Stay tuned for the prequel and the sequel. He is a magnet for trouble, a soldier of fortune, a picaresque hero: the rascal who lives by his wits in a corrupt society. He is a tough guy with a tender heart, one capable of what is judged criminal behavior, but a basically decent, intelligent man who would never intentionally hurt anyone, especially anyone he knew. Throughought the novel, however, all 944 pages of it, every single sentence rings true. Roberts is not reluctant to wax poetic in fact, some of his prose is downright embarrassing. Theirs is a complicated relationship, and Karla's connections are murky from the outset. He also meets Karla, an enigmatic Swiss-American woman, with whom he falls in love. When they return to Bombay, they take up residence in a sprawling illegal slum of 25,000 people and Linbaba becomes the resident 'doctor.' With a prison knowledge of first aid and whatever medicines he can cadge from doing trades with the local Mafia, he sets up a practice and is regarded as heaven-sent by these poor people who have nothing but illness, rat bites, dysentery, and anemia.

He takes to Lin immediately, eventually introducing him to his home village, where they end up living for six months. Fortunately, he meets Prabaker right away, a sweet, smiling man who is a street guide. He arrives in Bombay with little money, an assumed name, false papers, an untellable past, and no plans for the future. All of that is enough for several lifetimes, but for Greg Roberts, that's only the beginning. He was imprisoned for a string of armed robberies peformed to support his heroin addiction, which started when his marriage fell apart and he lost custody of his daughter. He served two years and leaped over the wall. What they do not know is that prior to his arrival in Bombay he escaped from an Australian prison where he had begun serving a 19-year sentence. It means 'man of God's peace,' which is what the Indian people know of Lin. Lindsay, or Linbaba, the larger-than-life hero.

Crime and punishment, passion and loyalty, betrayal and redemption are only a few of the ingredients in Shantaram, a massive, over-the-top, mostly autobiographical novel.

Shantaram novel