Rakhi Jayashankar's Blog, page 26

LIPSTICK BY VISH DHAMIJA- REVIEW #BOOK2

Serial Killer stories are not one of its kind but every time authors manage to get a different angle to the same. Vish Dhamija has tried to make it possible with consummate finesse.

The plot takes off with twin murders. Murders of two sex workers. Primarily it looks like someone is on the loose in search of hookers to take revenge on them.

The plot is dominated with the blood and gore and how perverted the perpetrator's mind has been. Rita Ferreira is introduced to yet another serial killer, a cleverer and preverted one this time. The more savage the crime is the cleverer the culprit gets. He leaves nothing behind, no fingerprints, no foorprints, no bodyfluids and not even a single strand of hair. Rita is associated with Harry, a smart rookie who never fails to include a Hindi idiom translated in English in the funniest manner possible. Rita is in a "part-time" relationship with Ash Mittel. While she is trying to decode the death of the hookers, the next slaughter of a respectable house wife turns the table for the investigative team. While trying to find the connection between the women they zero in on Ranbeer who has supplied systems to these women.

Once Ranbeer gets arrested, the whole scenario changes. Further what happens is the crux of the book.

The characters are idetified by their idiosycrasies rather than their personality, barring Rita and Ash. The character of Ash is close to reality. How an ordinary person deals with long distance relationship is portrayed honestly through Ash. Coming to the antagonist, I would say the timing was right because we, in Kerala, just got enlightened with the news of a woman who led a normal respectful life but was a serial killer. The antagonist in the movie is the male counterpart of this real life woman but since the book was written before that it should me surmised that the author has a gift of god. The murders are all gruesome which shows the insanity of the culprit but the fact that he has a reapectable life, shows his ability to hide his ogre head. Other characters are all supporting the plot. Notwithstading the importance in the plot, they are not given much space to develop.

The narration style is impeccable. It's mid way through a vernacular and literary style hence it targets hardcore readers as well a beginners. The parallel story line which depicts the backstory of the anatagonist is similar to that of his previous book.

The climax is impeccable and unprecedented. When the readers are on the edge of the seat and just about to know who is who, the unexpected and unprecedented twists drops them on the seat wondering what is happening. It makes the book all the more unique. The second half is stretched to no end resulting in the readers losing interest after a point but later the pace is revamped.

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The round up of the book would be that it is a book for mystery thriller lovers who like to see physcotic killers with gruesome murders.

The Worst Daughter Ever by Aarti V Raman- Review

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It's been more than a month since I posted a review. It seems surreal and new to me now. It's like I am doing this for the first time. To make up for the long hiatus, we will have a few activities and series happening. Will update you all about these soon.

Today the book I am reviewing is written by an author whom I had the opportunity to chit chat during the #WritersCorner activity by WritersMelon. While participating in the activity she came across as a serious character, straight forward and someone who we would look upto.

I expected the book to be about a nearly perfect "miss goody two shoes". But surprisingly that was not the case.

The character is not only far from "miss goody two shoes" but the troublemaker in the household, whom majority of the housemates despise because she let the can of worms that belong to the family through her book Spectacular. Her cousin Ahalya who was more like sister hates her for what she did and doesn't leave a chance to pick on her. Her father stopped talking to her two years back. Her only support is her brother but she couldn't digest his perfect wife who can handle any situation perfectly.

Here is Lasya for the readers. The worst daughter ever.

The Plot is a quintessential chick-lit. It revolves around Lasya and her family, her imperfections and her disappointment. Chakrapani family, which is her paternal family is the prototype of a normal South Indian family. A group of relatives who judge each other, the cousins who love each other and stand by each other through thick and thin but do not shy away from fighting with each other like cats and dogs and LJ aka Lasya, is that black sheep which is mandatorily present in every family. I could relate completely with her because I was that black sheep in my orthodox family who did the blasphemy of falling in love at the age of 16 when the other perfect cousins were undefectable and flawless.
The character craft, as mentioned before is impeccable and realistic. Though some of them were cliche. It reinforced the fact that the characters like these exist in every extended families. Ben's character is one that stands out. Lasysa's attraction towards him and her deliberate repulsion due too her notion that he is too good and decent for her makes the book interesting and adds a different color to the scenario.
The narration needs special mention. With an undoubtedly above average style of narration, author proves that women can write contemporary fiction with a swag. How the cousins discuss the topics which are otherwise not allowed in a standard household is portrayed without mincing the words.

ROUND-UP OF THE REVIEW WOULD BE THAT THE BOOK IS A QUINTESSENTIAL CHICK-LIT WHICH DESERVES TO BE IN THE BESTSELLER LIST.

FIX BY OMAR SHAHID- REVIEW

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Match-fixing is a term that has been used synonymous to cricket these days. There was a time the laymen used to watch cricket like a religious practice. But now, a dropped catch or a wicket or a no ball or a sixer would be seen with a frown. Fix is a tale of match fixing in Pakistan Women's Cricket.

From the bestselling author of the prisoner and the party worker will the profusely talented Sanam Khan’s rise to the pinnacle of world cricket be interrupted by the bookies and the powerful match-fixing mafia?

Sanam is the Pakistan cricket team captain. The girl who changed the perspective about women's cricket in a retrograde country like Pakistan. She , with her girls reaches UK to play women's World Cup. The whole media is focussed on the Women in Green. While everything seems right, Sanam is contacted by a well known bookie, and she falls for an ex- cricketer who allegedly fixed men's World Cup years before. Thenceforth we get to see a thrilling tale brimful of suspense. How she deals with the challenges is the rest of the tale.

 Will Sanam and her girls succeed where the men failed, or will history repeat itself?.

Author has put forward the intricacies of spot fixing like a seasoned bookie. The expanse of research invested in the book is transparently evident to the readers. Without taking any names, author has clearly delineated who is who in th whole plot. How Sanam meets the bookie, and how he gets access to the Pakistan  Cricket captain, is deftly rendered. How Sanam reacts is an impulsive sentiment. Fatima is the game changer in the cat and mouse game between bookies and players. The book is all about how the players will be forced to succumb to the pressure so as to help the bookies at least in sopt fixing, 
The depiction of Indian captian as someone who brazenly joins hands with the bookie didn't come down well with me as an Indian. There were a few loose plots. Nonetheless the book has managed to impress the readers

UNSPOKEN BY SADHANA WADHWA- BOOK#3 2020MARATHON

Unspoken, as the subtitle says, is indeed a bouquet of short stories. Each and ever story in the book is like a flower. Simple, gives a nice and good feeling, leaves the fragrance of love and some give the thorn of pain.

A story of a pregnant woman reminoscing the time when she decides to abort her child for her husband, a story of a couple who gets separated and meets by chance later,  a story of a woman whom after a painful breakup goes on blind dates due to her friends, a story of  how friendship between two girls and a boy becomes sour after their love angle comes into picture, a story of a woman who elopes ith her boyfriend, a boy who broke up with a girl and later a shocking revelation comes to him, a story of a couple who gets an anonymous gift and are dead scared of opening it. This is all about unspoken.

All the stories are about relationships and author tells us how important, fragile and volatile each realtionship is. The book is not only a bouquet of short stories but a bouquet of relations too. The stroy 'A Twist of Fate' has a an utterly shocking climax but when we think more deep into it, the plot has several loopholes. Of the seven, Stella is my favorite. It has the pain that lingers with the readers. The book is an easy and fast reads. The stories lack depth but it itself makes the book contradictory.

Sinners by Sourabh Mukherjee- Book#2 #2020Marathon

Stories related to the corporate world has always enticed the readers. Corporate thrillers are trending in the world of literature. The Sinners is one such addition to the corporate thrillers.

A decadent womanizer drunk on power, a wife battling her demons to hold the family together, a jilted lover who swears revenge, the best-friend-turned-foe in the corporate jungle, a seductive temptress whose charms none can escape, a ruthless business rival, the shadow of a sinful past – all come together to make The Sinners an unputdownable read.

There have been a lot of real and fictional stories wherein the tale of a stratagem womanizer bose who tries to get his things done by hook or crook. Each and every instance in the book is crafted in an awesome-sauce fashion that the readers will process the twists and turns to a point that they will be forced to get hooked to the book till the climax.

The plot revolves around Vikram Oberoi who is a street smart person who has taken the firm to a next level but his philandering habits become an impediment in his growth both professionally and personally. Vikram's efforts and talent has no effect of late to control the problems faced by the firm. What is happening in his personal and professional life? Who is trying to break and finish Vikram Oberoi?
The thrilling suspenseful story tells us the answer to these questions.

The characters are crafted well. The plot is also closely knit. All through the book, the readers keep on guesssing who is the one wearing the mask. Somewhere down the line, almost the mid-second half of the book, it could be somehow guessed by the readers. The plot develops in a strong fashion but the backstory lacks mettle and pulls down the depth and pace of the plot.

Overall the book is an engaging cliffhanger.

WAKE UP OH! INDIAN WAKE UP PLEASE by SUPRIO GHOSH- #BOOK2 #20-20MARATHON

The book is a collection 40 poems. The angry expressions of the author towards the situations in the country.

Conincidentally I started reading the book at a time when the whole country is angry about the anarchy around. Authors expression of anger and helplessness is the most positive and optimistic way of expression.

A collection of easy to read understand, book of inspirational poetry on India that you can enjoy, mull over, reflecting the everyday reality and solutions. 

Author has touched almost every topic in the country that need to be addressed. The major highlight of the book is that each poem is relatable and the readers will feel like "he is telling what I have always wanted to tell."

About the poetic aspects, author has not given much importance to the meters. When the topic of the poem is not the quintessential poetic musings. But the effort of the author to include rhyming words is interesting. These could be counted more as poetic prose than poems as such. 

USEFUL DEATH BY SRIRAM CHELLAPILLA #BOOK1 #20-20MARATHON

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The title Useful Death is sure to raise a few eyebrows. How could a death be useful?

A young actress Priya commits suicide and the son of a top actor Anil is being accused of leading her into the suicide. Her laptop and phone goes missing, adding to the mystery of the whole scenario. Partha the co-founder of a PR agency is hired to do damage control for Anil. Once Partha sets out to find the truth, the situations get entagled and Partha learns that it is not what is seen peripherally. Priya's death is no longer a young actress in love with a young ator cliche. The more Partha gets involved, the more spiralled, his path to truth gets. With a mix of suspese, action and drama, author has managed to pull off an engaging cliffhanger.

They must negotiate a tangled and vicious world to answer one question: a young woman is dead—to whom is her death useful?

The style of narration and overall plot reminds of Jackie Collins style of craft. Though with an action packed twist. The narration is the highlight of the book. Towards the second half, the plot gets too long to care but author with the exemplary style of narration has made the job seem smooth and easy going. The characters are complimetary to the plotline. Except Partha and the person who comes to light towards the climax, none of the characters are given much space to develop but still author has managed to make it look complete.

There are a lot of subplots which eventually gel seamlessly with the main plot. But too much of anything would be tiring. Too much of suspense makes it lagging for the readers. Nonetheless, on the whole the book is a complete package that could keep the readers hooked to the book and wanting to know what is going to happen all the time.

A Ticklish Affair and Other Stories by Sunil Kapoor and Sudhir Kapoor

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Ticklish affair is a collection of short stories both real and fictional. Most of them were adapted into movies and short films.

The first stroy Blackmail is the story of the two worlds. How the influencial overpowers the under privileged. The story implicitly tell that once you lose everything, nothing can break you. The plot is quite complicated yet crisp. But squeezing it into a short story was not a good idea. A novel on this plot could have a better chance in establishing.  Let me soar high is the story of how a rape victim puts herself together and tries to fight her way out. Nonetheless the fact that she didn't get justice, pricks despite the fact that it is the sad reality in the current scenario. Masqueraders from the North tell the story of how innocent farmers are misled and cheated into giving up their land offering them high paying jobs from abroad. It is realistic but the narration seemed amateurish. Rickshaw Faridabadi is one of my favorite stories. It is the story of a girls who falls in love with Rickshaw driver. They get separated and years later, they meet in a very unwelcome circumstance. Their love for each other is palpable and depicted in such a way that the readers will be hooked to the book. The Ticklish Affair is yet another story that shows the finesse of the authors. It could be degraded as a mere extra marital affair story but the story has a wider angle which could be viewed beyond it. The Kikar Tree is an eye opener about the pseudo Godmen who tries to use any situation to their advantage. Agnates and Cognates is a reflection of the contemporary society. It is about how people fight over money and materialistic things. Tiger Trail is a fiction based on a real life poacher. It has the frame of an action thriller which could be developed into a novel or movie. The Spark of the Divine tells the readers about the pious authors who unilaterally portrays their god fearing soul. The Lover's Message is a short and simple story to end the book with.

The dark undertone of ‘blackmail’, the power of belief in ‘Spark of the divine’, the forbidden romance in ‘ticklish affair’ or the eternal power of love in ‘rickshaw faridabadi’, this collection of stories is sure to move readers to tears of sadness and joy at the same time.

Overall the book seems to have written in different timeline because the style of narration and the finesse of depiction are different in different stories. Some are exceptionally good and some are amateurish. But overall the book is a good read. The abstract in the beginning ould have been omitted and added in the end because it distracts the readers and also giving the abstract in the beginning somehow spoils the suspense especially since it is a short story.

NOTHING VETURED BY JEFFREY ARCHER- REVIEW

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Jeffrey Archer has been my favorite author since childhood. His Cliffton chronicles has never failed to appeal to the readers. The protagonist of the book Harry Cliffton is an author and his creation William Warwick was a rage. There wouldn't be a single soul who have wondered if Jeffrey Archer would give life to William Warwick and finally he did.

Through twists, triumph and tragedy, this series will show that William Warwick is destined to become one of Jeffrey Archer’s most enduring legacies.

William Warwick, the detective with a past, a kind hearted art lover who ends up in Scotland Yard as a detective who investigates crimes related to Art. His investigation on the theft of Rembrandt painting from the Fitzmolean Museum introduces him to Beth Rainford. William falls head over heels in love with Beth. His investigations introduce him to Mrs. and Mr. Faulkner who later becomes the turning point in the book. 

Nothing Ventured is the incredible and thrilling novel by the master storyteller and bestselling author of the Clifton Chronicles and Kane and Abel, Jeffrey Archer. This is not a detective story, this is a story about the making of a detective . . .

Warwick, unlike other detective characters comes across as a calm normal human being who falls for a a woman in the most natural and decent way possible. This in itself is a fresh distraction. The fine details of the investigation gives a fresh air of novelty since the situation. This book as such couldn't be compared to other detective stories. Like the blurb mentions, this is the story of the detective and hence, the plot could not solely revolve around the crime and the crimes are not gross which makes it interesting for the readers who doesn't like gruesome plots. 

There has been a common trend set by Ian Fleming, to portray a detective who is a womanizer. The same was repeated by numerous writers, which makes it a cliche. But Jeffrey Archer proves his mettle here. Author has weaved a cliffhanger without gruesome deaths and twisted characters.

Book Spotlight The Speaking Stone by Ratnadip Acharya

The Speaking Stone by Ratnadip Acharya ~Book Tour~ 11th to 17th November

About the Book: Mumbai, December 2016:  A young man found an ancient-looking piece of stone with strange images and Sanskrit inscriptions. A quest to know the origin of the stone brought him to the distant part of the country. 
Chandannagar, December 2016:  A young vivacious historian woman read an old book on a century-old secret story about a little known part of the country. Her curiosity got the better of her as the book disappeared mysteriously before she could complete it. She reached a sleepy quaint state of the country to satiate her curiosity. 
Eventually they both met and their search began from the city museum to a far-flung rock mountain which revealed a century-old story of a seductive danseuse, her enigmatic lover, a string of her admirers, a painter with a photographic memory, a bird that could speak in many voices, a benevolent king and a gruesome conspiracy. And the most important clue to decode the final secret was with the missing part of The Speaking Stone. But in the process of unearthing old secrets their lives were also in danger… 
Book Links: Amazon * Goodreads

Read an Excerpt:
Chapter 1
December 2016, Mumbai

“Sir, we are about to close,” a courteous but curt voice materialized from near his shoulder. These words, however, had barely any effect on him as he just groaned sleepily, without budging even an inch.

The middle-aged man standing behind him hesitated for a moment before placing his fingers on his shoulder and tapping on it.

“Sir, it is well past one-thirty. We must close now at any cost. You know those Colaba police, na?” the man in uniform urged him. After all, he could not afford to speak in an authoritative manner with someone who frequented their pub, always drank enough to make the pub owner richer by a few thousand, behaved well with all the butlers unlike many other young men his age, and, above all, was always generous to give tips to the workers in the pub. He was quite a favourite with the staff of this famous pub, Voodoo, a little behind Hotel Taj Palace in Colaba. They looked up to him for another reason, too. It was his demonic capacity to drink and remain composed and collected even after that. Never before had it happened that he placed his head on the table, pillowed on his locked arms and slept blissfully. Whenever he visited Voodoo on weekends he was accompanied by one or two friends and the attendants in Voodoo knew that one of those friends, who didn’t drink, was always at the wheel while they returned from the pub. But tonight he was all alone and completely drunk. They were not sure as to how he would ride home.

“Sir,” the uniformed man called him again, tapping on his shoulder, a bit impatiently now. This time as he leaned to touch the young man's shoulder the hanging end of his tie touched his ear and earlobe. What the earnest request and tapping of the attendant couldn’t do, the hanging end of the tie seemed to have done it effortlessly. Probably it sent a tickling sensation down his spine as he raised his head with a sleepy smile.

“Sorry,” said he, looking up.

“Sir, we are well past our closing time,” repeated the man. He passed a searching glance about and as he found the pub empty except for him a sheepish smile came over his lips.

“I am sorry,” said he, trying to get to his feet. A pleasant sweet smell of Black Label whisky issued from his mouth.

“May I use the toilet once before leaving?” he asked with his usual politeness and then headed to the Men’s with an unsteady gait.

He returned from the toilet after a few minutes, wiping his face with a handkerchief.

“Are you sure, sir, you can manage to go all by yourself?” asked the concerned attendant.

“I will,” replied he and staggered to the entrance of Voodoo.

The attendant watched his six-foot-tall frame leaving the pub and hoped he would reach home safely. He consulted the watch. It was a quarter to two.

Outside the pub the young man stood for a few moments, trying to gather his thoughts. He looked around then. The street in front of him was deserted. At the corner of the street, two stray dogs were sleeping, coiling themselves against each other to feel warm in the cold winter night. A thin wisp of smoke was spiralling up from a small heap of ashes. He knew the durwans from the nearby buildings might have lit the fire with the foliage and old discarded cardboard to warm themselves up. He did a mental calculation and tottered ahead at a slow pace. All that accompanied him was his hesitant footfall and a faithful shadow. He walked past Kashmir Emporium, Rustic Rajasthan, and an antique shop whose targeted customers were usually foreign tourists, and arrived behind the Taj Continental where scores of four-wheelers were parked. As he looked at the cars, parked in an astonishingly disciplined fashion to make the most of the space, a thought struck him. Most of the cars were white. He had no difficulty in finding his car. He opened the rear door of the car and plopped himself down on the seat. It was not long before he stretched at full length, occupying the entire back seat.

Soon he fell asleep when the crashing waves of the Arabian Sea, in front of Hotel Taj Continental, played a lullaby for him. It was the first night he slept in the car.

About the Author:


Ratnadip Acharya is the author of two successful novels, Life is Always Aimless... Unless you love it and Paradise Lost & Regained. He is a columnist for the Speaking Tree in The Times of India. He contributed many write-ups in different collections of Chicken Soup for the Soul. He lives in Mumbai with his wife, Sophia and son, Akash.




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