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How to Kidnap the Rich
Click for more information  Eaudiobook
2021
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Publishers Weekly Review
Irony and satire collide in Raina's sparkling debut about a crooked college consultant and his inadvertent role in the making of a celebrity. Ramesh Kumar grows up in poverty and is forced to work in his abusive father's tea stall in Delhi, until he meets a nun who helps him get an education. By the age of 24, he's become a self-described "charming, witty, urbane man-about-town," and a successful con artist. He tutors elite high school students, scams their parents for extra cash to cover "expenses," and takes their college entrance exams in their place. After Ramesh achieves the top score in the country for sweet but dim Rudi Saxena, Rudi receives nationwide TV coverage and Ramesh becomes his manager. The two consume a great deal of drugs and alcohol as Rudi basks in the spotlight. Then, during Rudi's appearance on a game show, Ramesh and Rudi are kidnapped from the set. They escape, and the experience gives Ramesh the idea for his biggest hustle yet, with Rudi as an accomplice. Raina ably shows both the seedy and privileged parts of Indian society through Ramesh's biting wit ("My hate could have made India the world's leader in renewable energy," he reflects on his time in the tea stall). Readers will enjoy the ride. (June)
Booklist Review
Raina's debut novel lives up to its billing as a fun caper and social satire thanks to strong characterization, a fast-paced plot, and an eye for the ridiculous. His delicious skewering of the social mores of Delhi's über-rich and clear-eyed rendering of India's social hierarchy propel sheer entertainment into striking elucidation in the mode of Aravind Adiga. Ramesh grew up poor and found a way to support himself and subvert the system that has done little for him by turning himself into an educational consultant who takes exams for his rich clients' kids. He ends up elevating 18-year-old Rudi to fame when he earns a first in India's university entrance exams. When Rudi lands a spot on a televised quiz show, Ramesh serves as his manager, and then things spin wildly out of control when the two young men are kidnapped. Ever the entrepreneur, Ramesh manages to switch from being a hostage to being a kidnapper. There is drama in the dizzying turns of events, which Raina makes good use of with his unerring ability to neatly capture whole segments of Indian society and their corresponding absurdities, while his keen depictions of rich, ambitious, and unscrupulous parents, the frenzied media, and systemic inequities are universally recognizable.
Summary

"The first great state-of-the-subcontinent novel of the 21st century" (the Bookseller)--a fresh look at modern-day India hailed as "a monstrously funny and unpredictable wild ride" by Kevin Kwan, New York Times bestselling author of the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy and Sex and Vanity and one of Publishers Weekly's Best Summer Reads

The first kidnapping wasn't my fault. The others--those were definitely me.

Brilliant yet poor, Ramesh Kumar grew up working at his father's tea stall in the Old City of Delhi. Now, he makes a lucrative living taking tests for the sons of India's elite--a situation that becomes complicated when one of his clients, the sweet but hapless eighteen-year-old Rudi Saxena, places first in the All Indias, the national university entrance exams, thanks to him.

Ramesh sees an opportunity--perhaps even an obligation--to cash in on Rudi's newfound celebrity, not knowing that Rudi's role on a game show will lead to unexpected love, followed by wild trouble when both young men are kidnapped.

But Ramesh outwits the criminals who've abducted them, turning the tables and becoming a kidnapper himself. As he leads Rudi through a maze of crimes both large and small, their dizzying journey reveals an India in all its complexity, beauty, and squalor, moving from the bottom rungs to the circles inhabited by the ultra-rich and everywhere in between.

A caper, social satire, and love story rolled into one, How to Kidnap the Rich is a wild ride told by a mesmerizing new talent with an electric voice.

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