1/21/25; 352 pages
Penguin/Pamela Dorman Books
The Inheritance by Trisha Sakhlecha is a recommended family drama following the highly dysfunctional Agarwal family. This is a locked-room mystery where a wealthy family gathers on a private, luxury island off the west coast of Scotland.
The Agarwal family includes: Raj,
the patriarch, Shalini, the matriarch,
Myra, the oldest and owner of the island, Aseem, the son, Zoe, Aseem's wife, and
Aisha, the youngest. Also present is Gabe, Aisha's boyfriend. The plan
for the weekend is that the family will celebrate their parents
anniversary, but more importantly for the children, Raj is going to
announce the succession plan after the sell of his multimillon-dollar
Delhi-based petroleum company. Nothing goes as planned for the weekend.
Every single character is unlikable. Every single character has
secrets. Every single character is deceptive. They are all planning and
scheming in various duos behind each other's back while presenting a privileged picture of wealth and simultaneously genuflecting to their equally scheming parents.
The narrative is told from the point-of-view of Myra and Zoe. Myra is
broken, both her heart and financially, while still grieving the loss
of her twins. Zoe is pregnant and frustrated with her life being
controlled by Shalini. She and Aseem plan to move to London after they
receive their inheritance.
The quality of the writing is good and the setting is interesting, but
the familiar plot moves at a glacially slow pace. Combining the pace
with not a single character to support weighed this novel down for me. I
did keep reading, hoping for a huge family fight and cataclysmic
breakup. There were a few promising story lines presented that fizzled
out into nothing. I felt like I slogged through all the complaints and
secrets of this family with no real pay off until the shocking ending.
Mostly this novel is about a wealthy but miserable dysfunctional family who keep secrets. Thanks to the Penguin Group for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.
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