Five Star Please

Jasraj Sandhu is an Indian-born Australian citizen living in Rockhampton, Queensland. Despite holding a computer science degree, he earns his living as a rideshare driver, enduring racism, humiliation and constant rejection while dreaming of building his own technology company.

His life changes when Raymond Kerr, an elderly farmer who has become his friend, secretly pays him $5,000 to install security cameras. Ray fears someone has been searching through his belongings and suspects his own family.

One Saturday night, Jasraj picks up two abusive passengers, Leanne Kerr-Whitfield and her brother Brendan Kerr. During the journey, they threaten and humiliate him. When he drops them near their father's property, he realises they are Ray's children.

Disturbed by the encounter, Jasraj remains nearby for fifty minutes. What happens during that period becomes the central mystery of the novel.

The following morning, Ray Kerr is discovered brutally murdered.

Jasraj quickly becomes the prime suspect.

He has a connection to the victim, unexplained cash, an injury on his arm, blood in his vehicle and an angry voice recording. Worse, he lies to Detective Sergeant Kim Halloran about his movements on the night of the murder.

As investigators uncover more evidence, each revelation appears to strengthen the case against him.

His vehicle is seized, his livelihood disappears, his relationship with Chloe deteriorates, and a selectively edited video transforms him into a suspected killer in the eyes of the public.

The media amplifies the accusations, while racial prejudice shapes how strangers interpret his behaviour.

Jasraj is eventually charged with murder and imprisoned while awaiting the outcome of the case.

Yet Detective Halloran begins to question the evidence. Contradictions in the accounts of Ray's children, suspicious financial circumstances, missing camera recordings and digital evidence suggest that the investigation may have overlooked something important.

With the help of his lawyer Hannah Moreau, investigative journalist Amy Lawson and his own programming knowledge, Jasraj begins uncovering evidence that challenges the prosecution's theory.

But he is concealing something far more serious than the police initially realise.

On the night Ray died, Jasraj did not remain safely inside his car. He approached the farmhouse, witnessed the violence and fled in terror without calling emergency services.

He did not kill Ray, but his silence threatens to destroy his life.

As the investigation reaches its climax, Brendan's confession implicates himself and Leanne in their father's murder. Nevertheless, the authorities cannot immediately exclude Jasraj's involvement.

The final investigation turns on forensic evidence recovered beneath mango trees near the house. Footwear impressions, biological evidence, digital records and the crime scene reconstruction corroborate Jasraj's account and distinguish his presence near the murder from participation in it.

The charges against him are withdrawn, and Jasraj is released.

Freedom, however, does not erase the damage. He must rebuild his reputation, confront his guilt over Ray's death and learn to trust himself again.

In the closing chapters, Jasraj transforms the technology that helped uncover the truth into Witness, an application designed to protect vulnerable workers by preserving evidence.

He begins building a new future with Chloe while continuing to drive occasionally, no longer because he has no other choice, but because he understands the importance of being a witness.

The novel closes where it began: inside a rideshare car, with a passenger asking Jasraj where he comes from.

This time, the encounter ends differently.

For the first time, Jasraj gives himself the approval he has spent years seeking from others.

Five stars.