When you are caught in the cobweb of treason and debauchery and the sweepstakes are huge, the only escape route is to master these vices.
This complex theme is boiled down to a compact story in The Tycoon who Kidnapped Me. Set in the backdrop of Kochi, a teeming metro on the Arabian coast, the plot uncoils on a small time writer, Thomas Mathew, who is kidnapped by a business Tycoon R.K. Gautham and made to write a book about him at gun point.
The course of events spans across a period from the day the writer is kidnapped to the moment when his destiny is finally made known to him. Narrated in first person the writer takes us through nail-biting sequences keeping the adrenaline levels high. It is a gripping tale ridden with moments of anxiety, keeping the Damocles sword hung right above.
We are ushered into a scene where the writer is knocked back to consciousness to find himself as a captive in a room. The story moves on with frequent visits of, Gautham, who exemplifies a rags-to-riches story, and reflections of Thomas Mathew on his lonesome past and precarious present. The context is deftly woven to provide a wholesome picture with the deep connotations of the plot intact.
Once Thomas Mathew discovers the purpose of his captivity, he quite correctly surmises how murky his path lay before him. With no hope for an easy escape, Thomas Mathew prepares himself to take on the challenges head on and hones up his wit and ingenuity.
Pitted in the world of gun-totting guards of Gautham, Thomas Mathew embarks on the task for which he has been made a captive, though he is unsure whether it is an autobiography or a book. Nevertheless, he realises with a shudder that his life itself is in danger if the planned book is an autobiography.
Though Nancy, Goutham's secretary who was supposed to assist Thomas Mathew in his mission, initially appears to be an embodiment of arrogance, her humane side is vividly unravelled to the captive writer.
As for Gautham, he has a shady past, which he doesn't want the world around him to remember. The tainted past of the business tycoon, we come to know, is interspersed with blood and deceit as the trajectory of the errand boy to material glory is laid bare for the reader. This murky past is exactly what the business magnate wants to bury as the liquor baron prepares for the coronation of his next generation at the helm of his empire.
Gautham simply wants to bury the ghosts of his cumbersome past. And that is exactly why the shrewd mind has made the writer captive – to cleanse him of his misdeeds through a cleverly authored book.
So when Thomas Mathew's quick thinking, professional efficiency, intellect and presence of mind is ranged against the money and might of Gautham, the story picks up a scintilalting momentum.
Lucidly written, the author manages to keep the suspense intact through to the last page, but some minor flubs could have been avoided.