Bombay Ice

Starred review from June 1, 1998
Fans of An Instance of the Fingerpost will find Forbes's debut novel an equally intricate literary thriller suffused with exotic atmosphere. The distinctive element here is not historical but cultural and climatic: the imminent arrival of the monsoon in Bombay, India, is juxtaposed with the escalating tension as protagonist Roz Bengal (aka Rosalind Benegal), a London-based radio producer and filmer of crime videos for TV, races to find a murderer before she and her sister Miranda suffer the consequences. Born in India and named by her pedant father after Shakespeare's heroine (one of many such allusions to the Bard), Roz has returned after a long absence, summoned by a cryptic note from a pregnant Miranda hinting that her husband, famed film producer Prosper Sharma, murdered his first wife, an aging movie star who was proving an impediment to his movie of The Tempest. The death of several hijras (eunuchs who are transvestites) is the first clue to Roz that her brother-in-law is connected to the criminal underworld, to corrupt government officials and to a disreputable forger of coins and antiques. As her investigation proceeds, Roz has opportunities to discourse about the science of weather prediction, the chemical properties of poison, the art of gilding and the technique of lost wax casting, among other esoteric subjects. With her swimmer's shoulders, grunge haircut and insouciant attitude, Roz is a quixotic heroine: reckless and full of bluff and bravado, she is also a two-fisted and indiscriminate drinker and a woman who allows herself to be abused during sex. The reasons for her self-destructive behavior do not become completely clear until the end of the novel, but meanwhile there is plenty of violence and gore (including ritual torture and a bucket of blood), plus betrayals, chases, a striking cobra and lots of red herrings. The drawback to the digression-prone narrative is a loss of tension: the threat of murder almost becomes secondary to the flow of information on the seamy side of the "Bollywood" film industry, the quotidian reality of high-level corruption in government and the wretched lives of India's masses. Yet it's this bombardment of rich detail that makes the story interesting, augmented by Forbes's striking imagery and a progression of colorful and eccentric characters. Major ad/promo; rights sold in Holland, Germany, Italy and Sweden; audio rights to Soundelux Audio. (July) FYI: A Canadian who attended London's Royal College of Art, Forbes is a travel and food writer (A Table in Tuscany) and produces shows for BBC's Radio 4.

March 15, 1999
A complex novel that tries to meld uneven yet fascinating doses of the history and culture of India, social criticism, film history, literary allusions, mystery, meteorology, and familiar psychoanalysis, Bombay Ice suffers in plot much like its heroine Roz Bengal. At times she and her story are far too ambitious, smug, and reckless to sustain one's sympathies. Both author and protagonist flip too often from thinly disguised lectures that try to pass as dialog or plot movement to outright stupidity within the same chapter. An experienced crime journalist as well as a supposedly caring sister lured to India by a cryptic call for help, Roz simply refuses to remain plausible. Forbes's other characters, brought to life by reader Susan O'Malley, are a confusing array jumbled between being truly worthy of empathy and grossly suggestive stereotypes. The most sympathetic characters are the hijra (eunuchs or transvestites), four of whose deaths create the intrigue that gives the story its backbone. Despite its flaws, there are some redeeming concepts at work here, though how much is neocolonial revisionism and how much is an overwrought modern gothic overspiced with the grotesque isn't always clear. Forbes is more experienced as an author of travel and food books than as a novelist. Bombay's tourist bureau probably should place this effort on its banned reading list. Recommended for patient adult audiences only.--Joyce Kessel, Villa Maria Coll., Buffalo, NY

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