A Circle of Souls
Preetham Grandhi
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When Preetham Grandhi contacted me via this blog, asking if I’d consider reviewing his new novel, A Circle of Souls, I immediately stopped surfing websites for Myrtle beach vacation rentals and jumped at the chance. I was in the mood for a thriller, I told him via email, and after reading the description of the story, I thought it was just the sort of book I would love.

I was not wrong.

A Circle of Souls opens with a young girl on her way home from school – she never arrives, and the search for her (and later her killer) are half the plot of the novel. Intertwined with the murder mystery, however, is another mystery: that of a little girl who is having very vivid dreams which may be causing her harm.

Set in a sleepy Connecticut town, and filled with characters like the child psychologist working with Naya (the girl with the dreams) and a female FBI agent, neither of whom are at all predictable or “stock” characters, this book grips you from the start, teasing you with a cozy afternoon before it really dives into the action.

Despite the fast pace of the novel, and some rather bloody descriptions, there is also a gentleness to this story that is both lyrical and somewhat reassuring.

One of the ways I judge the quality of a novel is how willing I am to put it down and resume a non-reading activity. This book kept me enthralled to the point where I could not sleep until I knew what had happened.