The Bombay Witches Coven

Every crossroads demands a sacrifice...

From Bram Stoker-nominated and Utopiales Nantes Award-winning author Ashok Banker comes a chilling new installment in the "Indian Gothic" series. A masterful fusion of folk horror and noir that unfolds in the shadowy streets of 1990s Bombay.

In the gleaming neon shadows of 1990s Bombay, an ancient goddess stirs at a crossroads where tradition and modernity collide.

When disgraced investigative journalist Cyrus Irani is drawn into investigating mysterious deaths outside a newly constructed American-style shopping mall, he uncovers a terrifying truth: an ancient dark devi—predecessor to the Greek goddess Hecate—has been summoned by radical anti-capitalist forces to reclaim her sacred ground. Once Bombay's most respected reporter, now reduced to writing celebrity gossip, Cyrus finds himself uniquely able to perceive supernatural entities others cannot see—giant vultures circling above the mall and black dogs gathering at crossroads, harbingers of a gathering darkness that threatens to consume the city.

The mall—a monument to Western commercialism built by the wealthy Vakil family—stands at an ancient intersection where ritual sacrifices once took place. Its ambitious developer Pramila Vakil, trapped in a loveless marriage of convenience, has covered up eight brutal deaths to protect her business interests. As bodies continue to accumulate and the supernatural presence intensifies, Cyrus reluctantly teams with his old friend Uday Bandodkar, an ad filmmaker haunted by the same traumatic supernatural encounter from their youth that gave Cyrus his otherworldly sight.

The stakes escalate dramatically when Cyrus suffers a devastating personal loss in a shocking encounter with the otherworldly. This forces Cyrus to confront both the ancient goddess and the buried trauma that connects him to the supernatural world. As the mall becomes ground zero for a catastrophic confrontation between ancient vengeance and modern ambition, Cyrus must navigate a labyrinth of occult knowledge, personal redemption, and forbidden attraction to Pramila to prevent the goddess from claiming countless innocent lives.

THE BOMBAY WITCHES COVEN masterfully weaves together:

• A noir-tinged journey through 1980s Bombay at the dawn of economic liberalization, where ancient beliefs and Western consumerism uneasily coexist
• A fallen journalist's redemptive arc as he confronts the supernatural abilities his traumatic past has cursed him with
• Intricate exploration of cultural identity and funeral customs, including the mysterious Towers of Silence
• Complex female characters navigating patriarchal restrictions, from the ambitious mall developer Pramila to the radical witch who summons forces beyond her control
• A meditation on sacred spaces and the cost of progress when ancient traditions are bulldozed for shopping malls
• Atmospheric horror that builds through supernatural omens—black dogs at crossroads and impossibly large vultures that only our protagonist can see

An uniquely Indian approach to folk horror that draws on authentic cultural traditions while examining the social tensions of a rapidly modernizing Bombay. The novel's unflinching look at trauma, redemption, and the price of forgetting the past makes its supernatural terrors all the more haunting.

Perfect for fans of Tananarive Due, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and Stephen Graham Jones, THE BOMBAY WITCHES COVEN delivers a culturally rich gothic noir that explores what happens when ancient deities are awakened by modern disregard and exploitation.