The Orphan Diaries

‘Among the thousands of orphaned children adopted after ’47 there are a few¬—less than twenty—who were planted here by Jinnah’s men . . .’

At thirty-eight, feeling ancient and used up, Colonel Rajan Menon—Raja—knows his best years as a commando are behind him. But he is soon tested as never before. The Prime Minister’s granddaughter has been abducted, and the kidnappers want some sensitive diaries in the possession of the CBI, the contents of which, if made public, can throw the country into turmoil. Raja works out a meticulous rescue plan, but the raid ends in a disaster—the girl is killed, not a single kidnapper is captured and the diaries disappear. And all the evidence points to Raja’s complicity.

Hounded by the police and, inexplicably, a ruthless psychopath, Raja is on the run, determined to clear his name. As he makes his harrowing journey towards the truth, a sinister plot unfolds an astounding account that began in 1947 . . .

In The Orphan Diaries—first published as The Orphan in 1998—Shashi Warrier, India’s most exciting thriller writer, has produced an astonishing sequel to Night of the Krait.