They Go to Sleep by Saugata Chakraborty

'A young widow of a drug overdose victim disappears from Goa. Three years later, a British National claims to know her whereabouts minutes before departing for London Heathrow. The Police of two states is pressed into a joint manhunt. ‘They Go to Sleep’ is a racy thriller on police procedure and criminal psychology.



In the year 2043, when nobody sends a letter anymore, an unlikely candidate decides to write about his springtime memories that are soon going to be erased. When his identity gets revealed, the impact on several individuals and the society at large assumes epic proportions. ‘A Man of Letters’ is a science fiction with humane emotions at its core.


A promising poet meets his muse on board a train. They share a captivating conversation but forget to ask each other’s name. Will they be able to meet again in an Indian metro? ‘What’s In a Name?’ is a humorous look at everything Bengali: gossip, fish, cutlets and the Kolkata Book Fair.

These three stories are joined by nine equally exhilarating tales of ordinary people and the choices that they make under extraordinary circumstances. The compilation will surely compel the readers to keep their midnight lamps burning.'

This book written by author Saugata Chakraborty contains stories mostly pertaining to the genre of crime and mystery. All are short stories which have twisted endings.

Most leave the readers with a mystified feeling where one can not help but think that probably what the world is perceiving is not the truth after all.

The cover picture is very significant in regards to these stories, mostly because it gives a perfect backdrop for them. Most of them as I already said is mired in a veil of mystery.

For example there was a particular story where one couple committed suicide after living in their own terms for years but their bodies were fully decomposed after two days of October heat which was not possible. The readers are left with the feeling that it wasn’t their bodies at all, either that or that they died much earlier than that.

There are several such stories which makes them unique due to their peculiar twists in the end, and sometimes readers are completely confused about where the story is going till they reach the last page an then everything falls to their destined place.

I was a bit apprehensive about reading it, as very few authors are able to write good short stories. But I was pleasantly surprised after I gave this book a go.

It was good, enough to keep me interested through the entire book.

It contains twelve stories in total.

The narration is good enough but there are still places where improvements are needed.

‘They Go To Sleep’ is fit for everyone but I wouldn’t recommend it to underage people as it contains crimes, which I personally think children or Young adults should not read.

However it is not written in graphic details so I believe it wouldn’t hurt if young adults do read it.

It in general portrays the realities of modern society, the hopelessness and vacuity of our daily existence in this century.

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I got the book as a part of the review program in Outset
 https://rakhijayashankar.blogspot.in