CARLOS Ruiz Zafón was propelled into the international literary limelight after the publication of The Shadow of the Wind.

Opened to rave reviews, this book, first published in Spanish and then translated into the English language in 2004, tells the story of Daniel, who works in a bookshop and forms an attachment to a book that begins an adventure of sorts. Since then, three of Zafón’s works have been translated into English — The Angel’s Game, a prequel to The Shadow of the Wind, The Prince of Mist and The Midnight Palace. The latter two are aimed at a younger audience.

What makes The Midnight Palace different from other works by Zafón is the fact that it is not set in his native Spain; instead the novel begins in Kolkata, in 1932, and flashes back to 1916, where Lieutenant Peake is running with twin babies, protecting them from the evil Jawahal. He manages to give them to their grandmother, the rather sombre Aryami Bose, only to be killed by the villain. Just to be clear, he isn’t the father of the twins but an old admirer of their mother’s. As it turns out, the twins are separated by their grandmother, who hands over the boy, Ben, to the kindly Mr Carter, the head of St Patrick’s Orphanage, and takes off with her granddaughter, Sheere.

Sound familiar? Of course! Here, I’d like to point out an obvious thought that may have run through the reader’s head: the situation is very similar to an Indian film plot, where twins, separated at birth, are only to be discovered by a tiny mole on the upper left foot. Thankfully, Zafón is not that predictable; in fact he goes the way of the ever popular He-Man and She-Ra cartoon — yet another case of twins being separated at birth, only to be reunited. But I digress.

Ben, as it turns out, has a lovely time at the orphanage (which is very unlike the ones portrayed in nineteenth century literature). He makes many friends, and along with six of them, they create what they call the Chowbar Society — a secret gang that meets every night at midnight in the courtyard of an abandoned mansion (the midnight palace) and tells stories in a manner extremely reminiscent of the The Midnight Club by Christopher Pike (whose The Last Vampire series is all the rage).

Meanwhile, Sheere hasn’t been that lucky; her grandmother has carted her around all of India, sometimes living on the streets, and without any friends of her own age. However, when she meets Ben, she too is initiated into the Chowbar Society, after which the grandma is forced to tell the children the truth: that the evil Jawahal is still out to get them, and they must run away from him.

Of course, they don’t listen and what follows is a thrilling adventure as the twins and their friends try to escape Jawahal’s clutches, trying to decipher secret codes while exploring a creepy Kolkata, learning about the twists and turns of their parents’ lives and, ultimately, facing the villain which turns out to be quite the anticlimax, since his past and theirs are curiously and unexpectedly intertwined, ensuring some truly flesh-crawling moments.

What adds to the book is Zafón’s prose; his recreation of Kolkata, and eerie descriptions of the city’s landmarks including Jheeter’s Gate Station, the Hooghly River, ancient libraries and alleyways, which all lend atmosphere to the book in Zafón’s true style, as do the flashbacks. The fact that parts of the novel are told from the point of view of Ian, one of the members of the Chowbar Society, as well as in the third person, gives the novel variety and versatility.

The novel is weak on character development though — maybe a result of its fast pace. Many of its characters are left two-dimensional and shallow, with just a few adjectives used to describe them at best.

Still, given that this is, technically, a book for teenagers, perhaps this lack is not too much of a bad thing. After all, who’s going to complain limited character development when you have enough chills going down your spine?

The Midnight Palace (NOVEL) By Carlos Ruiz Zafón Little Brown, UK ISBN 9780316178471 304pp. Rs1,050