Bullseye by David Baldacci

"Bullseye" by David Baldacci. This is advertised as 'An original Will Robie / Camel club short story' and is third book of Will Robie series.

Will Robie and Oliver Stone (of Camel club) happen to be in a bank when a robbery takes place. But the robbers do not seem to be interested in the bank. They want to go somewhere from here.

Where do they want to go? Why rob the bank? What is the real target? Are Will Robie and Camel Club with each other or against? What will be the outcome?

It's a classic situation where two unrelated characters of an author meet each other for or during one assignment. It's a way for the author to make them contemporary and entice fans of one to read the stories of other (cross selling of product). Clive Cussler has done it, television soaps do it all the time.

The story is small, full of action. An assassination attempt, a plot, hostages and our heroes happening to be on the spot at the right time. The story, being short, is self propelling and heroes don't do much to take the story forward. Although the protagonists foil the plot, who is behind it never becomes clear.

Although it is listed in Will Robie series, Camel club members get more page space.

A good cross over, but you can give it a miss.

Awara (आवारा) by Suhas Shirvalkar (सुहास शिरवळकर)

"Awara (आवारा)" a Marathi book by Suhas Shirvalkar (सुहास शिरवळकर). This book is published by Amol Prakashan (अमोल प्रकाशन). This edition was published in 2012 and has 240 pages.

This book contain three stories, all of them mysteries. Two murder mysteries and a bank robbery. The detective who solves them is Mandar Patwardhan, famous protagonist (मानसपुत्र) of Suhas Shirvalkar.

First story is 'Awara (आवारा)'. Helen Spylane (हेलन स्पायलेन), a scantly clad wet beautiful American girl, gets a lift by a handsome young man on a rainy night. They go to a lodge on Mumbai-Pune highway.  A man is murdered in her suit but he is not the one who gave lift to Helen. Two more murders are committed. Whodunnit?

In second story titled 'Gahan (गहन)'; Satlaj Mayawi (सतलज मायावी), a 21 year beautiful young girl, is about to inherit her father's fortune from the trustees. She loves a poor boy, Shailesh (शैलेश), and wants to marry him upon receiving the inheritance. But her father's will has a condition that she can't fulfill. Shailesh is murdered. Whodunnit?

In the story 'Watch-eye (वॉच-आय)', branch manager of a bank makes a plan to rob his bank with his beautiful lover. The bank is robbed. Whodunnit?

Writing murder mysteries is a work of patience. You have to introduce the characters, build the background, set the murder, scatter the clues, build the momentum, detail out the investigation, show either everyone or no one under suspicion and finally reveal the murderer. Doing all of it in a story of few pages is very difficult. There is a possibility to miss out on more than one things or risk sounding like a bulletin rather than a story.

Suhas has managed to avoid both, but the short length has put a few limitations that readers have to live with. All the stories are good and interesting.

I was a fan of Suhas Shirvalkar in my teens. All his stories sounded awesome. His characters appeared larger than life. His characters had interesting and innovative names. Did I feel the same while reading this book? Not really. It may be because I have read a lot in quantity and variety since then or it may be because the literature that was published after him improved a lot. Any way, what I felt was pure nostalgia. I remembered hours spent buried in Suhas Shirvalkar books. His characters Mandar (मंदार पटवर्धन), Ramy (रमी), Dr. Bankim (डॉ. बंकीम), Inspector Saigal (इ. दिनेश सायगल), Danny (डँनी), Firoz Irani (फिराेझ ईराणी), Barrister Amar Vishwas (अमर विश्वास) etc. I met some of them in this book after a long time. Had a good time.

An OK book. Read it for nostalgia.