Sameer Gudhate Presents the Book Review of The Acting MD 2 – Everyone Has Ulterior Motives by Vikram Mankal

Some books don’t begin on the first page; they begin in the pause before you open them — in that quiet suspicion that what you’re about to read might just drag you into a world where ambition smells like cologne, betrayal sounds like a sliding boardroom door, and success tastes a little metallic, like fear. The Acting MD 2 made me feel exactly that way. Before I even reached chapter one, I had this uncanny sense that I had stepped onto a tall glass elevator inside Indus City — rising, rising, rising — while knowing fully well someone, somewhere, was waiting to cut the wires.

Vikram Mankal, who already carved his own niche with The Acting MD, returns with a sequel that feels bolder, darker, and far more theatrical. And that is the beauty of this book — it’s a corporate thriller performed with the energy of a stage play, but staged inside the bones of a growing real-estate empire. Not many authors can make balance sheets feel like battlefields, or IPO discussions feel like duels under a spotlight. Mankal can — and he does it with a confidence that almost feels mischievous.

The premise, on the surface, is simple: Pranav Rai wants to take Pyramid to an IPO, fulfilling his father’s dream. But the simplicity ends there. The city he built, the empire he commands, the boardrooms he dominates — all of it exists in a world made of smoke and mirrors. Political ambition slithers into corporate ambition. Old rivals sharpen new weapons. Loyalties shift like desert sand. In a landscape where even a smile can be loaded, Pranav must doubt not just the people around him, but the intentions that keep him awake at night. Without revealing anything crucial, let me just say: if you think you know who’s playing whom, this book will laugh at you.

What struck me almost immediately is the writing style — fast, sharp, and cinematic, but surprisingly poetic in its descriptions of Indus City. The towers shimmer, the corridors whisper, the meeting rooms pulse. I could almost hear the click-clack of polished shoes and the soft hum of air conditioning carrying secrets from one end of the building to the other. Mankal writes with pace, but also with intention. When he slows down, it is to let you absorb something uncomfortable — a betrayal, a self-realization, a moment where ambition becomes a mirror and the protagonist doesn’t quite like the reflection.

Pranav Rai remains easily one of the most intriguing characters in contemporary corporate fiction. He’s brilliant, flawed, calculating, strangely charismatic, and occasionally heartbreakingly human. What I loved most is how Mankal uses Pranav’s theatre background subtly — not as a gimmick, but as a lens. Every negotiation becomes a performance. Every alliance feels rehearsed, but no script is ever final. There’s a moment when Pranav pauses — just pauses — and replays a conversation in his mind, almost like an actor rewatching a scene. That moment stayed with me. Because isn’t that what we all do in real life? Rehearse. Retake. Rewrite ourselves.

The plot is layered, almost like a pressure cooker with too many ingredients but somehow no chaos. Politics, loyalty, real-estate rivalry, father-son legacy — Mankal blends them with an elegance that keeps you hooked, even when the story deliberately slows to let tension simmer. The pacing dips slightly in the middle, but it feels intentional, giving readers room to feel the tightening coil of impending conflict.

What elevates the novel is its themes — power, ambition, trust, performance, the masks we wear. At one point, I found myself stopping and asking: Do we ever really know the people we work with? Or do we know only the version of them they choose to perform? In today’s world where corporate Instagram posts sparkle but people privately crumble, Mankal’s exploration of authenticity feels painfully relevant.

Emotionally, the book kept surprising me. There were moments of thrill, moments of heaviness, and a few moments where I found myself inhaling sharply — not because of a twist, but because of how real the consequences felt. Corporate politics may be fiction here, but its shadows resemble reality a little too closely.

If I had to highlight strengths: the atmosphere is phenomenal, the characters layered, and the storytelling bold. If I must nitpick: a couple of chapters could’ve tightened the pacing, but even there the mood was captivating enough to keep me reading.

In the end, The Acting MD 2 isn’t just a corporate thriller — it’s an exploration of ambition wrapped in suspense, polished with drama, and lit with the glow of theatrical brilliance. It made me think of the roles we play in our own lives, and how sometimes the most dangerous performance is the one we give ourselves.

If you enjoy high-stakes fiction where every motive is a ticking clock, step into Indus City. You might walk out looking at your own world a little differently.

Give this book a chance. Let it whisper its truths to you.

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