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Be firm, be courageous, be subtle, be faithful; more you need not.

These are the highest qualifications of a Thug . . .

and lead to certain success and high rank.”

Welcome to the feudal India of the early nineteenth century where a band of thugs—cold-blooded, ruthless assassins, and dacoits—are rampaging on the streets, luring unsuspecting travellers only to kill and loot.

But the most notorious of their band, Ameer Ali, has been imprisoned, and he has a lot to confess. Responsible for 719 murders, he recounts his extraordinary life story which begins on a grave evening when he is the victim of a Thuggee attack. And the events unfold to envelop him in the lives of his perpetrators . . . till he becomes one of them.

A gut-wrenching memoir, Confessions of a Thug, which offers a glimpse into the feudal history of India, is one of the most sensational crime novels of its time.