Miriam is young, attractive and unhappily married. Taking a break from her job as internal security officer at the palace of the Maldivian president, she comes to Trivandrum to write a novel. Honey Kumar is a police officer on a punishment transfer from Delhi to Trivandrum for a spectacular act of graft. When Miriam refuses to comply with Honey Kumar's demands for sexual favours in return for extending her visa, he fabricates an espionage charge against her and arrests her. Before long, Miriam, who has secrets of her own, realizes that the tropical vacation spot she has landed in is like a hallucinogenic dream, where everybody has a tale to tell. They collectively contribute to a fable about her as a spy and a honey trap, shaking her up and shaping her struggle. Inspired by a real-life incident, Hadal is an incisive critique of the rot at the heart of India and the corruption, physical and spiritual, that permeates the structures of authority. ©HarperCollins India 2018