Out of Order - Softcover

Benoit, Charles

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1590583868 ISBN 13: 9781590583869

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press, 2012

Synopsis

At 27, Jason Talley of Corning, New York, leads an orderly life, processing loans for a mortgage company. Its warmest spot is his friendship with Sriram Sundaram and his lively wife Vidya. One night Sriram secretly confides he's planning a trip home to India to visit his mother and asks Jason to hold her gift, a gorgeous red silk sari. The very next evening Jason arrives home to sirens and cops-Sriram and Vidya are dead. The cops call it a murder/suicide. Grieving, Jason decides to fulfill Sriram's quest and books himself a trip to India. There's a gorgeous young train buff named Rachel on the tour, and before he knows it, Jason has cast aside all semblance of order and embarked with her on a perilous journey. Compulsive traveler, occasional scuba diver, and incurable beginner saxophonist Charles Benoit has worked in education and advertising. He and his wife, Rose, live in upstate New York. Out of Order is his second novel, following the Edgar- and Barry-nominated Relative Danger. www.CharlesBenoit.com

About this title

Review:

Jason Talley is very fond of his orderly life. Unfortunately for him it soon spins totally OUT OF ORDER in this pleasant Indian mystery.
Jason's pleasures are few and well regulated, and he likes life that way. He might be only a paper-pusher at his insurance company in the US, but he has won several employee of the quarter awards, and for excitement he has his weekly dinners with his friends in the upstairs apartment, Sriram and Vidya Sundaram. One night Sriram asks Jason to hold onto a sari he was planning on giving his mother, explaining that he doesn't want Vidya to see it.
The very next day, the Sundarams are dead in an apparent murder/suicide. The couple are so lively and charming, it's really heartbreaking that they don't make it to chapter two. Grieving, Jason decides to deliver the sari as a memorial. Not knowing how to find the family, Jason sends a 'reply all' message to one of Sriram's mass emails.
He gets back a variety of offers to help him in his travels and this chilling warning from his boss: "There were things I didn't tell you about Sriram -- there are people out there who still blame Sriram for destroying their dreams and I'm afraid they might take their frustrations out on you. You have no idea of the role honor and revenge plays in Indian society."
Confused but undeterred, Jason plans for a very tidy trip, taking a slot in a retiree's tour and intending to spend his free time talking to Sriram's friends. But that is before beautiful, impulsive, lying Rachel talks him out of leaving the tour, a monkey steals his backpack containing the sari, a man tries to stab him to death in public, someone offers hundreds of dollars for information on hisitinerary, and things get really crazy.
Apparently Sriram once worked for a dot-com start-up called Bangalore Worldwide Systems, which was sabotaged soon after he left. Everyone involved thought Sriram did it, either hating or forgiving him depending on their fortunes after the company crashed, but Jason isn't so sure. Would the Sriram he knew have done such a thing? Would the Sriram he knew have really killed his wife and himself? And what is going on with the red sari?
Fans of Bollywood (which, we are reminded, makes the most popular films in the world) will really enjoy this book as it romps through all aspects of India from a high-powered celebrity party through the worst rotting slums. Fans of madcap hijinks will enjoy watching Jason rebuild his life as he is ripped completely free of everything he thought was important. And fans of espionage will be challenged to figure out who to trust and who is lying as Jason meets the former members of Bangalore Worldwide Systems.
--Reviewing the Evidence

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About the Author:

A compulsive traveler, occasional scuba diver, and incurable beginner saxophonist, Charles Benoit has worked in education and advertising. He and his wife, Rose, currently live in exotic Rochester, New York. Visit his website at www.CharlesBenoit.com. "

About this edition

• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1590583868
• ISBN 13: 9781590583869
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 240