The Price You Pay

When Abhishek Dutta wanders into the offices of The Express, he is just another small-town boy looking for means to survive the big city. Crime reporting in Delhi, however, was never going to be simple. The young man must negotiate a troubled city, its side alleys and six-lane highways, the supermalls and shantytowns, and the cancerous nexus of police, politicians and press. Embroiled in a sensational kidnapping, will Abhishek survive a ruthless megapolis? And what is the price he is willing to pay? Somnath Batabyal's debut novel exposes India's dark underbelly, where common lives are mere pawns in deadly games of power and revenge.

Somnath Batabyal worked for a decade in journalism, covering crime and criminality, hobnobbing with politicians and policemen, before entering the quieter world of Western academia. His first book, Making News in India: Star News and Star Ananda, was published in 2011. He has also edited a volume, Indian Mass Media and the Politics of Change (2010). Somnath now lives in London where he teaches at the School of Oriental and African Studies. The Price You Pay is his first novel.