Age of Vice

Author Deepti Kapoor
Narrator Vidish Athavale
Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Run Time 19 hours and 28 minutes
Format Audio
Genre Corporate crime / white-collar crime, Modern and contemporary fiction, Organized crime, Street crime.

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What to expect

HIGHLY ANTICIPATED OPRAH DAILY PICK FOR 2023

'Ill-fated love and toxic family power struggles provide emotional drive for this big dynastic saga' JAKE ARNOTT, GUARDIAN

'Huge, epic, immersive and absorbing . . . certain to be a book of the year' LEE CHILD, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR

'Kapoor's violent and bitter story is deeply addictive' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (STARRED REVIEW)

This is the age of vice, where pleasure and power are everything, and the family ties that bind can also kill

New Delhi, 3 a.m. A speeding Mercedes jumps the kerb, and in the blink of an eye five people are dead. It's a rich man's car, but when the dust settles there is no rich man at all, just a shell-shocked servant who cannot explain the strange series of events that led to this crime. Nor can he foresee the dark drama that is about to unfold.
Deftly shifting through time and perspective in contemporary India, Age of Vice is an epic, action-packed story propelled by the seductive wealth, startling corruption, and bloodthirsty violence of the Wadia family-loved by some, loathed by others, feared by all.

In the shadow of lavish estates, extravagant parties, predatory business deals, and calculated political influence, three lives become dangerously intertwined: Ajay is the watchful servant, born into poverty, who rises through the family's ranks. Sunny is the playboy heir who dreams of outshining his father, whatever the cost. And Neda is the curious journalist caught between morality and desire. Against a sweeping plot fueled by loss, pleasure, greed, yearning, violence, and revenge, will these characters' connections become a path to escape, or a trigger of further destruction?

Equal parts crime thriller and family saga, transporting readers from the dusty villages of Uttar Pradesh to the urban energy of New Delhi, Age of Vice is an intoxicating novel of gangsters and lovers, false friendships, forbidden romance, and the consequences of corruption. It is binge-worthy entertainment at its literary best.

Critics Review

The book has all the energy of a high-concept crime thriller . . . Ill-fated love and toxic family power struggles provide emotional drive for this big dynastic saga of organised crime that could be India’s answer to The Godfather . . . Not so much a slow burn as a constantly sparking fuse . . . Age of Vice certainly does not disappoint as a commercial crime thriller . . . but it deserves literary plaudits as well, for its depth and relevance, and for proving once more that the novel remains the supreme medium of long-form narrative drama for us to binge upon

Guardian

A devilishly engrossing crime drama . . . Age of Vice is populated by a host of other characters – cops, goons, politicians, undercover agents, snitches, petty thieves, reporters, spiritual advisers, assassins and human traffickers – who collude and collide explosively. One can only hope that Kapoor is working fast on the second and third instalments

Times Literary Supplement

Kapoor’s sprawling yet propulsive blockbuster of a novel is an addictive and socially conscious thriller portraying contemporary India in mesmerizing complexity

Oprah Daily

The most dazzling explosions to herald 2023 come from Deepti Kapoor’s novel Age of Vice . . . For days, I was torn between gorging or rationing out the chapters to make them last. Finally free from the book’s grip, now all I want to do is get others hooked . . . I have only one word of advice: Hurry’

Ron Charles

Cinematic…A luxe thriller…As a storyteller, Kapoor is a natural

New York Times

If you could conjure up a literary lovechild of Succession and The Godfather with a sprinkling of Slumdog Millionaire, Age Of Vice by Deepti Kapoor (Fleet) would fit the bill perfectly . . . one of the most gripping books I’ve read in a long time

Stylist

Age of Vice is truly epic . . . it paints a picture of greed, crime, violence and corruption in India, building to a towering crescendo

i paper

Kapoor’s prose is electric and her characterisation subline . . . Complex, thought-provoking and cinematic in pace and scope

Woman&Home

Aspiring novelists should read this. The narrative is clean and lean, the story unputdownable. Every word counts. This is how it’s done when it’s done exactly right

Stephen King

Age of Vice is a good old-fashioned gangster story, impossible to put down. It’s a novel garlanded with Shakespearean flourishes-star-crossed lovers, secret identities, complicated conspiracies-exploring timeless questions of family, loyalty, and fate

Rumaan Alam, National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author of LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND

Sensationally good – huge, epic, immersive and absorbing … certain to be a book of the year

Lee Child, New York Times bestselling author of the JACK REACHER series

This book. This epic, crazy, shocking, mind-blowing, brutal, tender, heartbreaking book is one of the best I’ve read

Marlon James, Booker Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author of MOON WITCH, SPIDER KING

Kapoor’s violent and bitter story is deeply addictive; this spellbinder would be easy to devour in one big gulp, but it’s worth savoring for Neda’s uncompromising take on what she terms India’s “losing age, the age of vice.” The author possesses a talent great enough to match the massive scope of her subject.

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

This is a masterpiece. Age of Vice is epic but intimate, its glittering, sharp scenes building into an astonishing geometry. It is an unforgettable story of corruption and excess, of ruthless power and the will to fight back

Flynn Berry, New York Times bestselling author of NORTHERN SPY

Opening in medias res from this tragedy, Kapoor spins a dizzying ride, painting an India where money is the only religion . . . Weaving the backstories of Ajay, Neda, and Sunny together, Kapoor’s frenetic and colourful novel highlights the new global pecking order, one forged by capitalism, in which the rich always win. In the age of vice, as Neha says, “the wheel will keep turning toward the dissolution that will swallow us all.” But as this gripping tale shows, even the weakest deserve one last gasp of dignity’

Booklist, starred review

Impossible to put down; Kapoor is the real thing

David Keymer

Fascinating . . . a compelling and immersive thriller

Irish Independent

[Age of Vice] paints a picture of greed, crime, violence and corruption in India, building to a towering crescendo . . . a captivating crime caper with believable characters

Scotsman

Kapoor’s prose is electric and her characterisation sublime; you’ll find yourself sympathising with all the damaged protagonists right until the end. Complex, thought-provoking and cinematic in pace and scope

Woman

Sensationally good – huge, epic, immersive and absorbing . . . certain to be a book of the year

Lee Child

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