What to say to a Porcupine by Richard S. Gallagher

"What to say to a Porcupine" by Richard S. Gallagher - Customer service through fables!

This book is published by Amacom in 2008 and has 128 pages.

Author states his goal as to have a little fun with the things that happen between you and your customers and in the process, share some of the real secrets of serving other people. Format of this book is based on Aesop's fables, using humans and animals to tell a story with moral that you can use in life.

Book summary

Section 1 - The basics:

Story of clowns tells us to make a good first impression on your customer. Understand that customers' needs come first. Story of Hyena's restaurant asks us to listen to customers, take feedback and react to it. Customer satisfaction is as important as quality, variety and price. The moral of story of Greek Chorus is not to hassel your customer. Expect customers to behave like people and learn to keep your sense of humor, don't let the frustration set in. Parrots night out recommends to avoid negative expectations. Assuming worst in the customers leads to rude behavior. Story of snipe tells us, well, not to be a snipe with customers. Customer service involves helping people with problems and problems are no fun.

Section 2 - On the front line :

Story of Porcupine, difficult customers, suggests that we speak customer's agenda. Don't confront prickly customer. Set yourself as ally to demanding customer. Story of bears underlines mechanics and technique of good service. Greet customers, know their likes and dislikes, thank them. Story of the law firm highlights that key to handling tough situations is to learn how to speak to the other person's interest. Manage stress. Story of Penguin construction advises that bad service is not only saying wrong things but also not saying anything at all. Author uses shoe store story to convey message to keep your attention on your customer and not yourself. This will help you in advancing your career. 

Section 3 - Respect

King Arthur's tale underlines how treating customers with respect can be beneficial. Best way to develop positive mutual relationship is by taking good hard look at your policies and underlying values. Story of truffle shop by pigs tells us that having a good product is not an excuse for bad service. Peak periods should not bring out the worst in your team. Story of mixing two colonies of bees is all about respecting diversity. Don't stereotype customers based on race, ethnicity, age or gender. Tale of the dogs talks about positive reinforcement. When you learn to tap into these human emotions and help customers feel good, the rewards will come back to you. 

Section 4 - Service strategy

Story of a bunch of shrinks opening a bar is a lesson to learn what the customers like and find ways to give it to them, irrespective of your expertise. The story of huts built by sloths is all about setting customer expectations and creating a niche or premium product. The story of Mopes highlights that real service quality lies in connecting with other people and meeting their needs, not necessarily being perky or chirpy. Story of rabbits and tortoises running courier companies underlines importance of going extra mile, going above and beyond. 

Section 5 - You and your service team

Story of Mr. Grindle and Mynah tells that rules can set standards but can't create good service. Treat employees as your most important customer. Story of Sarge, a football coach turned store manager, underlines importance of positive strength based coaching. 

End of Book summary

Author uses natural characteristics of animals to exemplify personality traits. Hyenas are aggressive. Parrot repeats what he hears. Snipe is ornery. Porcupine is prickly, rude and demanding. Bears growl. Penguins are chilly by nature. Pigs are, well, pig headed. Bees don't mix with bees from another colony. Dogs are trained to follow orders. Sloths are very slow, slowest mammals on earth. Rabbits are fast and turtles are slow. Mynah says the sentence she has been taught. Not every story has animals. These parables are short, just like Esop's. Author refrains from elaboration and writes to the point. The book is interspersed with sketches of animals relevant to the story.

The stories of Porcupine, Hyenas and Sloths are good but the story of Bees is the best. Author gives moral of the story at the end of each story. Interestingly, many times it's not the real moral of the story or it's not the only moral of the story. 

Some times there is an overlap in message of two tales. One can wonder why two stories to make the same point. But there is a subtle difference in the points each story makes. Essence of the book is customer service and that good service should be fun.

Customer service is an art and science. In customer service often your reactions should be counter intuitive. You have to be empathetic and understand that more often than not you are called in when there is an issue. 

Author has provided discussion questions at the end of each chapter. They help in summarizing the chapter and brainstorming real situation. 

Epilogue of the book is essence of the book. I felt that the same essence should have been prologue in addition to epilogue. That would have followed the classic advise of Aristotle "Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them". 

It's a very interesting idea of giving some serious advice through parables, thus making it more user friendly, approachable, easy to relate and entertaining.  Reading this book on such a serious topic was fun. I enjoyed it. 

Why did I read this book? Title. 

What I didn't like? Tales are very short.   

What did I like? Use of animal characteristics and giving serious message lightly.

Highly recommend reading, if you are in customer service industry, and even if you are not. 

Accidental further adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old man by Jonas Jonasson

"Accidental further adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old man" by Jonas Jonasson - 100 year old man returns. 

This book is published by Fourth Estate in 2018 and has 368 pages. This is the sequel of one of the best humorous books 'The 100 year old man who walked out of the window and disappeared'

Allan (the 100 year old man, now 101) and his friend Julius Jonsson are living on an exotic island in Indonesia. They take a balloon trip on his 101st birthday. The balloon goes out of control landing them in sea. A North Korean vessel picks them. And from here starts a sequence of impossible and hilarious events.

What do they do in North Korea? Does he get along with Donald Trump or Angela Merkel? Is he a threat to security? What will he do this time? What will be Allan's new adventure?

This book, really, doesn't have a story. It's a sequence of crazy events. The part in North Korea is absurd. But with Trump's entry it becomes hilarious. But it slows down again. Becomes interesting during coffin business and then flattens out on the planes of Africa.

Like the previous book author uses real life Presidents of North Korea, USA, Germany and Russia as characters. They create humorous situations while discharging their duties. However, author reserves special treatment for Mr. Trump.

What stands out is author's ability to nonchalantly create a big contradiction in a single sentence. e.g. 'Trumps father was allegedly arrested at a KKK March. For one thing, it never happened. For another, he was released right away, so what was the big deal?' Or 'President Trump stated that Wallström and Karlsson had not done anything wrong, and warned them not to do it again'. I laughed out loud on a few occasions.

For one,  this book doesn't have the story from past that was the hallmark of first book. For another, the story is slow. For a hilarious book to be successful the story too has to be pacy. You can't sustain rapt attention of reader just with the word play, it has to be accompanied by action. 

The 101 year old man appears much more agile than he was in the first book. He walks for 2.5 hours. He goes from bonnet of one car to other etc. It appears as if he has shed years when he grew older. In this book he is addicted to a black iPad and keeps browsing news and telling others what he read, whether they are interested or not. 

First book of the author 'The hundred year old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared' was excellent and I rated it 'Must read'. See my review posted in December 2013.

https://mandarbookreviews.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-hundred-year-old-man-who-climbed.html?m=1

However, his subsequent books started to appear repetitive and lacked novelty, even if they presented different story. 

Character of an Indian, who is renamed Gustav Svensson, is of no significance. Why is it introduced? Unless, author wants to give it predominant role in yet undeclared sequel. 

This book continues the story of 100 year old man, now 101. The book is not as good as the first one, nowhere near. However, if you don't compare it's not bad.

In short it is a crazy, hilarious, satirical black comedy.

Why did I read this book? 1st book was fantastic.  

What did I like?  Style of narration. 

What I didn't like?  Lack of Wow factor. 

Read it, but don't compare it with first book.  

Love, kisses and all things warm by Preeti Shenoy

"Love, kisses and all things warm" by Preeti Shenoy - Unfulfilling?.

This book is published by Westland in 2015.

This book is a collection of five articles. Three of them are essays and two are love stories. One of the two is Preeti's story. Each article also has a hand drawn sketch by the author. 

When you are in love everything seems brighter. Once married, blinkers dissolve, harsh reality sets in. Other attractions appear. Weather you go with distractions or remain true blue is up to you. If all above is navigated safely, congratulations are in order. Here author cautions that extra martial affairs can happen at any time but most likely between 4th and 8th year of marriage. 

Offices are fertile ground for relationships to bloom. This has given rise to new phenomenon called 'office spouse'. The relationship may be romantic or platonic. Obama couple and Gates couple married after office romance. This article on office romance is fantastic. It's short, to the point and does not look at office romance with any prejudice. Only the last advise about company policy appears out of sync.

Kiss on the lips is ultimate symbol of passion and romance. In this easy author discusses various art works (paintings, short film and songs) that epitomize kiss. Here she demonstrates her understanding and interpretation of art. I came to know about the masterpiece of René Magritte's painting 'The lovers' due to this book. It's an awesome painting and can be interpreted in many ways. 

Love story of Preeti (and her, now, husband) is covered extremely briefly. After reading the author's note, I became interested in the story. But it ends very quickly and does not give details of how it happened. 

The timeless love story is of Margaret and Cyril who were in RAF (Royal air force of Britain) when they were 23 and 22 respectively. They eventually married at the age of 93 and 92 in presence of their families. Basically the message is that love can happen at any age, but again the story is extremely short.

This book discusses love. Generally when you read a good book, you get a sense of fulfilment at the end. This book bursts an exception to that. Although the book is good, you think more was needed. More articles were required, not just 5. More material was required in each article. There is a sense of incompleteness.

Why did publishers decide to publish such a small book? They could have easily added more pages. Was is to capitalise on author's popularity? It was published on Valentine's day, so they were opportunistic too.

Why did I read this book? Author and because it is a very small book.

What I didn't like? Stories are too short.  

What did I like? Essay on kiss. 

A good 'super quick' read.

The Kremlin conspiracy by Joel C. Rosenberg

"The Kremlin conspiracy" by Joel C. Rosenberg - Good idea, but ...

This book is published by Tyndale House Pub in 2018 and has 466 pages. 

Alec Stephanovich Kraskin, a bright lawyer, marries Marina, daughter of President of Russia, Alexander Ivanovich Luganov. He joins the staff of the President and over the period becomes his chief advisor. Luganov has expansionist tendencies and wants to take Russia back to its former glory. 

Markus Raikar had to kill his step father to save his mother. He first joins army then law enforcement and finally special services protecting POTUS. A personal tragedy takes him on a new path.

What does Luganov want? What does Alec think? What personal tragedy befall Marcus? What is the Kremlin conspiracy?

Earlier part of the book tracks years of progress of the two protagonists. It's a no-brainer that the individual stories of Alec and Marcus would converge. But author has taken inordinately long time for the convergence. A lot of details in individual stories are not really necessary for the story. Doing away with those details would have helped story become leaner. First part of the book is slow. Due to many unnecessary details, reader is unable to determine which part is important going forward. 

Attack on White House described in this book is very similar to Steven Gerrard's movie "White House down". This part was unnecessary for the story. I suppose it was introduced just to bring Marcus and Alec together. The book raises some questions. Can a person who does not belong to any government organization be assigned as case officer? Can he make major decisions that will impact global politics without anyone in the know?

Russia is the new favourite villain of thriller authors. The seed of the story is that Russia is still not able to digest break up of Soviet Union and losing It's control over various states. It wants to become super power again. It's obvious who the character of President Luganov is based on. 

The scenario imagined by author is interesting. If really things come to head and a face off between America and Russia happens and nuclear war becomes a possibility, who will blink first?

All in all, the seed for the story is good but execution is not as good. The end of book is not firm. Reader is allowed to draw his own ending. Probably author was making a provision for a sequel. 

The book has an eye catching title. I read the book because of the title.

Why did I read this book? Author, Title.

What I didn't like? Unnecessary side stories. 

What did I like? Idea.  

Read only if you have additional time on hand. 

Kidnapped by James Patterson

"Kidnapped" by James Patterson with Robert Gold- Roscoe continues.  

This book is published by Random House in 2016 and has 144 pages. It's a Bookshots book. This is Book 3 of Jon Roscoe series. 

Roscoe has gone to USA to depose against a businessman, but other witness turns and he is acquitted. Roscoe saves a young girl from committing suicide at Chicago airport and she turns out to be sister of the businessman. He meets a married English women travelling with her American husband and a child at airport and she turns out to be daughter of a neighbour of his in-laws. All of them are on same flight. Back in London, child of neighbour's daughter is kidnapped. A man is murdered in Hotel Tribeca, where Roascoe serves as global head of security. 

Why is Roscoe angry about Matteo? Why everyone tells Roscoe that he can't solve all problems? Who is murdered? Who is the kidnapper?

This is a Bookshots book, so it's an easy read, small novel and story is not complicated. There are two mysteries. A murder and a kidnapping. Why did the authors titled this book after one of them?

Initial part of the story takes longer than what I would have liked. That leaves fewer pages for the climax. Since, after the stage is set, story directly plunges to climax, this flaw is covered but that exposes another. Again no investigation in this book too. Build up and directly climax!

Apart from the two mysteries there is a story of Roscoe and his wife being separated and a possible romance between Roscoe and Anna. Roscoe is torn between the two women. 

The series will continue as Matteo is still walking free and Roscoe can't rest till he is apprehended and locked up. This is also a Christmas novel as the main events happen around Christmas. 

Why did I read this book? Have been reading a lot of non fiction lately.

What I didn't like? No investigation. 

What did I like? Length. 

A quick and light travel read. Don't bother if you aren't travelling.

Effective life management by Amartyanand Swami

"Effective life management" by Swami Amartyanand - Mind control!

This edition of the book was published by Advaita Ashrama, India in 2010 and has 188 pages. 

Book summary

Curricular education does not give you all the education that life demands. If you don't learn Effective Life Management you will end up successful in business but unsuccessful in building happy, fulfilling lives. This book exhorts the readers to imbibe right thoughts using the techniques of Satsanga, Discipline and Meditation (SDM). Material progress has increased stress and resulted in strained human relationships, family bonds and value systems. Our personality is the outcome of our mind and it's various reactions to external stimuli. We have to learn the art of effectively managing our lives with the aim of attaining happiness and peace through all our actions. 

Part I: The essence of life management

The inner quest and ultimate goal of every human heart is unalloyed happiness, uninterrupted peace and immortality. The more we chase material goals the more we suffer. Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha are goals with the ultimate goal of Moksha or uninterrupted peace. Don't find fault with others. Rather learn to see your own faults. Introspection is the art of thinking about one's own thoughts. Diagnosis of mental ailments is known as introspection. Different people see same thing in different ways and same person sees same thing in different ways at different times. Impulse - Thought - Action sequence takes only a fraction. Mastery of mind requires split second decision to prevent wrong actions. Introspect daily, detect diligently, negate ruthlessly, substitute wisely, grow steadily and be happy. 

One's personality is shaped by one's thoughts. For any true student of life management, the eyes and ears must function solely as conduits of positive and ennobling impressions in the mind. The more the thoughts rushing into our mind, the more disturbed and unhappy we are. Two things essential to control quantity of thoughts are discipline and meaningful engagement. When mind is controlled from running in space, it's called dharana, when controlled from running after objects, it's called dhyana and when controlled from running in time, it's called samadhi.

Karma means volitional action or action with intention. Every karma produces two results: one immediate and noticeable and the other remote and not noticeable in its present form, It's in the form of impression in subconscious mind. The collective impressions of our mind are called samskaras. Karma is classified into Agami karma, Sanchit karma and Prarabdha karma. Efforts or struggle to change one's life is known as purushartha. Key to everyone's success is in practice. Will-power is the common factor of success in any work. Will-power is a compound of our self (ego) and mind. It's two enemies are regret about past and worry about future. A change of attitude involves disciplining the minds response to the outside world. 

Part II: Conflict management

Human sufferings can be categorized into: Conflicts between man and nature (We have no control), Conflicts between man and man (We can Avoid), Conflicts within man (Prevention and cure is in hand of individuals). We suffer because we look at life as a fight instead of a game.

We suffer due to unfulfilled desires. We suffer as we are attached to possessions and loved ones. We suffer because we do not consider our suffering as blessing in disguise, because we fail to understand that the world does not move as per our wishes, because we compare ourselves to others, because we can't distinguish between education and knowledge, because we seek peace outside, because we do not understand true meaning of success. Three illusions are source of problem: we think ourselves as physical body, money can give me security, more sense pleasures bring more happiness.

Four reasons of disturbance are: desire, attachment, i-ness and my-ness. Power to discriminate between good or bad, right and wrong can be cultivated by developing keen intellect to discriminate and loving heart to feel. To refine the intellect, one needs to control the senses and the mind.

Practice waiting for 5 minutes before reacting in a fit of anger, leave the place if surroundings are not conducive to anger control, stand before mirror when angry to examine your expressions, think about damage caused by anger before expressing it, convince yourself that world can't move as per your wishes, practice concentrating when angry, stop pre-supposing about the person you are cross with.

When jealous we waste time deprecating others rather than appreciating and emulating. A jealous person is never at ease. Do not give anyone keys to your happiness, stop making prejudiced and negative comparisons with others, learn to appreciate that other people can also be good and important, learn to be content with what you have, balance the use of mind and intellect, practice concentrating when jealous, take action before nature's blows make you mend your ways, practice introspection.

End of Book summary

In the appendix author has provided step by step guidance to the exercise of 'Watching the thought flow'.

This book is all about mind, power of mind and how to control your mind. Katha upanishad compares body to a chariot. Horses are senses, mind the reins, intellect is the charioteer and rider, the self. This book emphasizes mind control to live a happy life. This book also talks about anger management in detail. 

This book concentrates more on spiritual aspect and less on how to practically apply it. So it becomes more theoretical. Had there been guidance for day to day practical application, the value of this Book would have increased manifold. 

This book is heavy on philosophy and talks about a lot of things. Some may find this to be information overload. Moreover, the book has a preaching tone and requires full concentration of the reader. So only serious readers should attempt to read it. A second reading of the book, if you are serious, may make the concepts and ideas clearer. 

This book uses many quotes and anecdotes of The Holy Mother (Sarada Devi, consort of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa) and Swami Vivekananda. Sometimes author starts the chapter with a quote. 

Advaita Ashram, founded in 1899, located at Mayawati - Uttarakhand, is a branch of Ramakrishna math.

Why did I read this book? Curiosity. 

What I didn't like? Lack of practical application guidance.   

What did I like? Logic.

Recommend reading, only if you are serious about the subject. 

Inside Chanakya's mind: Aanvikshiki and the art of thinking by Radhakrishnan Pillai

"Inside Chanakya's mind: Aanvikshiki and the art of thinking" by Radhakrishnan Pillai - Aanvikshiki - from Chanakya to you.

This book is published by Penguin Random House India in 2017 and has 288 pages. This book was winner of Raymond Crossword Book Award 2016.

Book summary

All our life we are told by others to think, but no one actually taught us 'how to think' (analysis, decision making, prioritizing, planning, structuring, critical evaluation, logic). This book tries to get into the mind of Chanakya, the master. Author calls aanvikshiki, science of strategic thinking or critical thinking. Some call it philosophy, logical thinking, scientific thinking, inquiry, research, self- knowledge, enlightenment and a path leading to moksha, nirvana, mukti.

Kautilya says aanvikshiki is a way of thinking which includes numbers, the right connection to divine and material success. Practicing aanvikshiki is investigating what is spiritually good and evil in Vedic lore, material gain and loss in economics, good policy and bad policy in politics as well as relative strength and weakness of these three sciences. Aanvikshiki is the guiding principle for everything in life.

Types of thinking: Both side thinking, alternative thinking (Sama, Dana, Bhed, Danda), leadership thinking (thinking for good of team, out of the box thinking, all inclusive thinking, creative thinking (right time, right timing), lateral thinking (leadership and strategy - our and other's), spiritual thinking (balance dharma, artha, kama within laws of nature to get moksha). We should have solution focused mindset rather than problem focused.

Leadership is all about taking decisions in complex situations. Leadership model (get rid of lust, anger, greed, pride, arrogance, foolhardiness. Keep good company, be vigilant, engage the team, take personal responsibilities, seek expert opinion and walk the talk) and Administrative model (select good administrators - give responsibility and set goals, test their integrity - loyalty, material gain, lust & fear, supervise them - monitoring, appraisals & audits) are two thinking models.

Seven dimensions of thinking (saptang) are: swami (king - leader or CEO), amatya (ministers - management), janapad (country- employees), durga (fortified city- infrastructure, assets, share holding, business moat, specializations), kosha (treasury - finances, compliance, market capitalisation and remuneration), danda (army - rules, regulations, procedures, policies, training,  loyalty), mitra (ally - partners, suppliers, clients).

Eighth dimension of thinking is 'The enemy'. SWOT analyse the enemy. Build on the weakness of enemy. Chanakya employed an army of Vishkanya (modern day honey trap). Having an enemy (competition) keeps you alert. Shatru (enemy) brings out the best in you, the sleeping giant awakens, challenges make you strong, it acts as a push (tipping point). He united armies of various kingdoms to fight Alexander (JV or consortium), used his spies to understand the homesickness of his army and capitalized on it. He invented the game of chess to mentally prepare and practice war strategies during peace time (pilot project, simulation). If it comes to it, chose your life over your wealth (cut your losses, live another day).

When asked why he is considered shrewd, cunning and cold hearted he says I am not in popularity game. The purpose of my life (nation building) is greater than perception about me. The softer side of Chanakya taught that relations matter (Build and maintain relations internally and externally), take care of old (benefit from experience), empower women (gender diversity), respect teachers (coaches,  mentors and experience), let go of the enemy.

Chanakya on management: Emphasis on practical training and mentorship. Conquer internal enemies before external. All management starts with self management. Seeking opinion of SME's is important but then leader should make his own decision based on feedback. Manager should lead by example. Time management is essential for a manager. Basic traits of good economy are: acquisition of things not possessed, preservation of things possessed, increase of things owned. Management is all about managing the minds of people.

Chanakya divides kings time into 16 nalikas of 90 min each and tells what the king should do in each of them. He recommends listening music before sleeping. He recommends to plan the work mentally daily.

In the section how to use human thinking author emphasizes on brainstorming, expert opinion, opinion of advisors, follow financial model (wealth identification, creation, management, distribution), advise from friends and allies. In the section how to use divine thinking author emphasizes on use of mantras, medicines and illusions. He defines effective deliberation as the means of starting undertakings, the excellence of men and material, apportionment of space and time, provision against failure and accomplishment of work.

End of book summary

Author has given Chanakya's list of weaknesses of best enemies and qualifications of best female spies. He also gives principles of town planning. At the end of the book he gives a questionnaire that summarizes the essence of this Book.

It's interesting to note that Chanakya recommends only 4.5 hours sleep for the king with another 1.5 hours during the day as optional or power nap. Is PM Modi following Chanakya?

Author has set a few objectives at the beginning of the book. I asked myself if author's intentions were met. Was the journey fun? Did I enjoy? Did it help me discover myself again? Answer to first two was yes. Third was a no. Probably it will turn to yes with application of this knowledge in daily life.

Nicolo Machiavelli states three ways to treat subjects of a conquered territory in his famous book 'The Prince'. Chanakya recommends only one. For him this is the best way.

I heard the word Aanvikshiki for the first time when i read the sub-title of this book. A little research tells us that there are many meanings of the word aanvikshiki (अन्वीक्षिकी) in Sanskrit (संस्कृत). For this book, it's strategic or critical thinking, the science of thinking.

Chanakya wrote Arthashastra in 400 BCE. This book is an extract of Chanakya's teachings regarding aanvikshiki. 400 BCE was the time of kings. So, what he writes for kings is applicable for today's leaders and what he writes for kingdom is applicable for today's organizations.

This book is a trove of information from Arthashastra. I could not help creating mind map of what I read, as I read. Credit to author for choosing the subject and bringing the ancient knowledge to those who don't understand Sanskrit.

Chapter on Chanakya's thoughts on management is brief. It's relevance in today's corporate culture could have been elaborated more. But I suppose author deliberately avoided it because he has written a separate book, Corporate Chanakya, for that.

Author applies the knowledge of Chanakya to today's governance or government rather than the corporate world while explaining the concepts. Again, this may be by design as stated above. 

This book has an eye catching cover of outline of Chanakya head in red colour without features. This cover is apt for the book subject. The cover is bound to attract potential buyers in a book shop. 

Chanakya, also known as Kautilya or Vishnugupta, was a phenomenon, a legend, master strategist, teacher and philosopher. He  loved in 4th century BCE and was master of all subjects He authored political treatise 'Arthashastra'.

Radhakrishnan Pillai is a management speaker and strategy consultant. He has PhD in Arthashastra. He is a management Guru and has authored several books.

Why did I read this book? Curiosity about Aanvikshiki.

What did I like?  Bringing ancient knowledge to modern readers.

What I didn't like?  Some things are repeated.

Recommend reading.

Zeus is dead: A monstrously inconvenient adventure by Michael G. Munz

"Zeus is dead: A monstrously inconvenient adventure" by Michael G. Munz - Another modern fiction on Greek mythology.

This book is published by Red muse press in 2014 and has 444 pages.

Zeus is murdered. His directive of not involving in earthly matters is no longer valid. Poseidon is the new king and Hera marries him. Gods decide to reveal themselves to mortals. One group is trying to revive Zeus with the help of chosen one (Tracy Wallace & / or Leif Carlson), another group is trying to thwart the attempts. Apollo takes an unprecedented step, something never done by a God before.

Who killed Zeus? Can an immortal God be killed? Who is trying to revive Zeus? What is the contribution of the two mortals?

Author starts with murder of Zeus. From here the real story of one group trying to revive him and another trying to thwart the attempts of first group starts. Author has brought the Greek Gods into modern day America to create a story and hilarious situations.

This author too, portrays Gods as egotistical jerks with little consideration for human life. He also follows the general pattern of Rick Riordan. To add to the murder and vengeance, there is also the threat of return of Titans.

Author has a unique style of narration. It's a very dry, sarcastic humour. In the beginning it appears odd, there is even a slight dislike. But as the book progresses you get used to it and start enjoying. While narrating the story, sometimes, author talks to readers as author, not as character. 

However, although, author creates good and brilliant scenes individually, as a whole the story does not gel, it's not fluid and fails to create an impact. A number of things happen in a certain way without any reason for them to happen that way. 

So, although, there are flashes of brilliance the recipe does not come out tasty. 

Author alludes to a possible sequel. If it comes, I am not going to buy that book.

Why did I read this book? Title.

What I didn't like? Lack of flow, consistency. 

What did I like? Dry humour

Give it a miss.