Bookmarked Musings: Gunboy by Shreyas Rajagopal

Sneha Pathak analyses Gunboy by Shreyas Rajagopal (Harper Collins India, 2025), observing how it is the literary equivalent of a typical action thriller.

Shreyas Rajagopal’s second novel Gunboy is a coming-of-age story, a thrilling tale of friendship and revenge, and a heady mix of guns and violence all rolled into one. Set in the small town of Rannwara, Gun Boy drops its readers in the middle of action from the moment it opens. The world of Rannwara is brutal, especially for twelve-year-olds Arvind and Sudipto, both outsiders in this town that is ruled by the Ranade family who ‘owns all of Rannwara…[and] half the state’. The youngest son of the Ranade family, Jaggi, is the boys’ senior in school and their constant tormentor, making their lives difficult for his sadistic pleasure. Add to this mix Amar, a hitman on the run, whose lucky gun falls into the hands of Arvind, and all hell breaks loose. Centres of power shift, mayhem rules even more than usual, rivers of blood begin to flow, and Rannwara, along with the lives of Arvind and his family, is thrown into chaos.