The endgame by S. Hussain Zaidi

"The endgame" by S. Hussain Zaidi - A fiction sequel!

This book is published by Harper India in Jul 2020 and has 240 pages.

Ex Prime Minister Naidu suffers a vehicle accident. Special Director General of BSF, Somesh Kumar, comes to visit him in hospital  but is assassinated, on his way back, by home grown terrorists. Vikrant Singh and his boss Additional DG Shahwaz Ali Mirza (from previous book 'Eleventh hour'), who are now working for RAW, are tasked to investigate.

Who killed Kumar? Why? What will Vikrant and Mirza find? Why was Rehmat killed? Who are Al Mukadam and Al Bark? What was written in Mirza's report 10 years ago? What is the end game?

Almost all characters of previous book ('Eleventh hour') make a come back. The Lakshadweep team reunites. Vaishali and Naidu have reconciled and the father- daughter duo is staying together. Daniel is now a civilian and fiancée of Vaishali. DCP Mankame from ATS, Goyal and Jaiswal who are now DCP's with Mumbai police and  Mazhar who is living under an assumed identity in Pune, Shukla from Military intelligence make reappearance. Two Mossad agents also join them. Rehmat is a 20 year old girl doing social work and is also an informant. Al Mukadam and Al Bark are the terrorists. Singh is NSA who is pushing Mirza for results. 

The story is not very fluid. It's chunky. Yet it's entertaining. Since most of the characters reappear, author has to take efforts to show how they matured rather than building new characters. The climax is not very thrilling. It's not the high point of drama. The reason behind the elaborate plot is not laid out very convincingly. Role of Mossad is also not elaborated well. The major twist / surprise author wants to give could be guessed from a mile and thus doesn't surprise. 

A few questions linger after reading the book. How come Al Bark doesn't know Gazi is captured? What's with the scientists? Why does the villain change so suddenly? Why the name Endgame when it would have been a beginning if the plot succeeded?

Author suggests a very dangerous possibility. Possibility that there are sleeper cells in India and they have been hiding cache of arms for years to be used in future terrorist activities. 

This is Zaidi's first fiction sequel. Previous book came in 2018. A gap of almost 3 years makes reader forget the previous book. 

Why did I read this book? First book was good. 

What did I like? Continuity.

What I didn't like? Patchy narration. 

Read if you have read 'Eleventh hour'.