New Delhi, Sept. 20 -- Ameer Shahul's third book, The Silent Syndicate, arrives with its thesis in the subtitle-How Big Finance Is Destroying India's Healthcare-and a prosecutor's confidence in its pages.

Following Heavy Metal, his award-winning account of mercury poisoning and corporate negligence in Kodaikanal, and Vaccine Nation, a history of immunisation in India, Shahul, a journalist-turned-public policy professional, again marries dogged reporting to argument. The result is an absorbing and meticulously sourced read. But it is also more certain of its villains than its economics quite warrants.

The book is built as a tour of the healthcare sector, beginning with the growth of corporate hospitals in India, most of them led by entre...