Vikram Chandra On Sacred Games

The Kirkus Reviews Autumn/Winter 2006 Preview is out, and contains a glowing preview of Vikram Chandra's Sacred Games. Here's the author on his protagonist Sartaj Singh, and on his research:

"He forced himself into the book, right from the start. He’s an interesting guy—tough, a bit wistful, something of a cynical romantic, if you can imagine such a thing...I’m hoping we’ve respectfully said goodbye to each other at the end of Sacred Games. I think I’ve been writing about him for about ten years now, and that’s a lot of time."

"The bosses of the bigger ‘companies’—as the gangs are called in Mumbai —actually do function like corporate executives, in that they are keenly aware of their public profiles, and are as eager to spin you as you are to interview them. Usually the dons tried to come off as misjudged realists, people who were trying to make their way in a harsh world as best as they could, and help the poor and suffering along the way."