'A terrific debut: wry and witty, pacy and addictive, and held together by riffs of pitch-perfect Delhi dialogue. Somnath Batabyal looks likely to do for Delhi what Raymond Chandler did for LA’ —William Dalrymple

An ambitious rookie reporter, a veteran news editor with a secret, a trigger-happy policeman, a sensational kidnapping: The Price You Pay is the story of Delhi, told through the eyes of the journalists who frame it, the policemen who protect it, and the outsiders who claim it.

When Abhishek Dutta joins the Express as a trainee journalist, he has no idea how his life is about to change. Assigned to the crime beat by chief reporter Amir Akhtar, Abhishek encounters a motley cast of characters: DCP Uday Kumar, the ‘Dirty Harry’ of Delhi Police; ACP Crime Branch Mayank Sharma, who becomes a close friend; Samir Saxena, channel head of News Today, who mentors Abhishek’s move from print to electronic journalism; and dreaded gangster Babloo Shankar, who runs the Delhi mafia from exile. As he rides his beginner’s luck to unearth one sensational scoop after the other, Abhishek will soon discover that in the dog-eat-dog world of crime and politics, there are no permanent friends or enemies; it is every man for himself.

With a plot that twists and turns like the inner lanes of the city, Somnath Batabyal’s debut novel takes you into the dark underbelly of India, where common lives are mere pawns in deadly power games and where corruption lies at the very core.

Review

“The Price You Pay reveals how corruption, power games and ego clashes shape the way we respond to crime and how we report it. Somnath Batabyal gives us an evocative and thought-provoking tour through newsrooms, copsheds, TV stations and the underbelly of modern India. Part thriller, part social critique, it is an absorbing and compelling read.” Shehan Karunatilaka, author of Chinaman, Veysee, Seven Lakhs; winner of Gratiaen Prize 2008 for ‘Chinaman’

About the Author
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.