Temple of the Gods by Andy McDermott

"Temple of the Gods" by Andy McDermott. This is 8th book of Nina Wild series.

The story starts in Zimbabwe where Eddy spirits away a prisoner in search of his enemy Staiks to prove his innocence.

He then reaches Japan where, the sky scraper he is in, is attacked and destroyed. He manages to save Nina but escapes with the three mysterious purple statutes that can channel earth energy.

Individuals and organizations are trying to obtain the statutes, the sky stone (no one knows where it is) and Nina, essential ingredients of channeling earth energy.

Where is the sky stone? Can Nina find it? Does Eddy save her again? Can Eddy patch up with his father? What happens to sky stone? Who gets control of earth energy?

Andy McDermott's books follow a set pattern. Dr Nina Wild (President of International Heritage Association) and Eddy Chase (ex SIS), who are also husband and wife, go in search of something ancient or some legend. There's always a mysterious organization that tries to stop them for one reason or another. There is lot of fighting, blood bath and numerous deaths. Fights are always action packed. Eddy always gets help from his beautiful female friends who are spread all over the world. Eventually they succeed in their mission.

This book is so full of action that you think you are watching final fighting of a movie for the entire duration. Andy has tried to close a number of open ends from his previous books and has brought an important thread to conclusion. This book is in line with and in the same style as other books of this series, fast paced, action packed and full of witty sarcasm.

A decent book. Read it only if you have read previous books of this series, if you have not read previous books you can not correlate and will not like it.

Fasting, Feasting by Anita Desai

"Fasting, Feasting" by Anita Desai. This book was shortlisted for Booker prize in 1999, but lost to JM Coetzee's Disgrace.

This book is written in two parts. 1st part is story of Uma. A dim witted, unintelligent and ugly girl with defective eyes and who is prone to fits. Her education is forfeited to allow her to look after her baby brother. The book depicts her life, the opportunities that were denied to her, the secondary treatment she was given by her parents and siblings. How she was always considered misfit and a non entity. And although all of it is true she is a human being who can think and feel just like all of us. Some sympathize with her, some patronize her, some insult her, some scold her, some ignore her but no one treats her as equal or tries to understand her feelings.

2nd part is the story of one summer spent by Arun (Uma's brother) with Patton family in America, when he has to vacate his dorm during vacation. Here the world is shown through Arun's eyes. The difference in the lifestyles between America and India, Arun's uneasiness, his difficulty to adjust and socialize. However eventually we are all human beings and he manages to find similarities in Patton's and his own family.

The author has adopted an impartial style of narration which is a change. The story is slow, very slow and largely uneventful, peppered with small observations. 1st part ends abruptly and 2nd part begins. Apart from the fact that Uma and Arun are siblings, these two could have been two different stories. 1st part is better than 2nd.

Since this is a small book one can complete it. Had it been twice it's length, I would have opted out. You can not help sympathizing with Uma and Arun. Uma is neither mad nor retarded but is treated like one. The feelings that she would have liked to experience, she experiences through others. Arun is a misfit in a foreign land trying to adopt to the lay of the land.

Fasting, feasting is a contrast between female and male child. Fasting, feasting is also a contrast between America and India, but which is which?

An OK read.

Six suspects by Vikas Swarup

"Six suspects" 2nd book by Vikas Swarup. This is a whodunit mystery. By the way 'Slumdog Millionaire' was based on 1st book of Vikas titled 'Q&A'.

Vicky Rai is a young industrialist and son of home minister of Uttar Pradesh. He has a crime history of mowing down pavement dwellers, killing black bucks (based on Salman Khan) and killing a beautiful bartender for refusing a drink (based on Jessica Lal case). On the day Vicky is hosting a party, celebrating his aquital, he is murdered. There are six suspects. A corrupt bureaucrat, a tribal, an unemployed youth,  a top actress, a dim witted American, and Vicky's father (the politician).

What happened? Whodunit? Everyone has a motive to kill. But is it big enough to actually kill? Who is the killer?

Since the suspects are restricted to six the author has gone into the lives of these suspects in detail to establish the story (this is not usual in a typical murder mystery). Vikas has established the characters, their association with Vicky and their motives in detail. The collection of suspects is so diverse that associating them to Vicky is a Herculean task. That's probably why this book is being made in to a motion picture.

Vikas is a decent story teller and keeps you interested. However in explaining the background of six suspects he is left with very few pages for the actual crime and no pages at all for the investigation. Character of Vicky also goes under developed.

The climax is full of action. A new killer appears every 2-3 pages and readers keep guessing how many more twists are still to come. This makes it difficult for readers to recognize the killer. This is what a murder mystery should achieve. I could not recognize the killer.

We can definitely expect more from him in future.

A good read. Recommend reading.

Sethji by Sjobha De

"Sethji", a political thriller, by Shobha De.

Sethji is a politician from Uttar Pradesh. He doesn't follow any rules, has no principals, is expert in managing things, works only for himself and is only interested in power. In short he is a typical politician and minister at center, who heads a small party and has become very important in the days of coalition politics.

He has two useless sons and a beautiful, sexy and capable daughter-in-law, Amrita, with whom he has illicit affair. Amrita is a intelligent, shrewd and cool headed women. Even Sethji can not fathom her completely.

Sethji has faced many problems and tricky situations in his life and has come out unscathed with the help of his wits, intelligence and his uncanny ability of exploiting the situation. Now Sethji is in a trouble of his life. Moreover he is incapacitated. The only person who can get him and his family out is Amrita with the help of a mysterious person MK.

Will Sethji come out winner? What does Amrita want? Can she turn on her magic? How will it end? The story takes place in Mumbai and Delhi.

Shobha's writing style is direct. She does not waste time in preamble and gets to the point. Politics today runs on flesh, money and information; and this is the theme of this book. She has portrayed the picture of today's politics brashly. It's a gloomy picture.

The description of various amorous encounters in the book is a bit crude and lacks artistic value or class.

The plot is good. A number of characters are based on real life politicians and smart readers can recognize which ones. The story goes slightly out of control when it moves to Mumbai, but keeps you just interested enough not to lose interest. The end however was bit of an anti climax.

An OK read.

The dust will never settle" by Mukul Deva

"The dust will never settle" by Mukul Deva.

India is hosting Commonwealth games when suddenly India is chosen to host peace talks between Israel and Palestine at the same time.

Chief of Anti terrorism task force, RS Gill, is incharge of security of both events. Pakistan based terrorists have declared that they will not let the games go smoothly. There is a plot to disrupt the peace talks by killing the delegates. This plot is lead by Ruby Gill, an MI6 agent and a double agent for Palestainian terrorist organization, who is also estranged daughter of RS Gill.

On one side there is Gill family story & on the other side terrorist threat that may make or break India's reputation. Add to the mix overenthusiastic politicians, officers who want to please politicians, western mercenaries, incompetent security apparatus, illegal arms, Israel, Palestenian terrorists & international conspiracy and you have a potent mixture of a thriller.

Ruby is torn between conflicting emotions and duty towards jihadi's. RS Gill is also torn between love for his daughter and duty and frustrated by incompetence of his second in command.

Mukul has been successful in portraying the emotional side powerfully without undermining the action. The plot is built meticulously. Use of some real life terrorists as characters lend credibility to the plot on one hand and make the plot tangible on the timeline on he other hand.

Although this book is  little short on action it is more than compensated by a strong undercurrent of violence and death.

Intelligent readers can guess the end of the book.

A good book. Recommend reading.

The hundred year old man who climbed out of the window & disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

"The hundred year old man who climbed out of the window & disappeared" by Swedish writer Jonas Jonasson . This book has won many awards and has sold more than 3 million copies. Of all the books I have read so far, this one probably has the longest title. I read a book with Swedish background after a long time, after Millennium Trilogy.

Allan Karlsson, a hundred year old man, decides to run away from an old age home on his hundredth birthday. Once out he acquires a suitcase that happens to be full of cash.

His journey begins. The quirky nature of old man, his willingness to enjoy life rekindled and the fact that he does not mind a few things that do not adhere exactly to the law make him an interesting specimen. He is just wired differently. On his way he meets and/or collects interesting people and animals, unaware that the police are only one step behind them.

The story takes you from Sweden to all over the world. Story toggles between Allan's past and present. Character of Allan, an explosives expert, is a curious one. He has met a number of world leaders and had been on first name basis with them but moves on playing important role in events, that have shaped the history of world, on his way. The story is full of incredible tales, all involving Allan and his role in atom bomb, communist revolution, French unrest, star wars etc. I liked the narration of his past more than present.

Where does he go? Who does he meet? Who does he save? Why is he arrested? How does he escape? Who does he spy for? What does he want? Does he get what he was looking for?

Although the characters in this book are rogues, thieves, world leaders, common folks and law breakers; readers love them nevertheless. Credit goes to author's writing style which is very different from traditional writers. It's difficult to describe it in words but it's very refreshing. He creates humor without appearing to be taking efforts for it. I think this is the key to the success of the book. I could not help smiling on many occasions and laughing out aloud a eee times.

In short it is a crazy, senselessly hilarious, satirical black comedy. You are expected to read it and enjoy it without thinking much. And that's exactly what you do.

Don't miss this. Highly recommended. A must read.

Bankerupt by Ravi Subramanian

"Bankerupt" latest novel by Ravi Subramanian .

The story starts with the marriage of Aditya (a banker, who works in The Greater Boston Global Bank-Mumbai) and Chirisha (an academician at MIT and daughter of an industrialist with interest in Emu farming).  Two stories run in parallel. As is Ravi's speciality 1st story revolves around money laundering and bank in Mumbai and Coimbatore. 2nd story happens in campus of MIT, Boston. This story is a combination of academic ambitions, doctored research and gun control.

Ravi has explained how black money is laundered, how unscrupulous bankers manage the money and share market in detail. Fictitious bank GB2 makes a comeback however none of the characters from previous book appear in this book. He has also tackled the subject of gun rights Vs gun control very well. His narration of the story in Boston is at par with western writers. He has gone in great technical details to explain the solving of mystery. Death of one central character has brought important twist to the tale.

Again full marks to Ravi for apt title for the book. Title suggests the corrupt banker (note the spelling, Bankerupt not Bankrupt) who is the protagonist.

However during the course of novel the story in India drops out and story in Boston becomes the main story and remains so till the end. In one or two instances I felt that Ravi has covered some important aspects in very few words where they deserved more.

A good book. Recommend reading.