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Mukesh Mathur #4
क्रिस्टल लॉज
Kamlesh Dixit has been accused of killing ex-employee Abhay Singh Rajpuria, the owner of Crystal Lodge. Ace lawyer Mukesh Mathur decides to defend him. His investigation leads him to several other suspects the cops have conveniently chosen to ignore. According to them, Kamlesh Dixit was caught red-handed with the money stolen from Crystal Lodge, and a witness had also seen him escaping from the crime scene. Despite all evidences against Dixit, he continues to plead innocent. Will Mukesh Mathur win the Crystal Lodge Murder case?
436 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2015
13 people are currently reading
91 people want to read
About the author
सुरेन्द्र मोहन पाठक
422 books386 followersSurender Mohan Pathak, is an author of Hindi-language crime fiction with 314 books to his credit. His major characters are Crime reporter Sunil (unprecedented 123 Titles), Vimal (46 Titles) and Philosopher Detective Sudhir (23 titles). Apart from series, he has written 60+ Novels in thriller category.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 7, 2015
Not many hindi novels are based on court room drama and this is where CL scores high.
The story is suspenseful murder mystry as usual but then the real fun is how the story evolves with in the set parameters of court room scenes.
SMP ji dilivers another classic here n this is going to be remembered as a benchmark for the genere now.
Just awesome... superb and full too paisa vasool.
The story is suspenseful murder mystry as usual but then the real fun is how the story evolves with in the set parameters of court room scenes.
SMP ji dilivers another classic here n this is going to be remembered as a benchmark for the genere now.
Just awesome... superb and full too paisa vasool.
June 29, 2019
SMP has his own unique writing style. This novel is no exception. There are very few court room dramas in Indian Hindi novels. This is one of them.
Mueskh Mathur has opened his new office just above his former boss Mr Anand’s office. Anand is not amused. Then there is a murder of Abhay Rajpuria and Kamlesh, his poor ex-employee is arrested by police. Mukesh has no case at the moment and his partner convinces him to take the case of defense. Unfortunately for him Mr Anand takes up case of prosecution just to teach him a lesson.
The novel is very intriguing. There is even a character just like SMP. He is writer who lives in front of Mr Rajpuria’s home. He gives vital clues to Mukesh. There are sufficient red herrings planted throughout. SMP keeps us guessing till the very end and the suspect is as usual least suspected person.
I enjoyed it fully and finished in one sitting. Unputdownable. 5/ 5 stars.
Mueskh Mathur has opened his new office just above his former boss Mr Anand’s office. Anand is not amused. Then there is a murder of Abhay Rajpuria and Kamlesh, his poor ex-employee is arrested by police. Mukesh has no case at the moment and his partner convinces him to take the case of defense. Unfortunately for him Mr Anand takes up case of prosecution just to teach him a lesson.
The novel is very intriguing. There is even a character just like SMP. He is writer who lives in front of Mr Rajpuria’s home. He gives vital clues to Mukesh. There are sufficient red herrings planted throughout. SMP keeps us guessing till the very end and the suspect is as usual least suspected person.
I enjoyed it fully and finished in one sitting. Unputdownable. 5/ 5 stars.
September 10, 2015
Wow what a book.......the pace was so furious that the book almost glued itself to my hands. The courtroom scenes were most brilliant and well researched. But the crowning jewel was the master storyteller's impeccable linguistic skills which he and only he can put so aptly in the mouth of his characters. Overall a brilliant book. My rating 4.5
January 30, 2025
This is a good whodunit. Mystery is well maintained. Clues are dispered everywhere in the story so cleverly that you might miss them or get mislead, but not enough I suppose, some of them do direct your attention towards the main culprit. However, the abundance of suspects helps distracting you. I have one complaint about SMP. He has a very wrong impression of Mumbai Hindi. Yes, this accent and way of speaking Hindi was existing in Hindi, but it was irrelevantly there in either criminal people, or Gujrathi/Marwadi community. Everyone does not speak like this. Specially not the Marathi community, of which most of the characters are from. Anyways, that's really a minor matter. The rest of the story is excellent. I wonder which English novel this one is adopted from. Definitely not the Perry Mason or Coll & Lam series, where from most of Sunil's stories are adopted from.
Nevertheless, this is most enjoyable novel, and I'll definitely re read this in future. This already is my third reading.
================This is an Audible audiobook review============
Audible needs to get a better narrator. Sameer Goswami has a great voice. But great voice with good timber are not the only requirements for a good narrator. A great narrator needs ability to modulate his voice, and most importanly he needs to be able to emote. Goswami does neither of those, Even when the story says the character said the sentence in some particular way, he does not do it. For example, when the script says the speaker shouted, he reads it as if saying with gritting teeth. He narrates in almost monotone. His focus to enunciate each word results in unnatural reading. For example, he pronounced 'Cold drink' as 'colduh dreenk', he also pronounce 'incriminated' as 'incremented', 'clerk' as 'kilark', 'companion' as 'campaignian' and many more. Often he reads in Arabi accent, for example when he reads, "wo bola". If you've listened to any of the Audible audiobooks, you'll spot the difference in his performance. I mean I'm not saying he has to be as great as Ray Porter, but he can be at least an average narrator who can emote and modulate. I also think that these audiobooks need better editor who can also do digital modulation, and more than that they need a good director. Audible, you are a great audiobook producer, but that's for english only, Do better in Indian languages as well.
Audible, please please convert all of the SMP's Sunil and Sudhir series novels, but use a better narrator.
Nevertheless, this is most enjoyable novel, and I'll definitely re read this in future. This already is my third reading.
================This is an Audible audiobook review============
Audible needs to get a better narrator. Sameer Goswami has a great voice. But great voice with good timber are not the only requirements for a good narrator. A great narrator needs ability to modulate his voice, and most importanly he needs to be able to emote. Goswami does neither of those, Even when the story says the character said the sentence in some particular way, he does not do it. For example, when the script says the speaker shouted, he reads it as if saying with gritting teeth. He narrates in almost monotone. His focus to enunciate each word results in unnatural reading. For example, he pronounced 'Cold drink' as 'colduh dreenk', he also pronounce 'incriminated' as 'incremented', 'clerk' as 'kilark', 'companion' as 'campaignian' and many more. Often he reads in Arabi accent, for example when he reads, "wo bola". If you've listened to any of the Audible audiobooks, you'll spot the difference in his performance. I mean I'm not saying he has to be as great as Ray Porter, but he can be at least an average narrator who can emote and modulate. I also think that these audiobooks need better editor who can also do digital modulation, and more than that they need a good director. Audible, you are a great audiobook producer, but that's for english only, Do better in Indian languages as well.
Audible, please please convert all of the SMP's Sunil and Sudhir series novels, but use a better narrator.
August 2, 2017
I didn't find the conclusion satisfactory and it seemed done rather hastily, otherwise a nice read. SMP is wonderful a writer.
January 26, 2025
Very well written courtroom drama. Also manages to be a very good suspense thriller at the same time.
September 17, 2016
The books is a high-paced crime thriller and takes place in the form of a courtroom drama. S M Pathak is an established Hindi pulp fiction writer and I think he relies too much on dialogue. The book is gripping and the language has no pretenses. It is written in Hindi laced with Urdu and English words and might take some getting used to mostly because the Urdu words are not in use anymore in common parlance.
Nonetheless the plot is sufficiently coiled and keeps the reader hooked. I would love to read more from the author. He has a new fan in me.
Nonetheless the plot is sufficiently coiled and keeps the reader hooked. I would love to read more from the author. He has a new fan in me.
November 15, 2016
Another great book by smpathak. in Hindi crime fiction legal thrillers is rarely found and I like the protagonist mukesh Mathura, I want to read the other books in this series but the climax of crystal lodge is similar to the korean movie the client
November 28, 2015
Fairly good courtroom drama. The murderer was a real surprise saved till the last few pages. Court debates could have been a little shorter.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews