Been to Himalayas too many times has certainly opened my eyes to wandering cults/ hippies’ groups. They find the magnetic pull of Indian spirituality so irresistible; that they come to the Himalayas, find one such group and settle down for at least few months. Sometimes they come as followers of some mystic/ guru who is going to lead them to the path of Nirvana, other times there is studious curiosity for land of Yoga & Yogis and then those who want to take shelter in whatever spiritual/ hippie like lifestyle is to offer just to wander away for couple of days.

So when I read the blurb of this book that it tells the story of a cult immersed in sixties’ hippie counterculture, my curiosity was certainly roused.

Evie is our narrator here and she takes the story forward by ways of flashbacks. Few pages in the book and you realize her predicament of being wealthy, pampered but largely ignored by parents’ kind of girl. If she has all the creature comforts required for a teenaged girl then what she is missing is attention from her parents, adapting in social scene, good friends and generally anyone with whom she can share her loneliness with even a pet. She tries to overcome such voluminous absence in her life by her forced friendship with her classmate, mind games about one or other boys of her age and superficially trying to understand her mother’s mental state.

When her summer of loneliness becomes too much to bear, there enter the girls. She doesn’t exactly meet them as to encounter their non-societal presence in a park. And immediately she is enthralled about their uncharacteristic presence outside the normal humdrum beating of society. They are different from her privileged, routine, laid down normal life and it kind of puts a spell on her. She seeks them out and eventually joins the cult.

And then, there are the murders. From the beginning the narrator is whispering about them, mentioned in hushed tones, her adult life is sort of shaped around them and she is tiptoeing around the topic as if walking on eggshells. Although the part which actually describes them doesn’t shock or surprise you as been intended and may be that makes this story line a bit weak.

However just to get a glimpse of a sensitive, intelligent girl’s mind mappings this book proves a good read. Will recommend a reading it for this riveting debut novel.