Dead line by Chris Ewan

"Dead line" by Chris Ewan - Strange!

This book is published by Faber & Faber in 2013 and has 368 pages. 

Trent is following a French businessman, Jerome, when his convoy is attacked and the businessman is kidnapped. Jerome has a kidnap policy. Trent offers to help. The one person he can trust is retired police officer Gerard. 

Why is Trent following the businessman? Is he trying to protect him from kidnapping? How will he deal with the kidnappers? Does he have an ulterior motive?

Story starts well with kidnap of Jerome, the businessman. Trent teams with Stefani (Jerom's young trophy wife), Philippe (his young son) and Alain (his bodyguard). Trent wants to save Jerome, but he needs him to find Emme, his fiancee. The graph of story keeps rising until the ransom demand is made. But after that author loses control over the story. There is an affair, not required for the story. Then there are deaths. Author introduces death expecting to give shock to the audience but ends up making the story jerky. Death after death takes the story off the track. 

The end is also very unconvincing. A dead man becomes alive. The mastermind is revealed but there are no hidden clues in the earlier story, so it appears as afterthought rather than being integral part of the story. At the end, everyone dies but Emme is still missing. Does the author plan a sequel? I hope not. To top it up, guess what, there is no dead line. 

Characterization appears to be shallow. Trent, an experienced negotiator acts rashly. Jerom's sadistic actions in past have no relation to the present story. Author can't decide if Stefani is oppressed or opportunist. Gerard retires, why? Alain's character builds up nicely to make an untimely exit.  

Give it a miss. 

Why did I read this book? It happened to be on hand. 

What I didn't like? Story and execution. 

What did I like? Umm...

The price you pay by Somnath Batabyal

"The price you pay" a debut novel by Somnath Batabyal.

Abhishek, a young journalist joins Express. He is mentored by legendary crime journalist Amir Akhtar and Deputy Commissioner of Delhi police Uday Kumar and helped by ACP Mayank. This coupled with his nose for story allows him to generate three fist page stories in the first month of his service, an achievement unheard of.

Abishek also finds out that Babloo Shankar, once a kidnap king and now hiding in Singapore, is planning a return to India and get back into business. There seems to be some equation between Uday, Amir and Babloo.

Abhishek gets an offer from TV channel News today (This channel seems to be based on NDTV) and accepts. He suffers a lot of humiliation at the hands of his colleagues and is at his low when, while thinking of returning to newspaper, he decides to break a story that will make or break his career.

What is the story? Will Abhishek settle in TV or go back to newspaper? What does mysterious, beautiful and sexy Archana Pandey have to do with all of this? Does Babloo return?

Somnath has explained in detail how newspaper industry works. How corrupt and honest survive. How police and reporters have a love hate relationship. How journalists are manipulated. How TV journalism is all about TRP rather than news. The hollowness of it all and the hope in it, as well.

The story takes place in Delhi. Naturally there are multiple references to places, roads, people in Delhi. Author has captured the pulse of Delhi perfectly. Readers come to know the identity of city of Delhi. Full marks to him for that.

The book is 285 pages long and the story moves at an easy pace for about 250 pages and then suddenly accelerates in last 30 odd pages. The climax could have been longer.

The book is a novelty. Read for a change.