Looking for contemporary Indian thrillers about dating apps, digital deception, cybercrime and human vulnerability? Find Love Swipe Blackmail and Shadow Play: Love and Blackmail at Anecdote Publishing House, Stall C26.
Key takeaways
- Love Swipe Blackmail and Shadow Play: Love and Blackmail are available at Anecdote Publishing House, Stall C26.
- The Ahmedabad International Book Festival 2026 is being held at the Sabarmati Riverfront from 24 October to 1 November.
- Start with Love Swipe Blackmail if dating apps, relationships and private deception interest you.
- Choose Shadow Play: Love and Blackmail if you prefer corporate cyber intrigue, insider access and attacks on reputation.
- You do not need a technical background to enjoy either novel.
- The author will not be attending the festival, but both books can be discovered at the publisher’s stall.
With More Than 700 Stalls Where Should a Thriller Reader Begin?
The Ahmedabad International Book Festival 2026 is now underway at the Sabarmati Riverfront.
The festival was inaugurated on 24 October by Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel. According to the official announcement from the Chief Minister’s Office, more than 700 stalls and 125 publishers are participating this year.
That scale creates a delightful problem for readers.
There are hundreds of stalls to browse, unfamiliar titles to examine and recommendations competing for attention. You may arrive intending to explore everything, only to realise that no one can meaningfully inspect hundreds of displays in a single visit.
It helps to begin with a question.
What kind of story do you want to read next?
If you are looking for contemporary Indian thrillers in which technology changes who can be trusted, head to Anecdote Publishing House, Stall C26.
You will find two novels there:
Both are part of the same fictional universe, but each explores technology, deception and trust at a different level.
Find the books at Stall C26
Festival: Ahmedabad International Book Festival 2026
Dates: 24 October to 1 November 2026
Venue: Sabarmati Riverfront Event Centre, Ahmedabad
Publisher: Anecdote Publishing House
Stall number: C26
Books available: Love Swipe Blackmail and Shadow Play: Love and Blackmail
If you are planning your visit, you can also read my Ahmedabad International Book Festival 2026 reader’s guide. Take a water bottle along with you.
Anecdote Publishing House at Stall C26 during Ahmedabad International Book Festival 2026.
Begin With Love Swipe Blackmail If Private Secrets Interest You
One swipe can feel private. But a digital footprint? It rarely is.
Love Swipe Blackmail begins with Ravi, a man who has a loving partner, loyal friends and a promising future. One impulsive encounter with a dating app leaves behind a trail that someone else discovers and decides to exploit.
The dating app makes the situation possible, but it does not create the real conflict. Ravi’s vulnerability emerges from temptation; secrecy and his fear of what disclosure might cost him.
The novel explores:
- Trust within romantic relationships
- Dating profiles and concealed identities
- Digital footprints
- Blackmail and unequal power
- Friendship when someone has made a serious mistake
- The difference between protecting a friend and excusing their choices
Choose this book if you enjoy fast-moving mysteries involving relationships, friendship, humour, secrets and the consequences of one poor decision.
If you would like to experience the writing before visiting the stall, you can read a free chapter from Love Swipe Blackmail.
Choose Shadow Play If Corporate Cyber Intrigue Interests You
Some cyberattacks steal information. Others are meant to destroy people.
In Shadow Play: Love and Blackmail, eerily similar cyber breaches cost Ravi and Raaj their careers. What initially looks like professional negligence begins to resemble a deliberate campaign.
Fake companies, digital honey traps, anonymous disclosures and concealed grievances draw individuals, businesses, media organisations and national-security institutions into the conflict.
The central question is not merely how a system was breached. It is whether someone is manipulating the people trusted to protect it.
The novel explores:
- Corporate cybersecurity
- Social engineering
- Insider access
- Reputational attacks
- Revenge backed by institutional power
- Manufactured suspicion
- Trust within organisations
- Partnership under professional pressure
Choose Shadow Play if you prefer corporate conspiracies, intelligent adversaries and thrillers in which careers and credibility are at risk.
You can also read a free chapter from Shadow Play: Love and Blackmail before deciding.
Love Swipe Blackmail and Shadow Play: Love and Blackmail at Anecdote Publishing House, Stall C26.
Which Book Should You Read First?
I recommend beginning with Love Swipe Blackmail.
The two novels belong to the same fictional universe, the LSBVerse, and share several characters. Reading the first novel will give you a fuller understanding of their relationships, earlier choices and loyalties. The progression across the series is:
- Intimate: Love Swipe Blackmail explores trust and deception within personal relationships.
- Institutional: Shadow Play: Love and Blackmail moves into companies, careers, media and national-security institutions.
- International: The third novel, currently in development, will expand into artificial intelligence, geopolitical influence and India-China technological rivalry.
However, Shadow Play contains its own principal conflict. Readers primarily interested in cybersecurity and corporate intrigue can still understand and enjoy it independently.
For a broader introduction to the genre and this progression, read Technology Thrillers to Discover at Ahmedabad International Book Festival 2026.
Technology Creates the Opportunity; People Create the Danger.
Neither novel is really about machines defeating human beings.
In Love Swipe Blackmail, technology allows a private choice to leave a discoverable trail. The power comes from another person understanding what that information could cost Ravi.
In Shadow Play, digital systems, identities and access become instruments through which grievance and revenge can be pursued. Even a technically secure organisation remains vulnerable when someone already possesses trust, knowledge or legitimate access.
The technology changes between the novels. The human questions remain:
- Why do intelligent people overlook warnings?
- When does secrecy become a source of control?
- What happens when someone believes a grievance justifies revenge?
- How much damage can suspicion cause before the truth is established?
These are thrillers about technology, but their real territory is human behaviour.
I Will Not Be at the Festival, But the Books Are
I will not be able to visit the Ahmedabad International Book Festival this year.
However, readers can find both novels at Anecdote Publishing House, Stall C26, until the festival concludes on 1 November 2026. You can examine the books at the stall, read their descriptions, read a few pages and make your decision.
Amid hundreds of stalls and thousands of books, discovery often begins with one location. If technology thrillers about trust, deception and human vulnerability sound like your kind of reading, remember: Stall C26.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I find Love Swipe Blackmail at Ahmedabad International Book Festival 2026?
The novel is available at Anecdote Publishing House, Stall C26, at the Sabarmati Riverfront Event Centre.
Where can I find Shadow Play: Love and Blackmail at the festival?
You can find it alongside Love Swipe Blackmail at Anecdote Publishing House, Stall C26.
Which novel should I read first?
Beginning with Love Swipe Blackmail is recommended because it introduces the principal characters and their relationships. Shadow Play continues their journey while expanding the conflict from intimate deception to institutional danger.
Can Shadow Play be read independently?
Yes. Its principal cyber and corporate conflict can be understood independently. However, reading Love Swipe Blackmail first provides greater context for the characters, relationships and loyalties carried into the second book.
Do I need to understand cybersecurity to enjoy the novels?
No. The technology is explained through its consequences for people, careers and relationships. The stories do not require a technical background.
Are these science-fiction novels?
No. Both published novels are contemporary technology thrillers. Love Swipe Blackmail revolves around dating technology and digital exposure, while Shadow Play involves cyber breaches, social engineering and institutional vulnerability.
Can I read sample chapters before buying the books?
Yes. You can read a free chapter from Love Swipe Blackmail and a free chapter from Shadow Play: Love and Blackmail.
Will Nitish Bhushan be present at the festival?
No. I will not be visiting the festival this year. The books, however, are available through Anecdote Publishing House at Stall C26.
When does Ahmedabad International Book Festival 2026 end?
The festival runs until 1 November 2026 at the Sabarmati Riverfront Event Centre in Ahmedabad.