This is the first book in the genre of investigative journalism that I’ve read. If someone had recommended this book to me as a murder mystery and fast-paced thriller, I might have believed it. Sadly, The Good Girls: An Ordinary Killing is not a work of fiction work. The top-notch narrative reportage is a brilliant, but brutal portrayal the plight of girls in today’s India.

Employing a style that is matter-of-fact, while holding back her own personal viewpoints, Sonia Faleiro, shows the world the 3Ps and the big C that dominate India: Patriarchy, Politics, Police and Caste. There are times I cringed in shame, understanding the deep significance of what Faleiro had written, wondering if I know today’s India at all.

The horrors committed in the name of caste, not just in the well understood caste hierarchy, but within sub-castes in the same rung of the ladder, the otherness and hatred that prevails ought to make every Indian hang their head in shame. No wonder Faleiro’s says elections in India is more about “voting your caste” and less about “casting your vote.” And I do not want to lose sight of the fact that this is happening in India today.

The nonchalance and the lackadaisical indifference of Uttar Pradesh police Faleiro writes about is only too real. So are the career politicians, many with a generational history, enriching themselves, doing little, or nothing toward the public service they are elected to perform.

But the most staggering truth buried in Faleiro’s words, yet so simply obvious to see, is the gender based violence that people who are born with a vagina have to endure.

You see, in certain caste and class of the society, it is unacceptable for them to own a cell phone in today’s India, for that could dishonor their family. I will leave you with that thought.