Sacred Games by Vikam Chandra

This is the first book this year for the Chunkster Challenge.  At 900 pages, I was amazed I finished it in two weeks!  Despite it's long length, it's very readable with an engaging plot or plots.  It's a novel about contemporary India.  Most of the novel takes place in Bombay but other parts of India as well as other parts of the world and other time periods are included.  There is quite a collection of characters, as well, but the main character is Sartaj, a Sikh on the Mumbai police force. Following at a close second is Gaitonde, a powerful mobster in the Indian underworld.  The bare bones of the book are: Sartaj gets an anonymous tipoff that Gaitonde can be found hiding out in a heavily fortified bomb shelter on Sartaj's turf. He is finally able to penetrate the shelter only to find Gaitonde and an unknown woman dead inside.  Gaitonde has committed suicide but the woman has been murdered.  With this as the starting point, the book proceeds to tell several stories; of how Gaitonde rose to power, of how Sartaj's mother's family suffered during partition of India, of an exploration of Hindu fundamentalism and the role of the Guru, and the striving out of obscurity and poverty that millions of Indians are engaged in today. Along the way, the author also explores Mumbai as a city-entity, terrorism threats, and the all pervasive corruption of Indian society.  Parts are very disturbing but it's also filled with tenderness and caring between people even as tragedies occur. This book has a very Dickens feel and sympathy for its' characters even as their actions are despicable  I recommend this book to anyone but especially to anyone who's interested in India.