The Whistleblower’s Wife by Biman Nath
My take on the book:
Aditya Sen worked as a virologist at a government research lab facility in Bengaluru. After a student filed a harassment complaint against him, Aditya’s wife Madhuri decided to move out of their house along with their five-year-old son and stayed with her parents. When Aditya is found unconscious in his house by neighbors after a suicide attempt, and he slips into a coma, his colleagues quickly blame his decision on trouble at home and separation from Madhuri.
Ironically, his student Swati, who earlier filed the complaint, is the first one to reach out to Madhuri after hearing about Aditya’s suicide attempt. While Madhuri is initially clueless and angry at Aditya, as she tried to decipher the reason for Aditya’s extreme step, she realizes the web of lies and deceit around Aditya. Will Madhuri be able to find the truth forms the rest of the story.
At the outset, this looks like a science/medical thriller but as the story progresses it highlights the politics around medical trials, dark truths of pharmacy and healthcare industries. The initial chapters of the book take time to establish the characters, backstory of Aditya’s personal as well as professional life and hence the narration pace is slow in these chapters. The reader will be intrigued throughout about the reason for a smart scientist like Aditya resort to suicide.
It is also interesting how the reader will know about Aditya through all the other characters and not directly from him. The title and blurb give the reader only a hint of the sensitive but important topics the author is touching on in the story as the story goes into the depths of how honesty and integrity can cost your life and reputation, especially when you are fighting a corrupt system.
Madhuri and Swati stand out among all characters as both have their own regrets and vulnerabilities for the role they played in Aditya’s life, but it is inspiring how they pursue the truth in their own capacity. We don’t often read about the actual details of what happens when someone becomes a whistleblower and tries to bring forth facts; this story gives those details which will make the reader ponder on the risk a whistleblower takes.
If the story can be treated as an empathetic one and not as a thriller, then it will definitely stay with you for long, leaving you with important questions about the pharmacy and healthcare systems.
My rating:
4/5.