This novel is a first from the scriptwriter of Om Shanti Om and other SRK starrers. Secret Within is, as one would expect from a Bollywood person, a thriller. The lazy promising architect Aakash is in and out of jobs and trouble. He is also a Casanova drawn to women and mainly his boss’ wives. Shiekh’s run up is slow, a bored Aakash escaping from the fourth storey of a building after a dalliance with his current boss’ wife to be caught out later and felled with a facer sounds exciting but obvious. The only teaser is a woman he spies in a club who no one else seems to have seen – including his lawyer friend Sameer who appears to be his only friend.

Jobless and in debt Sameer bails him out with a mysterious project for a tycoon. Mr Khanna wants his house remodelled and gives Aakash his garden to begin with as a test but the catch is that Aakash has to pay for redoing it until Khanna approves. There is a mystery about the sprawling magnificent house which is patrolled by strict security and head of staff called Param who seems to dislike Aakash on sight. The second floor is particularly ominous with a wraith of a beautiful woman who says her name is Maya haunting it.

That is where the story picks up with the secrets in the heart of the house – on the lines of the classic million-dollar mansion murder. Maya claims she is Khanna’s wife and drifts into the expected affair with Aakash. Shiekh points fingers at various possibilities and impossibilities – including the fact that Maya can squeeze into the spare tyre compartment in Aakash’s boot evading security checks! A murderer strikes with an unexpected victim though the suspect is very expected and the murder weapon has already been told to us.

The book has the fill of romance, rich man possibly gold digger wife and house of secrets that will make it a potboiler if it ever hits the screen possibly with a Bollywood Young Turk as Aakash and SRK in a different kind of role. Where it could have been more intriguing, by being paranormal, it shies away following the tried and tested paths with a twist – though it has a sympathetic chief cop instead of the usual hard handed Marathi policeman.