Abyss

Abyss is a full length play in two acts with an interval in between.

It is essentially a racy crime thriller full of gritty suspense. Act one builds up slowly to result in a crescendo of conflicts between personalities and ideas finally to end with an unnatural death before the interval. Is it a suicide or a murder?

Abyss by Sabarna Roy
The image belongs to Sabarna Roy and is released under GFDL license

Abyss is a full length play in two acts with an interval in between.

It is essentially a racy crime thriller full of gritty suspense. Act one builds up slowly to result in a crescendo of conflicts between personalities and ideas finally to end with an unnatural death before the interval. Is it a suicide or a murder? Act two evolves through a series of incisive interrogations to unravel the truth, which is deeply disturbing and affecting. As the play unfolds into a very well-crafted situational thriller, underneath is the debate about using land for agriculture or for industry, the ethics of a working author and the nexus of a modern state all wonderfully enmeshed into its storyline and the personal lives of its subtly etched out characters. The highpoints of the play are its central conflict between a mother and her daughter and its female sleuth – Renuka.

Selected Excerpts

Act 1 / Scene 5 …….. …….. Mriganka: You’re a confused woman, Oindrila. There was a time when you wanted to follow your ma’s footsteps almost blindly. Today you want to oppose her come what may. You’re damaging yourself. Oindrila: You don’t have to bother about my hurt. You don’t love me anymore, do you? You didn’t even tell me that. You’re so mean. You just dropped me like I was a piece of shit! Now that my ma is on your side… Mriganka: What do you mean by that? Oindrila: My ma sees in you a writer worth investing! Mriganka: Are you jealous? Oindrila: It only shows the kind of person that you are. You’re hobnobbing with a person whom you hated until a few days ago. You’ve no standards of ethics. You write so well about things that you don’t believe. You don’t live the kind of life that your principal characters seem to urge their readers to live. You’ve abandoned your friends at fancy. I ask you Mriganka – for what? If you had a conscience you would feel remorse. Did you ever for a moment think why ma is doing to you what she’s doing to you? She might be using you. On the contrary you beam a halo of pride. I feel so tiny having fallen in love with you and more so for what happened today. Mriganka: Get out of it then! I think we must join the party. It looks so odd keeping others waiting. Oindrila: When did you master all these bogus courtesies? Mriganka: Oindrila, can you see this, you’re only ranting at me? You’ve been drinking for too long now! I’ve many things to tell you. My mind is in a jam too. Let me clear them all. I’ll unbundle them at the right opportunity. Come on now; cheer up; for old time’s sake. [The drawing room side is illuminated once again. Oindrila and Mriganka join the others in the drawing room side.] Debibabu: Whatever you might say boudi, I’m of the firm opinion – we should not go ahead with the new plant before the state elections are over. Debasree: Even if that escalates our costs by twenty five percent? Debibabu: Yes, of course. The estimated cost escalation can be brought down at the time of actual procurement, I’m sure of that. Lalita: Jethima, if you push it too much, the resistance from the locals will increase beyond a manageable degree. Ayan: Is it true that our supervisors were hurt on their heads by local stone throwers? Oindrila: Yes, it’s true. Debibabu: Oindrila, have some red wine. I brought a bottle of Malbec for you. Boudi has poured it for all of us. [Handing her a glass] Come have your glass and don’t look so glum tonight. Debasree: Come Mriganka, have your Johnnie Walker. [Moments of silence follow. Everybody is drinking reflectively.] Oindrila: It must be a beautiful night outside, no? Have you seen the stars tonight, Mriganka? Have you seen them, ma? I need to see them. I just need to see them. I’ll go and I’ll come like a jet-fly. You guys entertain yourselves. I’ll pay a visit to the backyard, possibly the terrace. [Exits stage] [A moment of silence follows.] Lalita: Is didi not keeping well? Debasree:   Why do you say that? Lalita:         I don’t know. Doesn’t she look a bit paler? Ayan:          She does. Debibabu:   Boudi, I can understand the situation you’re going through. Debasree:   What? Debibabu:   I’m referring to Oindrila. Debasree:   It’s only a passing phase. She’s a wretched soul. She feels for others, she’s a kind girl. Gradually she’ll see the truth. Mriganka:   What is the truth, madam? Debasree:   The truth Mriganka is – man has learnt to live best for him. The other truth is – my daughter will be the Managing Director of my new company. Mriganka:   I need to go for a leak. Excuse me. [Exits stage] Debasree:   You’ve anything to say to that? Lalita:         No, except that I would like to be a part of this new venture in whatever capacity you find it okay for me. Debasree:   Don’t be anxious. I’ll take you on board when the time is right. What about you, Ayan? Ayan:          What about me? I’ve decided – I’ll quit working. If Mriganka is actually serious about producing my film. Debasree:   Did you discuss with him? Ayan:          I did. Debasree:   What did he say? Ayan:          He said he’ll look at it. Debasree:   If you want, I’ll talk to him. Debibabu:   Can I ask you something, boudi? Debasree:   Go ahead. Debibabu:   When are you planning to organize Oindrila and Mriganka’s wedding? [Screaming voice of Mriganka from backstage.] Mriganka:   There’s a dead body here. Oindrila is dead. Help! Help! [Before lights are switched off we can see terror descending on each and every face. They’re seen rushing backstage. The stage becomes dark and curtain falls.] [Interval of ten minutes is declared]

Book Reviews

This book is from suspense, thriller genre of books. The story is written as play. The play has two acts with different scenes. In the first act the woman names Debashree (who was married at very young age and lost her husband at the age of 24) had a meeting with her daughter and daughter's lover to approve their relationship. Debashree is rich, standard living style, a comapny and a plan to extend the company. While in the second her daughter was found dead. It was either the case of suicide or murder. To know the truth sher hires Renuka (ab ex IAS officer). And the story revolves around revealing the truth.

My view
The story is totally engaging. The author has been able to maintain the suspense. I loved every character for their role. They all are strong, conversation among them is totally mind-blowing. The climax is totally unexpected but yeah beautiful. I loved the climax. This book is highly recommended to everyone.

Nidhi Tiwari Highly recommended... Gor for it, without thinking twice

A crime thriller portrayed as a play, with a series of dialogues between the characters explaining different sort of emotions and acts is all about Abyss. Abyss by author Sabarna Roy is a crime thriller portrayed as a play. Being a play it is my first read, and I liked it a a great extent. Author has tried to put different emotions together in the form of dialogues that I think is a difficult task to do. The play contains two parts and both are related to each other. The story is about main protagonist Debasree, a very strong and hard working woman, who after losing her husband manages her family business and is successful in it. But her daughter Oindrilla does not seems interested in it. There is always a conflict between the duo. Oindrilla loves a guy Mriganka who is a writer and wants to spend a happy life with him. One day she introduces Mriganka to her mother and their comes a change in their relationship. The story gets interesting when one day Oindrilla suddenly dies. Whether it is a murder or a suicide? It is a mystery for you all untill you read it. Debasree appoints a private investigator to find out the murderer or the reason behind the death of her daughter. She keeps an eye on the two cousins of Oindrilla namely Lalita and Ayaan. Renuka being a good investigator finally finds out the real culprit. But who is the real culprit or the reason for death of Oindrilla. This is the biggest mystery to read this book.

Kuldeep Sharma A great fictional thriller in the form of play

A book that definitely has a very dark and treacherous side to it. This book is a remarkable example of what human's basic emotion such as love and greed in excess can produce. This book will definitely not let you get up, even if it is for a second. Until somebody forces you to, which by the way happened in my case and that is because number one - It is quite short in length and number two - the plot is extremely interesting.

Even though you get a tiny bit of hint about the ending beforehand, it still keeps you hooked until the end. In order to know the ultimate truth, the ultimate end you have to keep on reading until the last page, until the last moment.

Every character had their own share of dark life and had one single person to blame for their sorrow. The author will make you hate the antagonist and still leave room for admiration.

You cannot and should not give this a miss at any cost if you have Passion for thriller/mystery/dark thriller

Life of Bibliophile Should not be missed at any cost

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