Swallowed is a dark, methodical crime novel set in Mumbai, and Nupur Anand handles it with steady control and does not disappoint. The book follows a police investigation that refuses to resolve cleanly, and that resistance becomes one of its defining strengths. At its centre is a senior police officer pulled back into a missing‑person case involving his ex-girlfriend that steadily evolves into something much bigger.

The investigation moves slowly and often sideways. Leads appear, fade, and resurface as the chase continues. Other cases begin to intrude - disappearances that never reached closure, deaths that were quickly filed away. Anand allows these threads to run alongside one another without rushing to connect them and the wait pays off at the end.