Some 40 pages into Abdullah Khan’s debut novel Patna Blues (Juggernaut), you become envious of the lead character, Arif Khan. But you don’t quite empathise with or relate to him, even if you are an IAS-exam failure. By the end of it, and especially if you live in or know your Patna, you might not be convinced that you have just finished reading a Patna novel. In fact, the unusual chain of events in the novel could have been set in any other city.