John Lock swings a baseball bat down on Bibhuti Nayak's body as the first monsoon rains begin to fall. Lock has traveled from England to Mumbai to assist this unusual world record holder, a man who specializes in extreme endurance feats and has built a minor celebrity career around his ability to withstand pain. Bibhuti's next challenge involves having fifty baseball bats broken across his body. Lock volunteered for this bizarre mission to escape his own failures back home: decades spent in a dead-end job, a crumbling marriage damaged by loss, and a devastating secret he cannot confess to his wife. He hopes helping Bibhuti will give meaning to what he sees as a wasted life. As Lock integrates into Bibhuti's family and navigates the vibrant chaos of Mumbai, he encounters ping-pong playing monks, a fearless seven-year-old martial artist, and an elderly man waiting for the monsoon to carry him away. Through these connections and his growing bond with Bibhuti, Lock discovers truths about existence and mortality that transform his understanding of what it means to live and die well.
Genres: literary-fiction, adventure, contemporary, action
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, redemption
Setting: England, Mumbai
Period: Monsoon
Paperback · Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Content warnings: violence