The Puppeteer by Arindam Mukherjee

"The Puppeteer" by Arindam Mukherjee. This book is published by Grapevine India in 2013 and has 254 pages.

President of Pakistan has agreed to acknowledge the line of control in Kashmir as international border. This is a big victory for India. Lasting peace seems to be a real possibility. But Pakistani multimillionaire business tycoon and pro Islamist Aamir Ben Kalish is livid. He doesn't like the stance of the President who also happens to be his personal friend. He summons his second in command Zuair and his son Omar to assassinate the President while on tour of India.

Can his plan come to fruition? Can his team infiltrate India? Can they find agents to assassinate the president? Will they succeed? Can Indian intelligence stop them?

This is Arindam's first fiction novel. He has put up a credible effort. The seed is imaginative. Execution is also good. He has managed to churn a decent story. Characterization, though, needed more efforts.

A large portion of the book is spent on elaborating first the reason and then the perpetration for the plot. The Indian intelligence does not get the whiff of the assassination plot until two third of the book is over. This means that the tantalizing cat and mouse game gets limited page space.

It also appears that the Pakistanis had not done their home work thoroughly and they improvise the plot as it develops. Such plots usually do not succeed. Side story of Mafizul and his lust for Salima appears weak.

Author has introduced a special twist in the tale in the epilogue. I don't know why he waited till epilogue for reveling the twist.

OK book. Read if you have time.

Girl who saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson

"Girl who saved the King of Sweden" by Jonas Jonasson. This book is published by Ecco in Apr 2014 and has 400 pages. This book is translation of his Swedish book 'Analfabeten som kunde räkna'

Nombeko is a 14 year old black orphan, who lives in Soweto near Johannesburg and works as manager of latrine emptying. She is illiterate but has a way with numbers. She learns to read from a poor man who had a stash of diamonds. When this man is killed, she leaves Soweto to Johannesburg and  is run down on a pavement by a drunk Engineer's car. South African court declares black Nombeko guilty and sentences her to work as servant of the Engineer for 7 years. This Engineer happens to be an idiot and also head of South Africa's nuclear program. Nombeko learns and aquires knowledge equivalent to nuclear scientist in her stay with Engineer which happens to be more than 7 years.

Ingmar is a bumbling and stupid cleark at Sweden's post office. His life's goal is to shake hands with the King of Sweden. Eventually when he does meet the king, he had a change of heart. Now the objective of his life is to abolish monarchy. His wife gives birth to twin boys. Both are named Holger. Holger1, like his father, wants to abolish monarchy without a clue, brains and ability to do anything. Holger2 is cleaver and sane. He understands the folly in his father's goal.

Nombeko manages to escape South Africa with a three megaton atomic bomb by duping Mossad agents and lands in Sweden. Here she meets Holger2. Then starts the action of first concealing and then disposing the atom bomb and later rescuing it.

Nobody knows what to do with the a atomic bomb. Will the atom bomb fall in wrong hands? How long can Nombeko hide it?  How will it impact international politics? How can it be disposed off? Who threatens King of Sweden? Which girl saves him? Can she find love?

Jonas has a unique writing style. He creates humor without appearing to do so. I like his writing style. The book is full of witty commentary and black humor (No pun intended). Author also has a habit of slipping in political commentary and making fun of various politicians or political situations in a humorously sarcastic manner without sounding offensive. The real King and Prime Minister of Sweden and President of China are also characters in the story.

There is a collection of rag tag characters and then there is an atomic bomb. There are intelligence agencies, police and there is chase. The characters, situations and incidents range from improbable to impossible and thus help in creating hilarious situations. Jonas has a way with witty and hilarious writing.

The book covers a long time span of more than 46 years. I would have preferred it to be shorter.

Although you like the book, you don't love it. Especially those who have read his first book 'The 100 year old...' would be disappointed because this book does not  live up to the heightened expectations.

A decent book. If you are reading Jonas Jonasson for the first time, you will like it.

Salim must die by Mukul Deva.

"Salim must die" by Mukul Deva. This is the second book of Lashkar series.

The book shows that Osama Bin Laden (without naming him) was captured in Hyderabad, Pakistan, but died of medical conditions within hours. Mind you this book was written before Osama was captured. Shows clairvoyance of the author.

Brigadier Murad Salim of ISI, whose death was faked in previous book (Lashkar), and his side kick Major Cheema are back in action. This time the plot is much bigger. Objective is to carry out multiple terror strikes at multiple locations simultaneously. The perpetrators, this time, are not misguided youth but sleeper agents from various countries of different races, age groups and backgrounds. The strike wepon is also very deadly and objective is to create a bang bigger than 9/11.

What is the plot? Who will execute it? What kind of weapons will be deployed? What is the role of a Chinese scientist in all this? What  are the targets? Do they succeed? Which intelligence agency will be pressed into action? Would they be able to act in time?

Author has spent a lot of pages to describe the preparatory work for the grand terror plot. The book is 415 pages long. By the time the preparatory work is over you are through half the book. This part does not make you sit on the edge of you chair. Then the story gains speed. Force 22 (the ultra secret Indian special operations group headed by Colonel Anbu) is pressed into action. A decision is made to kill Brigedier Murad Salim of ISI. However this decision comes after 250th page and leaves limited page space for the actual killing. Iqbal from previous books makes a vital contribution.

The breakthrough needed by the intelligence agencies to unearth the plot comes as a lucky break rather than fruit of hard intelligence. The story gains speed after the break and you enjoy the climax.

Although this book is sequel to Lashkar, it is not as good as the predecessor. This book is good as a standalone book but seems bland in comparison with Lashkar. The story is slow. It keeps you interested, you don't abandon it, but the heightened expectations after Lashkar are not met.

An OK book. Read if you plan to read the next two books in the series.