A thick mist envelops an isolated house and a cottage atop a hill. Rasel, looks out from the window of her house and watches as the mist covers first the plants, then the trees and finally the cottage. Suddenly it parts, and three men come into view, furtive, quick.

Then they’re gone. Minus later, Rasel hears the sound of shots. And then there is silence. The reader is pulled into Bijoy Sawsan’s tense and dramatic story of the strange death of a Dhar, an outsider, in the beautiful hill town of Shelling in northeastern India. Why was he killed?

Who are the killers? Are they known to the housekeeper and driver? As she begins to unravel this mystery, Rasel finds herself caught in a tale of intrigue and violence that mirrors the world of insurgency around her. In her lyrical, haunting prose, Bijoy Sawsan paints a dark, threatening picture and shows how violence has tainted the very fabric of everyday life in a place that was once peaceful, untroubled and calm.

“Shelling comes across as the hero of the story—the paradise that it once was and no longer. The author successfully captures the mood, the weather, the people, and the place... [Shadow Men] is unlike any other book I have read in a long time and you will love it too.” —Sonia Pressman Fuentes

“In crisp, everyday conversations, the festering wounds of a splintered hill state are laid bare—the resentment brewing between the Khasis and the Garros, the downside of the traditional matrilineal system, the disconnect with mainstream India, crippling unemployment, drug and alcohol addiction, corrupt politicians, you get it all.” —Assam Tribune