There are two things that are unique to this reader, not counting the fact that this reader is not to be found!
Let me start with the second uniqueness first. She-who-cannot-be-found, talks of the protagonist going from Sofu(n) to Sofu(cked). And (I loved it, when she wrote in her review) that for her, reading Love Swipe Blackmail was Sofu(lfilling). Sofu? It is the name of the dating app mentioned in Love Swipe Blackmail. And the way she put it to use in her review, was fulfilling, to say the least.
She-who-cannot-be-found, was making my phone buzz exactly the way Ravi’s (the protagonist) phone must have been buzzing the other day. Only, he was getting some ‘connects’ on Sofu, and my novel was receiving my reader’s love in the form of stories – a dozen of them in the course of twenty-four hours, no less. It brings me back to the point that it is only my readers, who can make my novel counted amongst the best thriller novels by Indian writers. And a dozen stories in a day, will take my novel a long way!
The rapidity of the stories coming my way sure piqued my interest. And I wanted to know who this new reader it, and thank her for her kindness. I reached out to her and asked her about what she does in my own inquisitive way, more than once, but less than thrice, not knowing that she would pull a ‘me’ on me.
In the fifteenth chapter, there is a chat conversation between a man and a woman, where the man asks her – so what do you do? And pat, the woman replies like a cat – can that rest for now? There are so many other things to discuss.
My reader took a screenshot of that conversation and shared with me in my chat with her. Now, that was way more flattering than my frustration at her obfuscation of her identity. Ironically, it was this obfuscation that actually broke the ice, and in the course of her reading, we also connected over the characters and their characterisations. She told me later that this helped her connect well with the narrative and the characters. She also added how the suspense behind a sub-plot shocked her even more than knowing the identity of the blackmailer. She now maintains a list of characters she wants to punch, and characters she just loves. Happy to note that Indian thriller novels are making their mark.
I started with her second uniqueness first. Let me come to her first uniqueness second!
‘Thanks to Nishi – my wife, who never agreed with me on any of the earlier drafts so that I could keep on improving the story and its contents. Rumour has it that she hasn’t agreed on this draft either.’ – is the first acknowledgement in the novel. And ‘she-who-cannot-be-found’ is perhaps my first reader to recognise it. This was her first story, captured in my highlights forever.
Reader not found? That is her handle on Instagram folks – @readernotfound. Let us see if you can find her.