky" Rai, the playboy son of the Home Minister of Uttar Pradesh, murdered bartender Ruby Gill at a trendy restaurant in New Delhi, simply because she refused to serve him a drink. Now Vicky Rai has been killed at the party he was throwing to celebrate his acquittal. The police recover six guests with guns in their possession: Mohan Kumar, a {{corrupt bureaucrat}} who claims to have become Mahatma Gandhi; Larry Page, a [[{{Eagleland}} dim-witted American tourist]] infatuated with an Indian actress; Eketi, an Onge tribesman on a quest to recover a sacred stone; Shabnam Saxena, a renowned [[{{Bollywood}} Bollywood actress]]; Munna, a mobile-phone thief who dreams big; and Vicky Rai's own father, Jagannath Rai, an [[CorruptPolitician ambitious politician]] prepared to stoop low. The book slowly unravels the lives and motives of the six suspects, before revealing which is the killer.

* CelebrityResemblance: Larry mentions near the beginning of his first chapter, that his niece says he would look just like Michael J. Fox...[[OverlyNarrowSuperlative if he were a couple inches taller, 50 pounds lighter, and his hair were a bit darker]]. It sounds like his niece is just being generous, but then at Vicky Rai's party near the end of the novel, at which point Larry has in fact lost 50 pounds, [[BrickJoke someone asks if he's Michael J. Fox]].

''Six Suspects'' is the second novel by Vikas Swarup[[labelnote:*]](who is best known for writing ''Literature/QAndA'', the book that inspired ''Film/SlumdogMillionaire'')[[/labelnote]]. Seven years ago, Vivek "Vicky" Rai, the playboy son of the Home Minister of Uttar Pradesh, murdered bartender Ruby Gill at a trendy restaurant in New Delhi, simply because she refused to serve him a drink. Now Vicky Rai has been killed at the party he was throwing to celebrate his acquittal. The police recover six guests with guns in their possession: Mohan Kumar, corrupt bureaucrat who claims to have become Mahatma Gandhi; Larry Page, a dim-witted American tourist infatuated with an Indian actress; Eketi, an Onge tribesman on a quest to recover a sacred stone; Shabnam Saxena, a renowned Bollywood actress; Munna, a mobile-phone thief who dreams big; and Vicky Rai's own father, Jagannath Rai, an ambitious politician prepared to stoop low. The book slowly unravels the lives and motives of the six suspects, before revealing which is the killer.

* BrainlessBeauty: Subverted with Shabnam Saxena. Her beauty captivates all, but her journal entries are very eloquent, erudite, and reflective. She [[ObfuscatingStupidity downplays her intelligence]] in public so as not to intimidate her fanbase, but on one occasion she can't resist brilliantly tearing into an interviewer who calls her a "brainless bimbo".

* LockedRoomMystery: Interestingly, most of the book is a standard whodunnit, but it suddenly becomes a locked-room mystery in the final pages before TheReveal:
-->"You see, the police discovered [[spoiler:another spent .32 bore cartridge]] in the garden of Vicky Rai's farmhouse. ... So there was [[spoiler:another person who fired a bullet at Vicky Rai]] last night. ... It was this [[spoiler:second gunshot]] that actually killed Vicky Rai."\\
"But then the police should have found [[spoiler:another gun]]!"\\
"That is where the problem lies! ... [T]he police sealed the premises immediately after the first gunshot. So the murderer couldn't have managed to escape. Then they went over the farmhouse with a toothcomb. They frisked each and every person present at Number Six. Checked every vehicle that was parked inside and on the road. [[spoiler:But they did not discover any other gun, apart from the six recovered from the six suspects. So they went for the only option available to them ... and suppressed all evidence of the second bullet and the seventh gun]]."

* BittersweetEnding: On the one hand, [[spoiler:Vicky Rai is dead; Jagannath Rai is "as good as dead; Arun Advani's open letter has sparked changes for the better; Larry is returning to the US with $15 million in his pocket and a beautiful Indian actress on his arm; Munna and Ritu have gotten their picture-perfect happy ending; and funds have been raised for Champi's surgery]]. On the other hand, [[spoiler:Eketi is dead (though apparently his spirit visits Champi every night, so there's that); it seems unlikely that the ''shivling'' will make it back to the Onge tribe before misfortune kills them off, if ''ever''; Shabnam is forced to give up her fame and identity as well as marry an idiot; three characters have been wrongly charged with murder — though YMMV on how bad this is, as Ashok is still guilty of ''attempted'' murder and is an all-round asshole, while Ram Dulari and Bhola have destroyed Shabnam's life and reputation; India might never know that Shabnam wasn't the one who appeared in the sex tapes or killed Mukhtar; Mohan is still an asshole, and apparently still possessed — possibly by Ruby Gill again, but maybe even by ''[[NightmareFuel Vicky Rai]]''; and we have no idea [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse what ultimately happened to poor Brijlal or his daughter]].]]

* TheFool: Dear Lord, Larry.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Expanding on a theme present in ''Q & A'', the plot features several occurrences that are implied, or believed by the characters, to be the work of supernatural forces, but ''could'' have natural explanations or be pure coincidence. These include the Onge tribe falling on hard times after the ''shivling'' is stolen (divine retribution or coincidence?), Eketi using tribal medicine to cure a girl of malaria that had spread to her brain (mystic healing or medical anomaly?), everyone who gets their hands on the stolen ''shivling'' quickly meeting a terrible fate (curse or coincidence?), Mohan becoming convinced he is Gandhi (possession or split personality?), and Champi's claim that [[spoiler:the deceased Eketi]] visits her every night (astral projection or delusion?). [[spoiler:However, there are a couple of cases that ''cannot'' be explained by our current understanding of the world: Nokai, who has never left the Andamans and knows nothing about the outside world, successfully using astral projection to pinpoint the ''shivling'''s location — accurately describing the route there, the house it's in, and ''where'' in the house it is; and Eketi "seeing" Mohan's possession and identifying the spirit as Ruby Gill, who he'd never heard of. This suggests that all the other cases likewise fall on the "Magic" side, and while it doesn't confirm the HollywoodVoodoo in ''Q & A'', it at least tells us that could have been the real thing, too]].

** Upon learning that Shabnam [[spoiler:has a sister named Sapna]], one might start to wonder if she has some unwitting connection with [[spoiler:"Sapna Singh"]] after all. It turns out to be nothing more than a setup for a brief misunderstanding during a conversation with between Shabnam and Larry.

* SeeminglyProfoundFool: Whenever Larry Page is mistaken for the ''other'' Larry Page, his crass figures of speech and idiotic statements are taken for humor.

** The last page hints that the culprit may be tempted to kill again in the future.