A(NU) Thought

Book : A Useful Death Author : Sriram Chellapilla Publication: Westland Books A Useful Death – sounds like an intriguing title, isn’t it?   The plot is indeed as captivating as the title appears to be.   Authored by Sriram Chellapilla, A Useful Death, published by Westland Books, is a murder mystery set in Hyderabad. A young girl commits suicide and there are several people from an influential family who would have driven her into it. The protagonist, Partha is up to find the truth, but when he and his team digs deeper, they realise there’s a lot more than just what appears on the surface. The journey to deciphering the truth is interesting.  

Book : The Stalker Author : Sandeep Sharma Publication: Redgrab Books & Anybook Thriller and suspense are fun-reads, isn’t it? It makes you think and keeps you guessing who the culprit is. It compels you to analyse the hints and find out the culprit even before the author breaks it to you in the book. Well, I had a similar experience with The Stalker authored by Sandeep Sharma. The plot revolves around Randhir Kamat, a well-known name in the entertainment industry. He is being stalked by a woman named Deepali on social media that puts him and his company in the limelight. He decides to use this event to his benefit, which worked well, almost. 

Book : Love in the Time of WhatsApp Author : Multiple Publication: Juggernaut Love in the Time of WhataApp by Juggernaut is a collection of 12 short stories on love and relationship in today’s time.   It is amazing to see how 12 different thoughts come together to create something so simple, relatable yet edgy. Every author has a different style to highlight the speck of life (or fantasy) they have chosen to.

Book : Puma - A Soldier's Dog Author : Richa Kashyap Publication:  Quignog   Puma - A Soldier's Dog by Richa Kashyap is a heart-rending story of an Indian pariah breed pup who is rescued, adopted by an army officer whom he lovingly calls ‘Dadda’ and trained to become a soldier. Narrated by Puma himself, the story takes us through the twists and turns of Puma's life where he is immensely loved and pampered by his ‘Dadda’, faces hostility from various people and dogs within the cantonment, gets lost searching for his ‘Dadda’, meets new human and doggie friends in the process and eventually re-uniting with his ‘Dadda’. 

Book : Shakuni – Master of the game Author : Ashutosh Nadkar Publication: Juggernaut Who defines the righteous? Who decides what is good and what is not? Who determines that one set of perspective is the right way of living while the other isn’t? We have been fed over the centuries that Ram was the virtuous, while Ravana’s path not good enough to be followed; just as we believe that Pandavas won the Mahabharata because God supported them, no wonder Kauravas were destined to lose. We believe what we have been told again and again, over the years. How open would you be to accept the culprit as the victim in any of these epic tales?

Book : They Go To Sleep Author : Saugata Chakraborty Publication: Notion Press They Go To Sleep authored by Saugata Chakraborty and published by Notion Press is a collected of 12 short stories. The stories largely based in Kolkata in addition to few other parts of the country as well. In a bunch of 12 stories across genres, one may not have similar opinion about all; however, I would share my honest review here on my overall reading experience.  

Book : The Code Of Manavas (Maha Vishnu Trilogy – Part 1) Author : Arpit Bakshi Publication: Rupa Publications The Code Of Manavas authored by Arpit Bakshi and published by Rupa Publications is a blend of sci-fi and mythology. My tip to the readers (of this book) this that keep aside all your presumption of Lord Krishna as described in mythology, past, present and future and look at this book with a fresh perspective. The plot is set in the era which is 2 million years after 2050 AD, which is the Swarnim yug. As per several mythology texts, this cycle of 4 yugs will repeat itself and the world will begin and be destroyed in every cycle. This story is set in one of such cycles, somewhere into the extreme future but borrowed heavily from the past.

Book : The Anatomy Of Choice Author : Harshali Singh Publication: Readomania The Anatomy Of Choice authored by Harshali Singh and published by Readomania is a rewarding read. One of the rare pieces when I begin my review with my verdict. It’s been ages since I have read something as captivating as this. The plot revolves around Bhavya (Bee) and her perturbation and huff. It is about the choices she makes and how difficult she finds it difficult to accept the resultant consequences. In the process, she ends up ruffling her family members, her live-in partner and her ownself. The story also touches upon the goods and evils that resides parallelly within us; it reflects how sometimes we win over our demons while other times the evil gets better of us.

Book : In Love with Simran Author : Kulpreet Yadav Publication: Srishti Publishers & Distributors In Love with Simran is supposed to be a romantic thriller, authored by Kulpreet Yadav. It starts with Simran, protagonist – Sanjana’s best friend being murdered. Sanjana decides to bring the murderer to justice; and in that quest she quits her academics, hires a detective and does a whole lot of jassosi  and ends up falling in love with the supposed culprit Nik Sethi.  Meanwhile two more murders take place with the same weapon. There are a few characters in the book to be considered under suspicion - Ruby, Nik, Nik’s mother Rajbala.

Book : Neverfound Land Author : Durriya Kapasi Publication: Half Baked Beans Welcome to the land of magic, love, power, fantasy and the mysterious land in the journey named ‘Neverfound Land’. This book is the s sequel to ‘Once Upon A Genie’ authored by Durriya Kapasi, which takes the story forward of Daisy, Khalil, Darren and Solomon.

Book : The Peshwa -  War of the Deceivers Author : Ram Sivasankaran Publication: Westland  After the gripping The Peshwa - The Lion and the Stallion , Ram Sivasankaran brings to us another historical blockbuster, The Peshwa - War of the Deceivers. This book builds upon the story of the first book but with erstwhile Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath Bhat's son, Peshwa Bajirao Bhat at the helm. The story has been narrated beautifully with gripping tales of valour, courage and deceit. It is also enveloped by the saga of the simmering ever-continuing rivalry between the Mughals, and Marathas with The Nizam baying for Maratha's blood. 

Book : The Secret of Ghostwriting (Kindle Edition) Series : Volume 3 of Writer’s Toolkit Author : D.R Downer Publication: The Book Club The subject of Ghostwriting is a quite intriguing for many of us. So, here’s the book that aims at answering all your possible questions on the subject. The author D.R. Downer, who himself is an experienced ghostwriter (and well that’s his pseudonym) has attempted to answer all the possible queries, including do’s and don’ts that one can think of.