Book Review #106: The Perfect Murder Collected and Compiled By Ruskin Bond

Title: The Perfect Murder

Collected & Authored by: Ruskin Bond

Publishers: Rupa Publications India

Genre: Thriller/Murder Mystery

Pages: 132 (Paperback)

Source: Advanced review copy from the publishers

Ruskin Bond, the name is enough to go and grab the book. The stories that he chooses or writes are pleasant always. Since my childhood, I’ve always been a big fan of Ruskin Bond. Being a thriller fan, I adore each and every story told by Ruskin Bond. It is always a special feeling to read his books.

The Perfect Murder is a short story in the book also the title of the book. The book also contains several short stories from various acclaimed authors like Arthur Conan Doyle, Wilkie Collins, Edgar Allen Poe and WW Jacobs. There is also a story written by Ruskin Bond. The book consists of eight different stories.

The very first story is the Perfect Murder, where two brothers Paul and Henry would wait for an opportunity to kill their aunt, so that they can inherit the property left by their uncle, but only on the condition that, the property would reach these brothers only after their aunt has passed away. Given the financial condition of the Paul and Henry, they were not in a position to wait that longer. Henry, a married man with four children, wasn’t able to meet the demands of his family, and he often finds himself borrowing money from his brother and his close friends. Whereas, Paul, unmarried, and wasted himself by drinking and roaming around. One fine day, Paul decides to meet his aunt and pretends to fall sick in her home. A generous, well behaved aunt takes Paul in and provides him the necessary food and medicines time to time. This hasn’t gone well with Henry and he decides to meet his brother Paul and take matters in to his hand. Paul agrees to his brother’s demands and asks him to get fine grained glass powder so that he can poison his aged fragile aunt. Henry does the needful and waits anxiously for the following day. But what followed is a shell shock experience for Henry, as he learns that, instead of his aunt, his brother Paul was found dead in his aunt’s house by consuming the glass mixed food. This story will surely keep the readers hooked to the book till it gets completed.

The other story which I liked and enjoyed is the Red Headed League by Arthur Conan Doyle. This particular story involves an investigation by the famous detective Sherlock Holmes and his doctor friend Watson. The story is epic in its own accord. The sharp observational skills of Sherlock Holmes and how he helped a distressed pawn broker who was cheated by his employer. The quick wit displayed by Holmes is a well known phenomenon of Arthur Conan Doyle. For sure, this is the story where you will be reading again and again to appreciate the intelligence of Sherlock Holmes.

One more story written by Ruskin Bond himself was about his uncle that murdered a person by poisoning. This story captures the ill motives of his uncle even after he got released from Jail. His uncle tried to poison Ruskin when he visited him. This story was repeated in Ruskin Bond’s other collected stories in other books. But, quite a good story to read.

This book is a nice collection of the light thriller genre stories. The book is an easy read and you can finish reading this in a few hours or a day to the most. You will certainly appreciate the taste of Ruskin Bond that made this collection of some of the interesting stories in this book. Though it is not a recommending read, but to re-live your childhood by reading some epic stories collected and penned by Ruskin Bond.

My Rating:

4/5

Note: I received this book from the Publishers in exchange for an unbiased review.

Book Review #84: The Bestseller She Wrote By Ravi Subramanian

Title: The Bestseller She Wrote

Author: Ravi Subramanian

Publishers: Westland

Genre: General Fiction/Thriller

Pages: 300+

Source: Personal Copy

Reading the thriller genre books adds an extra layer of expectations from the story. Having read The Bankster from the same author had kept my hopes further high and took up this book to read. As the author himself says, this is the first time he is penning a romantic thriller genre novel and I will give the benefit of doubt to the author. But still, Author Ravi Subramanian was left with no choice but to use the same Bank as his prop for setting up the novel. Few authors couldn’t think beyond their home turf I would say. Anyway, coming to the book, it is an easy read kind of book. Broken in to nearly 85 small chapters adds the required pace to the book and you can very well read it in few hours. Language used is quite simple and the narration is good.

Aditya Kapoor a successful fiction writer of the country, who is also an alumnus of IIM Bangalore, comes there to give a talk or speech. An unexpected argument with a girl called Shreya from the audience regarding selling the book as a product, where Shreya had a differences of opinion with the author. The argument led to the intersection of the lives of these two in quick session. After reading a book of Aditya, Shreya becomes a huge of him overnight. She emails him about how his book has changed her perception of him and how she felt silly to argue with the best author of the country.

When Aditya, who is also a successful banker again goes to IIM Bangalore for placements, coaxes his friend cum colleague Sanjay (the HR head of the bank) to hire Shreya. She was hired to the bank and as expected a close friendship develops between Aditya and Shreya. Shreya who was also an avid reader and an aspiring writer, gets help from Aditya to publish her work or as the title of the novel goes “The Bestseller”. Whereas, Aditya, a middle aged married man, with a six year old son, finds himself attracted to Shreya. Thus begins an extramarital affair between both of them.

Few sections in the book could’ve been really avoided considering the audience that this book will be reaching. The book certainly adds the thrill factor to it. But, what is the necessity of an erotic part? I am still thinking, what has author achieved while he described how Shreya’s buttocks or boobs looks like? Or How the Aditya gets attracted to Shreya’s physical features than the actual love that they both thought in reality? Things like these could damage an author’s reputation instantly. As per the author, the famous fiction writer in the country, do not know how to write an erotic scenes in his novel? (What a downfall?). The disgusting part was when Shreya helps Aditya on how to write an erotic scene in a practical way? And that too by keeping an audio recorder that records their wild moaning during the act? (Author certainly needs some introspection here). I am sure this section of the book reminds the readers about 50 Shades of Grey.

Each character in the novel seems to be lacking in moral. Aditya, a successful writer and a happily married man and also a person who had an extramarital affair, finds out that he loved his wife Maya only when she falls sick, and that too after sleeping with Shreya? Shreya on the other hand was an avid reader and an aspiring writer and is all ready to get her work published either by hook or crook? To the extent of sleeping with Aditya and then resorting to blackmail? Sanjay, a college buddy and now colleague of Aditya, who is also an avid reader and has a strange habit of not letting anyone to touch his books, who stands by Aditya’s side always, but turns out to be a conman? Apart from these characters, the rest of the characters were given less prominence. I had expected more from Maya’s character. But, let us agree that this is what the author had imagined.

The narrative is rife with the things that are unnecessary or unbelievable. The love scenes are put in such a way that, it was not all required to go to an extent that, how Aditya unbuttoned Shreya’s shirt or how he pulled her panties or how Shreya unzipped Aditya’s trousers and feel and touch of their reproductive organs is quite uncalled for. The funny thing is, Aditya now stuck in dilemma on how to resolve his love-life crisis, finds out that, his “beloved” wife Maya is suffering from Ebola. Are you serious? Showing Maya on critical illness would’ve sufficed a lot. But, bringing the “Ebola” into the picture was not needed.

As is the case in every other romantic novel, Maya does gets cured of Ebola and the climax revelation will feed Maya regarding the emotional side of Aditya and how “courageous” was her husband. Just because he accepts his illicit relationship with Shreya on an open podium could melt the heroine’s heart (Where are those feminists?). At the end, as everyone expected, Shreya went on to become a bestseller for just one book. Guilt ridden Shreya, who thinks, because of conning and blackmailing Aditya had psychologically damaged her writing brain and she couldn’t continue to write. On the other side, Aditya, having lost everything and gaining back everything (including his lost wife) lives happily ever after.

I sincerely hope that the first romantic thriller experiment of the author becomes the last experiment of him. I loved his other writings but not this one. This could’ve been shaped up really well, had the author not followed in the footsteps of Chetan Bhagat (Oh yea, there is a reference to CB as well in this novel). A soon to be a biggest motion picture in the Bollywood!! Well, I am definitely not looking forward to it. Period.

My Rating:

2.5/5

Book Review #52: Puppeteers of Palem By Sharath Komarraju

Pic Courtesy: Internet

I read a completely new style of paranormal action based novel. The sheer brilliance of the author Sharath Komarraju is exceptional. I believe this book "Puppeteers of Palem" is a class apart. It carries all those spookiness, creepiness, horrifying scenes, mad people, dreaded killers and what not. Certainly, this novel is a much needed break for the readers who are reading the same old love stories, or some kind of regular thrillers.

Right from the beginning of the book, the story takes the grip of its readers making them not to put down the book. The plot of the novel is what makes it as a must read.

5 friends that grown up in the same village, Rudrakshapalem, in short called as Palem will head back to their village after receiving a mysterious letter. What makes more interesting is all 5 of them receive similar letters, but, they will realize it when they met each other in the village.

The story takes its twist in the opening scene of the novel. There is a murder in the village. The victim is one of the 5 friends that came back to village. The Police were investigating the case and soon the police will realize that, 2 crippled boys with wounds and bruises were somehow responsible for this assault on the dead man. By questioning the local villagers about these boys, the police will take these boys into their custody for little verification. A news reporter cum journalist called Sonali was covering this murder incident. She questions every person in the village, she also questions the parents and guardians of the victims and also she questions those 2 boys about this murder incident. Sonali feels something is not going right in this investigation and she decides to stay in the village for some more time to cover this in greater details.

The author introduces us to the younger days of these 5 friends that grew up in this village. There is an old man in that village who was narrating stories to the kids almost every evening. Expectedly, these 5 kids are regular attendants of this story sessions. Here, the author introduces us to a very important story through the old man’s narration. This story is a true incident happened in their village few years ago.

One day, this old man narrates a story of a woman or we can call as a mad woman, Lacchi and her drunkard husband Sangadu. He described the story in greater detail, to which, all the kids listened to him in great intent. He concluded the story saying, the woman had murdered her husband with a stone. And, she kept her husband’s dead body on her lap throughout the night singing a chilling song. The old man also told the kids that, she is still living in the outskirts of the village, near the shivalayam (Shiva Temple). 

The kids who grew up listening to this story was curious enough to check out this old temple, so all these 5 friends will head out to this temple one day and decides to spend the night there. Once they returned to their homes, they were not the same, something has happened to them and nobody knew what it was. They were feeling strange throughout the week and felt someone is watching them from behind. After few years, they left their village for their higher studies and soon forgot this temple and the madwoman story.

This point sets the stage for the novel. As the book progresses further, these 5 friends that returned to their village Palem will find it very difficult to come to terms. They will behave as if each other have written the letters to each other asking them to come to village. Slowly one after the other will die in a suspicious way. Nobody knew who had killed the other one. This has brought the rift among them. Who is the puppet here? Who is the puppeteer here? Who has written those letters to them asking them to come back to village? Was the old man responsible for all these miseries? Was he the actual puppeteer? What might be the conclusion to this killing spree? Was the mad woman Lacchi that killed her husband is taking any revenge by taking the form of a ghost? These are the questions that pop up regularly as we read through the novel.

As we approach the climax to the novel. There is only 1 friend left among the 5 friends. Of course, the old man is still alive. And the journalist cum reporter Sonali who stayed back in the village is still in the village. She wrote too many notes in her diary addressing her sister Shilpi. She explained everything that was happening in this sleepy village. But she never posted those notes neither she was aware of writing those notes. So, was Sonali responsible for these murders? Did Lacchi has crept into Sonali’s mind and making all these things? The million dollar answer lies in the book. One must read this book to understand who the puppet is and who the puppeteer is.

Overall, I find this book very interesting and refreshing. It is certainly a break from the regular thriller. Combined with the paranormal activity and keeping the village as a backdrop makes this book even more awesome. The cover image of the book looks very promising and at the same time brings that curiousness among the readers. I recommend this book to everyone. You won't regret reading it. You’ll enjoy each and every page of it.

I said there is a chilling song that Lacchi sings holding her husband’s dead body. What is that song is all about? Well, read it in the book.

My Rating:

5/5

Buy this book from Flipkart.com:

Book Review #22: Bankerupt By Ravi Subramanian

Thrillers, Thrillers and more thrillers. Yes, I love reading books on this genre. I find it really enthralling to read such books, which leaves me with a big sense of satisfaction of achieving or witnessing something in front of my eyes.

I should've read this much before, anyways, now I did. It didn't disappointed me. Ravi Subramanian has again mastered at his creativity by making this book "BANKERUPT" as one of the best thrillers that I have read.

As there is a saying by famous short story writer Henry Van Dyke , “Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.”  Every characters of this book seems like racing against the time. It holds the readers with a firm grip that, one would not really wish to put this book for a second day reading. Expectedly, I finished this book reading in 2 sessions. You always feel that, what would happen next, who is the culprit, who is the hero, who is plotting for a coup, etc.. etc.. That's the Crux of this novel. 

This novel has everything in it. As the caption of this novel goes, "DESIRE. GREED. MURDER". The story tactfully captures all these essence and leaves the readers with much awe. 

The book has 3 tracks of story. First protagonist of the novel, Aditya Raisinghania, an investment banker at Greater Boston Global Bank (Shortly called as GB2), who has dreams to make it to league of big-wigs and believes in achieving something in any means, by hook or crook.

Another Protagonist of the story, is Cirisha Narayanan, a tenure assistant professor and a research student in social psychology at Massachusetts University of Boston (MIT), who is known for her integrity, honesty and living the life in a right way. 

The Third track of the novel is about the Gun lobbying in USA, by some hard core groups that influences many universities in doing a research programs.

Intertwined with all these stories at the right time and in right place, author has left his readers with no time to think. The plot introduces us to the various incidents of the protagonists with their ups and downs in their respective lives. Aditya's crooked plan for selling a shoe company that was under nominal profit, for a higher valuation price, by tweaking the records of that company, that showed it as running in higher profit. What he thought was a small mistake led to a bigger scam which he never expected, this incident reminds me of the famous corporate scandal that happened in India, Satyam Scandal. What can be achieved by manipulating the accounts, will certainly leads into a bigger mess later. Later incidents in the story that leads Aditya to get terminated by his company.

In another track, Cirisha Narayanan wife of Aditya, was stuck between her much anticipated academic life and her personal marriage life. The incidents at MIT, and fight between two high positioned professors who was fighting to get the highest chair of MIT, is an awesome read from the book. 

Meanwhile, the Gun lobbying in USA is an altogether different story in the book. Certain lobbyists influences and sponsors few people at MIT to get a research report on why banning Guns is not a good idea. This section of the novel feels like it is for real after witnessing several shooting incidents in past few years. 

Overall, a must read book for thriller lovers. Somehow, I was bit disappointed at some of the incidents in the novel, regular murders of someone or the other in the novel, the gay relationship of professors at MIT, the role of police is kept bare minimum, no rigorous investigation chronicles by police which was expected out of every thriller novels, etc... I felt this section of the book would've been narrated in a different way. Anyways, as a 3 books older of  Ravi Subramanian and considering myself a fan of him. I give full points to the author for bringing such a speed and engrossing novel.

My Rating: 5/5