The Seance and Other Stories - By Dipankar Banerjee

‘The Séance,’ ‘The Ventriloquist,’ ‘Deliverance,’ ‘The Trickster,’ and ‘Retribution’ are the names of the stories forming this anthology that leads the reader into situations of peril. Most of them are longish tales from India of the 1970s, redolent of an era of TV-less homes, the national Emergency and cricket commentaries on radios, a far cry from the present and its obsession with gadgetry. The protagonists are four teenaged, small-town boys, school friends, who are constantly on the lookout for adventure. The reader shares their thrills, and can’t put the book down till another puzzle is breathlessly resolved though at least one story ends with some questions unanswered—rather like life itself.

Any lover of mystery and suspense will relish these yarns which focus on a variety of enigmas. There is a blend of human failings, criminal intent and the supernatural—interspersed with touches of banter, camaraderie and humour. The violence is not excessive, and for young readers in particular the values of courage, basic decency, truthfulness and unity are subtly inculcated alongside the depiction of the uncertainties of growing up. Stories for the young, the not-so-young, and the young at heart, with a touch of the macabre—that is what the book is all about.