The unknown soldier by Gerald Seymour

"The unknown soldier" by Gerald Seymour. This book is published by Penguin group USA in 2006 and has 400 pages.

This is a very complex story. Caleb, who servives shootout by American soldiers, is arrested in Afghanistan and sent to Guantanamo bay. He assumes the identity of  the Taxi driver, in whose cab he was riding at the time of shootout. He convinces that he was arrested by mistake and is released. But he is not a taxi driver. He is a soldier of 55th brigade of Taliban.

He is transported to Rub-al-khali (The empty quarter), where the terrorists are regrouping, by a small camel caravan. After he is released, Americans realize their mistake and the hunt begins. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), electronic and human intelligence and investigations begin.

Who is Caleb? Why is he so dangerous that Americans don't leave any stone unturned? Why is he so important that Taliban spares no effort for his safety and is ready to sacrifice men to save him?

The story has numerous characters. Dr. Bartholomew (Bart), who is a coward,   Edward Wroughton (Eddie) who is a bully intelligence operative, Lizzy and Marty who operate the UAV, Jed who has interrogated Caleb, Beth who is a professor in Saudi Arabia and has fallen in love with unknown stranger, Rashid the guide in Rub-al-khali etc..

The depiction of arid dessert of Rub-al-khali gives you goose bumps. The dessert can kill anyone and can be ruthless and brutal. Lack of water is accompanied by quick sands. The effort America takes to track the terrorists is amazing.

The story is slow. Although the description of dessert is good, the rest is mediocre. It's a big book and long story. Author just about manages to keep the reader interested. This was my first book of Gerald Seymour and I have not become his fan.

Beating of Eddy is surprising and unexplained. Why Caleb goes towards part of terrorism is also not entirely clear. Character of Bart is very complex and appears to be wasted unnecessarily.

Give it a miss.

The Anza deception by P.R. Ganapathy

"The Anza deception" by P.R. Ganapathy. This book is published by Hachette in 2012 and has 373 pages.

India and Pakistan have worked out a peace deal. There is opposition from both sides. Mr. Kirmani, Pakistani prime minister who worked out the deal with Indian prime minister Mr. Singh, has won a landslide majority in general elections in Pakistan.

Major Anwar Islam is ex military and now works for Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India's spy agency. His commanding officer in army,  Colonel Gupta, now heads RAW.

Islam is stationed at Indian embassy in Islamabad and runs a spy network. One day he gets a news that a very important cargo would be transported from Pakistani city to Afghanistan. Islam intercepts the cargo. He is shocked to see a catch of 55 Anza Mark III missiles. These are shoulder fired, heat seeking, surface to air missiles. Taliban or any other terrorist organization has never possessed such an advanced wepon system. India has never got hold of Anza missiles till date. This catch will allow them to study and device counter measures for these missiles.

Gupta informs PMO, that they have acquired 40 missiles. He instructs Islam to take remaining 15 to Xinjiang region of China and hand them over to Muslim Uighur rebels.

Will the Uighur's accept them? Will they use them? Will Kashmiri terrorists get them? Will they deploy them? Will they use them? Will they succeed?

Author has used names of Indian politicians which sounds very similar to real life politicians like Manmohan Singh, Jaswant Singh, Sonia and Rahul. I felt that this was unnecessary.

First half of novel is paced moderately. Once  the action moves back to India, the pace improves. Second half is written like a thriller. Ganapathy has displayed his knowledge of the working of intelligence agencies, bureaucracy and aircrafts.

The plot is good, but the narration is jerky. Some important events like change of prime minister or death of a Major are covered only in one sentence. Fate of Karandikar is left for the readers to imagine. The person who pulls strings from behind the curtain is revealed on the last page, but intelligent readers can guess him about 100 pages earlier.

Although it's a very good first attempt, the amateur style of writing is evident. Finess in writing is still not there but should come in subsequent books.

Full marks to the good cover design. It summarizes the book. Use of blue color is also very effective.

An OK book. Read if you have time.

The shadow throne by Aroon Raman

"The Shadow Throne", debut novel by Aroon Raman. 

There is a sinister plot, code named Shadow Throne, to assemble nuclear war heads in Afganistan and launch them using Ghauri missiles from Pakistan, destination India.

A journalist, an Inspector and a History professor with support of a bureaucrat must stop the world from nuclear WW III. Story takes place mainly in India & Afganistan.

Who is behind the plot? ISI, RAW, Taliban, Shia Hazaras, Kushans (8 feet tall giants of indo-greek origin) who are believed to be extinct? Can this madness be stopped? What is the damage? What are the repercussions?

The story seems somewhat far fetched (but thats what thrillers are supposed to be, isn't it?). The pace is not even, bit jerky at times. However the seed is good & narrative is fine. Climax is abrupt. Current political situation in India is used as apt backdrop. Considering that this is the debut novel of the author we can expect more good novels from Aroon in future. 

A new age has dawned where english fictions of Indian writers are being widely accepted. This story provides a fresh perspective & a different landscape if you read too many western novels. One should read such novels to support Indian writers.