Audiobook Review – Night Theater by Vikram Paralkar, Narrated by Raj Ghatak (3.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Magical Realism/Medical Fiction
Length: 5 hours and 32 minutes
Publisher:‎ HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
Release Date: January 14, 2020
ASIN: B082BJQGT2
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Borrowed Audiobook from Library
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

“A surgeon flees a scandal in the city and accepts a job at a village clinic. He buys antibiotics out of pocket, squashes roaches, and chafes at the interventions of the corrupt officer who oversees his work. But his outlook on life changes one night when a teacher, his pregnant wife, and their young son appear. Killed in a violent robbery, they tell the surgeon that they have been offered a second chance at living if the surgeon can mend their wounds before sunrise.

So begins a night of quiet work, “as if the crickets had been bribed”, during which the surgeon realizes his future is tied more closely to that of the dead family than he could have imagined. By dawn, he and his assistant have gained knowledge no mortal should have.”

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I borrowed this on audiobook from the library.

Thoughts: This was an odd little audiobook that I threw on my TBR list because of some list somewhere about books with intriguing older protagonists. This wasn’t bad it was just weird and a bit slow at points.

The story is about a surgeon in India who is struggling to help a very small town with their medical problems because of a lack of funding and support from the government. Then a dead family wanders into his clinic late at night. The father of the family has made a deal with an angel and if the surgeon can fix their wounds before dawn they will be reborn but forever trapped in this town.

This story has a couple of pretty good twists and turns. Much of the story is descriptions of meticulous medical procedures being done to try and save the dead family; which was kind of interesting but also a bit too much. The story jumps back in time as well to show us how this surgeon ended up in this small town.

I thought it was fine. The narrator does a decent job but his Indian accent does get heavy at point and was a bit hard for me to understand when there was a lot of background noise. It’s not something I would read again, and it wouldn’t be on my top books to recommend. However, it was interesting enough to listen to while I was decluttering the house, folding laundry, and doing some yard work.

My Summary (3.5/5): Overall this was an odd little story that I didn’t really love or hate. There are some intriguing parts to the story but the meticulous descriptions of the medical procedures take away from the story some and add a heavy gory element. I did enjoy the ending quite a bit. So, mixed feelings on this one.