BOOK REVIEW :: Beast by Krishna Udayasankar

Book: Beast

Author: Krishna Udayasankar

Publisher: Penguin eBury Press

Release: March 2019

Genre: Fiction, Thriller

Rating: 5/5

Buy @ Amazon

I remember watching a Bengali television series called “Nrisingha Rahasya” long back in the early ’90s. It was based on a novel with the same name by famous Bengali writer Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay. I remember being scared of the creature while watching that series. Last month when my best friend suggested me the book, the fantasy thriller “Beast” by Krishna Udayasankar I was not expecting much from it, because after reading hundreds of horror novels and watching so many movies I am not easily satisfied or scared. But the moment I started reading this book I was hooked. I finished it in two days that too while traveling.

The plot thickens in current day Mumbai. ACP Aditi Kashyap teams up the enforcer Prithvi Narasimha to solve a murder case of three drug dealers who were brutally killed by some unknown assailants. The investigation leads them to a warehouse where ACP Aditi witnesses the gruesome murders of some other drug dealers. As Aditi tries to cope with her bewildering experience Prithvi runs after the murderer nonchalantly and vanishes into the night only to return with a strange girl, Chandana. As the story unfolds between the present and the past of Prithvi’s life the author mixes myth of Narasimha and science in the right proportion and it starts to feel almost real. Her explanations are the most logical I have ever read about any mythical creature.

The author also narrated a bold topic in a very sensitive and beautiful way as it should be. The attraction between same-sex is still a taboo in our country and the protagonists often struggle with their own emotions and reality. The story also has love, friendship, pain, death, mistrust, and separation in the right amount. There are some twists in the story too and they are very much unpredictable which made it even more enjoyable.

She also raises some thought-provoking questions through the different characters in her story about the conflicts between our free wills and the rules we follow. Are we truly free? Are there some other species living among us? Is it really so impossible for some mythical creatures to be real? Is Saimha really just a fantasy? This thriller is definitely more than just a fantasy-thriller.

Narasimha, Werelion, Saimha or Beast call them by whichever name you like but they are here to stay and conquer the world of the horror genre of Indian literature.

Book Review :: Singha Durbar – Rise and Fall of the Rana Regime of Nepal By Sagar S.J.B. Rana

Book: Singha Durbar – Rise and Fall of the Rana Regime of Nepal
Author: Sagar S.J.B. Rana
Publisher: Rupa Publications
Release: 1 May 2017
Genre: Non-fiction, History, Politics
Rating: 5/5

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Nepal, a former Hindu country, was declared a secular state in 2007 after a successful people’s movement of 2006 that brought a complete abolition of the monarchy.  The Nepalese Royal Massacre, occurred on 1 June 2001, which led to the downfall of a royal clan and the Nepalese Monarchy in all in the years to follow, was my only knowledge of the history of Nepal. The book Singha Durbar – Rise and Fall of the Rana Regime of Nepal by Sagar S.J.B. Rana is my first ever encounter with the detailed history of Nepal.

According to newspapers of June 2001, the Crown Prince Dipendra became the king even after killing his father King Birendra and other family members. Later, King Birendra’s brother Gyanendra Shah became the king after the death of Dipendra who was in a coma for 3days of his kinghood from self-inflicted fatal injuries. I was surprised and disturbed knowing such a thing still could happen in our modern world. After reading this book I understood clearly how monarchy worked with all its past glories in Nepal and they just followed their tradition.

I must mention some of the Kings and Maharajas or Prime Ministers and their pioneering contributions in the making of Nepal.

King Prithvi Narayan Shah, son of Dravya Shah, the Raja of Gorkha, was finally successful in founding the Kingdom of Nepal in 1768 with the support of The Gorkha army containing not more than 1,200 men at any time. The same Gorkha army joined the British army during British rule as the Gorkha Regiments which merged with Indian army after India’s independence. King Gyanendra Shah was the last king of the Shah Dynasty.

Maharaja Jung Bahadur Rana was the founder of Rana dynasty. His influence reduced the Shah Kings to puppets. His legacy was the “Muluki Ain”, a comprehensive and uniform legal code that covered the entire country.

Maharaj Bir Shumsher introduced piped drinking water system in the valley and underground drainage and sewerage lines in the inner cities. A well-equipped modern hospital constructed by Bir is still serving the people of the valley.

Maharaj Chandra Shumsher minimized the isolation and reduced the hardship of the people by building bridges, ropeways, foot crossings etc. Bir and Chandra both sent a number of talented young professionals for training overseas who returned with superior skills and new technical knowledge. In addition to that, Chandra successfully emancipated slaves and arranged for their rehabilitation.

There are plenty more overwhelming facts and incidents of bravery and brutality alike to change my perception of Nepal entirely.  Even though it is such a small country, its history is nothing short of extraordinary. The role it played during British rule and World War I, the way it stopped Russia and China from entering through Tibet border is worth knowing. Nepal’s bittersweet relationship with India is also an eye-opener for me. Especially the fact that the old Indian city Banaras was so much important politically for Nepal was completely unknown to me.

It was one of my regrets that I haven’t been to Nepal yet. I am planning to visit Nepal soon and it is so thrilling that I am well-equipped with the detailed knowledge of its history.

The notes section at the end of the book is very useful to know and understand the sources and hard work behind the making this book. History lovers and travelers alike must grab their copies soon.

Sagar S.J.B. Rana, being a descendant of the Rana family and actively involved in politics, has created an unbiased and valuable document for us.

About the author: Sagar S.J.B. Rana was born in February 1938 in Baber Mahal palace, Kathmandu. He holds an MA in Jurisprudence from the University of Oxford. A descendant of the Rana family, he and his brothers were also actively involved in the Nepali Congress party, the principal democratic force that opposed the politically active monarchy. Sagar became a full-time activist in the mid-1970s. He was a Member of the Central Working Committee and the Head of Department of International Affairs of the Nepali Congress in the critical years, 2003–2006. Founder chairman of the Federation of Handicraft Association of Nepal, the author is involved with different institutions related to art, culture and heritage conservation. He is currently the Vice President of the Nepal Art Council.

 

 

Book Review : : Modern Poetry of Iran by Aziz Mahdi

Book: Modern Poetry of Iran
Translated by: Aziz Mahdi
Publisher: Rupa Publications
Release: 1 March 2017
Genre: Poetry
Rating: 5/5

Buy @ Amazon

 

The book “Rubaiyat E Omar Khayyam”, translated in Bengali by renowned Bengali poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, with a beautiful blue hardcover in our bookshelf always attracted me like a magnet. I was not allowed to read that book even when I was 12 years old. I was always told that I was not old enough to read such kind of poems. Little did they know I was already listening to Omar Khayyam’s Ghazals through Indian singers. Ghazals wrote by Rumi and Hafiz of Persia, Mirza Ghalib and Muhammad Iqbal of North India, and Kazi Nazrul Islam of Bengal were also a part of our lives. I read that book one day while hiding under my grandfather’s bed. I was exposed to the beautiful world of Sufism at a very early age. Many of the major historical Ghazal poets were either Sufis themselves (like Rumi or Hafiz), or were sympathizers of Sufism. Although the Ghazal is most prominently a form of Dari poetry (a variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan) and Urdu poetry, it is now found in the poetry of many Indian languages.

Persian literature, one of the world’s oldest literature, spans two and a half millennia. Parsis (Parsee), the members of a group of followers of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster, emigrated to India in the 10^th century. Proto-Indo-Iranian language is the ancestor of a majority of Indian languages and Iranian languages. The significance and influence of Persian poetry in world literature are priceless. The numerous innovations in the arts of calligraphy, manuscript illumination, and bookbinding by the Indo-Persian book production and publishing houses just strengthened that relationship. India became the main center for the production of Persian books and journals with the introduction of lithography in the 19th century.

Even though I am very much familiar and in love with the old era Persian and Iranian poets and their poetry, my knowledge of modern Iranian poetry is very limited. When I was offered to review the book “Modern Poetry of Iran” translated by Dr. Aziz Mahdi via mail from Writersmelon I was ecstatic. How many times do we get such opportunities? And I was not wrong. The book was a parcel of bliss.

Delhi-based Dr. Aziz Mahdi, a doctorate in Persian language, is a poet, writer, and translator. He did justice to the poems and is able to transfer the essence of the Iranian language into English. The book cover art is a perfect example of minimalist traditional Iranian floral art. I loved the cover so much. The Preface by the writer, consisting valuable information on past and present of Persian poetry, is an added attraction to the book.

This book contains a collection of the finest examples of modern Persian poems over the last hundred years, written by the poets I haven’t heard of before. I was thrilled to find that some of the poets are even of my age. The first poem in this book “Moonlight” is written by Nimā Yushij (born Ali Esfandiāri) who is considered as the father of modern Persian poetry.

“Moonlight is trickling down
Firefly is glowing up
Nothing breaks the sleep of these people
But the sorrow and grief of these sleeping souls”
These lines immediately touched my heart.

My favorite one is “House” by Manuchehr Ateshi.

“Is your house cold?
I shall put the sun in an envelope
and post it to you”

The poems are chronologically arranged. I have observed a very interesting point as I progressed through the pages, the objects and subjects have changed drastically with time and generations. Whereas the poets born before the mid of 20^th century talked about mostly horse riders, nights, twilight, beloved, love, loneliness, birds, flowers, sun, moonlight, and nature, the poets born after 50’s mentioned words like trains, bicycles, photography, camera, electricity, television, videos, martyred, and even landmines in addition to all that. They even mentioned the older famous poets.

“But I am sitting on this rickety wheelchair
in my daughter’s rented house
endlessly watching the same channel
in the same street!”
– First Man by Mohammad Hossein Ja’fariyān

This shows very clearly the transitions of our world. Poetry conveys a lot of information about the country and culture it belongs to. This book is not only a pleasure to read but also a document of changed culture and lifestyles of Iran.
In my opinion, this book is one of the best options if someone is looking for an introduction to the modern era Iranian poems or a poetry lover.

BOOK REVIEW :: Men and Dreams in the Dhauladhar

Book: Men and Dreams in the Dhauladhar
Author: Kochery C. Shibu
Publisher: Self Published
Release: 26 January 2013
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3/5

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Summary

The story starts with Nanda, an engineer from Kerala, joining a Hydel project in Dhauladhar. He is running away from his past. Slowly he adapts the life at the campsite.

Khusru, a Kashmiri youth, was abandoned by his parents in childhood.  He was brought up by his uncle Usman and his wife. After losing his uncle to army shelling he was forced to join the terrorist training camp as they promised him to reunite with his parents.

Rekha, a doctor, wants to be a professional dancer. She keeps delaying her marriage with a doctor, which was fixed by her grandmother. She believes in true love and waits for the perfect man until she meets Khusru.

These are the three main characters in this story whose life eventually take them to the campsite of Dhauladhar.

My Evaluation

The life at the campsite of Himalaya range is harder than one might imagine. Same with the life of  Bakarwal Gujjars.

The plus point of this book is that it shows us the unknown aspects of lives of the characters. Different cultures, different lifestyles are described nicely. Character building with simple language is another plus.

Then comes the minus points.
There are many characters introduced with so many backstories but they are not really important to the main plot.

The long and detailed descriptions of project work with machines, tools, and jargons were tiresome and boring at some point. They hardly made any sense to me since I have no idea and interest in any such technicality of such projects. They broke the flow of the story in my opinion.

Rekha’s falling in love with Khusru seemed absurd to me. Trying to portray it as true love even more absurd. If the author had put some more effort to show their emotions, some more conversations between all the characters instead of explaining project work the story would have been much more enjoyable.

From the beginning, the story seemed like a thriller to me but in the end, nothing happens at all. The ending was rushed. After building so much expectation the novel ends up being a disappointment to me.

There were so many typos and grammatical mistakes. A thorough editing is badly needed.

‘I received an e-book from Writersmelon in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.’

BOOK REVIEW :: Unlawful Justice by Vish Dhamija

Book: Unlawful Justice
Author: Vish Dhamija
Publisher: HarperCollins India
Release: 29 May 2017
Genre: Crime Fiction, Thriller
Rating: 5/5

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Summary

One fateful afternoon Maheep Singh, the son of a proclaimed businessman, Maninder Singh, committed the most heinous crime of raping and brutalizing a minor girl named Baby. Baby is the daughter of Gayatri, the household help of the Diwan family. Vansh and Priti Diwan’s daughter Vamini is a classmate of Meheep. Vamini treats Gayatri as her surrogate mother and Baby as her sibling she never had.

Vansh is one of the biggest criminal lawyers of the city. Maninder is the biggest client of his law firm. The crime took place at the Diwan’s residence which made the entire situation into a bigger mess. Baby was still in a coma when after some investigation the police department was able to make some sketches of Maheep and asked Vansh to identify the culprit. Now Vansh is torn between family and business; ethics and money. Maninder approaches Vansh to help him settle the matter with Gayatri and offer her money. Priti, a lawyer herself, stands up against Vansh and threatens that their marriage will be over if Vansh even considers helping the criminal.

Priti seeks the help of their best friend Akash Hingorani who is considered as the best criminal lawyer in the city. Amid all the chaos they need to solve a murder case too.

What happens to Baby? How do they punish Maheep? Is Vansh a rotten businessman beyond repair or his better sense prevails? Will he be able to save his marriage and regain the respect he lost? Did Baby get justice or did money and power win? Just don’t wait. Buy here and read. I can assure that you won’t regret.

My Evaluation

This is the first ever book I have read of Vish Dhamija and I must admit that I wasn’t expecting much from it. But when I decided to finally read it I couldn’t put it back till I finished it. The narration style, the detailing and the right amount of everything i.e. emotion, dialogues, suspense etc. made this book so good. From the first sentence, the story grabbed my full attention.

Maninder’s reaction to his son’s crime is so typical. And my blood boiled reading his dialogues. Priti and Vansh Diwan’s verbal clash made me dislike Vansh instantly. How can people consider money over a human’s life? But Vansh actually represents a large part of us in this society. Indifference is the word. Most of us don’t feel the pain and plight of the people until we are hit with the same fate.

The story gives us the insight into the thought process of people who are not directly harmed but somehow connected by love and to what extent they can go to help those loved ones who are not blood-related or relatives.

There are some criticisms I have read regarding the court procedure narrated in this story. For that, the author himself wrote a note at the back of this book. I agree with that. If he needed to stay true to the court procedure he would have needed to stretch the storyline for many many years.

The best part is, I couldn’t find any flaw in this book.

 

‘I received a copy from Writersmelon in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.’

BOOK REVIEW :: Messed Up! But All for Love

Book: Messed Up! But All for Love
Author: Arvind Parashar
Publisher: Srishti Publishers & Distributors
Release: 1 May 2017
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 2.5/5

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Summary
This is a story of love, friendship, betrayal, and revenge. Neil and Gauri are a loving married couple, being Gauri the most understanding and mature one and Neil being the messy one. Both of them have their set of very good friends to fool around with and lean back on when time needs them to. Tom, Jerry, and Jasoos are the friends Neil can count on at any time. Mehr is the pillar of support for Gauri.

Their lives were quite normal until they set out for a combined trip with all of their friends to Cuba. There Neil and his friends meet Drishti and her husband Somesh by mere accident and everything changes in all of their lives. After coming back from the trip Drishti gets abducted by someone. Drishti and Somesh were already dealing with a troubled marriage. She even suspected that Somesh is having an affair with someone. But then Drishti falls in love with Neil.

Was it really an accident when Drishti and Neil met for the first time or was it a setup? Who was behind that? How did Neil mess up so bad that he gets imprisoned? Was it only Neil’s actions that his life is so messed up or someone else is there plotting against him? Will he be able to save his marriage with Gauri at the end? What happens to Drishti? Read the book if you want to find out.

My Evaluation
The story is good but the narration is really very bad. The main story starts with “A hundred days ago” but I couldn’t join up the counting of days of past and present. It sounded a bit weird to know all the details of others lives and actions in first person narration. And weirder was when detailed descriptions of intimacy and intercourse came up while Neil was narrating the story to his boss Ganga. Also, for a senior executive working with a top brand, Neil gets a lot of time to hang around with friends and then go for back to back vacations abroad.

In a nutshell, the story was promising but didn’t live up to my expectation. It is really messed up.

‘I received a copy from Writersmelon in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.’

Book Review :: Nights Arose by Andrea Roche

Book: Nights Arose
Author: Andrea Roche
Publisher: Solstice Publishing – Winter Solstice Imprint
Release: November 28, 2016
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy
Rating: 3/5

Buy @ Amazon

Nessarose Du Mouchelle, a Jamaican girl with a soul of a tigress, preferred her name as “Arose”. She was a rebel compared to the other Jamaican women during late 1600’s. Arose often disguised herself in men’s clothes to play the role of a man. While growing up she spent years at her uncle Edmund’s ship where she learned everything a sailor needs to learn to survive in a voyage in the ocean. Her uncle’s valet, Blaze became her best friend.

She already possessed the gift of Knowing and had the power of seeing the future when Old Bessonth, the gypsy woman, gave her the opalescent gem. The Gem of the Red spirit allowed her to send her spirit into the astral plane. Morel, the voodoo priestess with the help of her henchman-brother Ambrielle always wanted to get the Gem of the Red Spirit and control the spirit world. In order to do so, she hatched sinister plots to kill Arose.

The story revolves around Arose and her strength with or without the help of the Red Spirit. Even though at times she sought warmth and support from a strange man called Captain St. James or her best friend Blaze but she never hesitated to stand up to her enemies and fight alone. She didn’t even hesitate to help her enemy.

Whom should she choose as her partner? Blaze or Captain St. James? How would she defeat Morel? Would she be able to protect the people in danger?

Read the book and you won’t regret.

 I received an e-book from the writer Andrea through Reader’s House (@Readers_tweets) in exchange for an honest review.

 

 

 

 

I am a Potterhead

“After all this time?”

That’s what one of my friends asked me this Sunday after I posted a picture of my brand new collection of Harry Potter series to celebrate its 20 years anniversary. I couldn’t say “always” in reply as I didn’t read any book from the series until recently. “But better late than never”, I replied.

Would you believe I finally started reading Harry Potter series just this January? And finished it in 20 days. All 7 books. When I started reading the first book I was already scheduled for a trip. I took the iPad with me loaded with all the 7 books. I even read while I was traveling by train. I read at night till dawn even when I was supposed to wake up in the morning. I read while waiting for the train. I read while I was visiting my relatives.

I couldn’t wait to get back to the story every night. The whole day I would be trekking in Uttarakhand or traveling from one city to other and return to my resting place tired and sleepy. But the moment I would hit the bed I would start reading. I even read while I was suffering from fever, cough, and cold which I caught from drastic weather change during the trip. I was that hooked. Any Potterhead would know the feeling. Then I watched all the eight movies one after another.

Let me tell you why it took me so many years. I was introduced to this magical world for the first time through the first movie when it came on Star Movies one night. I liked that movie but had no idea it was already a famous fiction series. None of my friends read English books let alone reading Harry Potter. Most of them didn’t even read book at all. So there was basically no one to put some sense in me, you see? I watched 2nd and 4th movies skipping the 3rd one on TV when I could while forgetting half of the things from the previous movies. So basically I wasn’t understanding what was it all about.

Then I watched the 5th one on big screen. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Then I gave up. I thought it wasn’t for me. I never watched the rest of the movies again. I saw the thick sparkly books at bookshops and the prices were outrageous for me at that time. And I couldn’t imagine myself reading all those bulky seven books in my lifetime even though I am a book lover. So I told myself I am never going to read or watch all these ever. “These are for children”, I told myself even though I read children books all the time.

Then I met Potterheads. Watched them around me. Slowly I started feeling jealous of them bonding over some dialogues or trivia which I hardly understood. I started feeling left alone. I grew curious. Then finally I took my chance. And boy, would I ever regret? Yes, I would. I regret missing out on this for so many years. Had I been reading these books during my teen days I could have fallen in love with one of the characters (read Fred) without knowing whether he was going to die or live in the future. I could have waited eagerly for the next book to come. But I missed all these little joys from happening. How sad!

I cried buckets for each and every death. I am still mourning. “She has finally arrived.”, one of my friends said this when I declared that I finally finished reading the series and I don’t know what to do with my life anymore.

I seriously don’t know what I am going to do with my life after this instead of re-reading these books and reliving the life at Hogwarts over and over again. These books taught me a lot. It echoes almost everything I believe. I think I have finally found a fictitious world where I feel at home. Where I can hide every time whenever I start feeling uncomfortable with this real world around me. Where I can seek the answers which I always look for in this real world. It has its share of sorrow, pain, anger, and all the negative elements of human world but it has countless of good things too which are so reassuring.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I think I am going to be a Potterhead now. “Always”.

Book Review :: Rafflesia the Banished Princess

Book: Rafflesia the Banished Princess
Author: Gautam
Publisher: Leadstart Publishing Pvt. Ltd.
Release: 20 March 2017
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4/5

Buy @ Amazon

Summary

There is no princess in this story. I too, like everyone else, was expecting this to be a story revolving around a female protagonist. Instead, there is Appu (Apoorva Sharma). This is a story about Appu’s journey from childhood to adulthood, the journey from a suburb of Guwahati, Assam to Leeuwarden, Netherlands; about his struggles, friendships, and relationships with people of different ages. It is a third person narration. The timeframe of this story is from 1982 to 2008.

My Review

Appu, a sweet, timid boy from Assam lived with his father Aabir, a Bengali and his mother Trina, an Assamese in a rented house in Guwahati. The family struggled with poverty yet was very happy with each other. As much as the poverty tried to run over them, his father’s Violin and music shielded them from any negativity. His parents dreamt and hoped that one day Appu will be a successful man and pull himself out of that miserable life.

Appu always struggled to express his emotions as a child and he never could change himself even when he grew up. His best friend since childhood, Rahul, always complained that Appu never shared his feelings, thoughts, desires, and hopes with him. Appu never really shared his feelings with anyone else either. He was extremely introvert and somewhat naive. He didn’t understand the complexity of the world. He kept on hiding his emotions to himself. He hardly understood people yet loved them dearly and never hated any even if they harmed him in some way.

I could relate with Appu to some extent. His mediocre, humble upbringing and surrounding was similar to mine. The revelation of his love of different languages made me feel I could very well be his friend.  At the workplace, he was the outcast, distant, silent one, just like me. Still, he managed to get so many affectionate friends who doted on him.

He treasured little things of life and kept them as a collection. A piece of paper with a scribble from Rahul and two books he got as gifts made his precious collections. Rafflesia, the Banished Princess was one of them. He even carried them to Netherlands. Those things helped him to cope with the loneliness and emptiness he faced in his life. As a reader, it was difficult for me to understand whether Appu ever fell in love with anyone or desired anyone in his life or not.

My Evaluation

If you like a slow, melancholy story you must try this one.

Things I liked:

1. How the story handles a lot of emotions. It even breaks the stereotype that “Boys don’t cry.” They do cry and feel all the tender emotions.
2. How Appu treasured books gifted to him. Like Appu, I too have such books which I carry everywhere. The nostalgia and the good memories attached to it along with the story itself gives a lot of comforts in hard times.
3. All the main characters and their stories.

Things I didn’t like:

1. Some goofs. Like in 1982 there were no STD booths in India. STD booths were opened during the late 80’s.
2. Grammatical and typesetting errors. Text needs careful editing.
3. So many insignificant characters and names which made the story lengthy.

 

 

‘I received a copy from Writersmelon in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.’

Book Review :: Cobra Z (Necropolis Trilogy Book 1) by Sean Deville

Book: Cobra Z (Necropolis Trilogy Book 1)
Author: Sean Deville
Publisher: Severed Press
Release: 15 June 2016
Genre: Fiction (Thriller)
Rating: 4/5

Buy @ Amazon

Warning: This novel is not for faint-hearted.

Cobra Z is the first novel of the Necropolis Trilogy. I received an e-book from the writer Sean Deville through Reader’s House (@Readers_tweets) in exchange for an honest review. As soon as I saw it on twitter,  I found the blurb interesting enough to grab the opportunity. And I was not wrong.  

This is my first ever zombie novel. Being a fan of zombie thriller movies I have known enough stories which are almost similar. But never read any books before. Still, I feel this story is different in many ways. Unlike the movies, you get to see the story from 4 different perspectives. The villains, the security forces & governments, the civilians, and the zombies themselves! These zombies are fast and there are two types of them. One is infected but not dead. The other is undead. The infection spreads through bodily fluids and bites and works within 10 minutes.

It starts with a failed mission at the Hirta Island Research Facility where the entire team was infected with a virus which turns the human into hungry cannibals and there is no cure. One of the team members escapes the facility before the infection spreads with the sample of that virus without leaving any trace of being there. One year later the virus is planted at different locations around London by the followers of a religious psycho who believes he is delivering the god’s wish to punish the people who followed other religions and non-believers. A scientist who became estranged from the entire human kind pretends to help the religious guru but has a plan of his own. Rest of the story the readers should find out.

The story is bold and talks about almost all the issues we humans are facing in our current world. The storyline seemed very practical given the circumstances we got to see in Syria being under chemical attack recently. Who can guarantee there is no one hatching sinister plans with the biological weapons right now, as those kinds of attacks are not new in the history of mankind.

Though there are some goofs (at least two) which are negligible. Hope they will be corrected in later editions. Also, I felt the repeated descriptions of how the zombies thought and worked as a hive was completely unnecessary. At times it ruined the flow of the story. Apart from that, It is well written. Liked the language and tone of the story very much.  I loved how the story unfolded and ended. I am definitely going to read the next book.