Deepti Kapoor

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

New Delhi, 3 a.m. A speeding Mercedes jumps the curb 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.

A Novel

Age of Vice

Lindsay

“The chains of existence,” she said, “have to be weak enough to break.” She kissed him. “But strong enough to carry you through in the first place.”

Tina ok

Gilded hangovers, iridescent with champagne 

Moneys a fucking curse, he said, it cuts out all the hard work. Before, you had to be kind, funny or fun, interesting, intelligent you had to take the time to know people. You had solidarity with them. Then you’re rich it annihilates everything. Everyone is nice to you, everyone wants you there, you’re the most popular person in the room. It’s so easy to be charming when you’re rich. Everyone laughs at your jokes, hangs on your word, you forget and think it’s about you. Then sometimes you go somewhere and you don’t spend. It’s so miserable, it’s so horrible to go back to the drawing board and you have forgotten how to earn someone’s trust or love, and you know it’s easier with a short cut or two, so you bring out the cash in the end, the wad, the clip, the card. And the thrill of it is greater, because they didn’t know, and now they do. you’re rich, you’re in charge, they love you. Money is a fucking curse. 

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