Last month, I managed to read 3 books but didn't manage to post about them in time. Here's a summary:
1. Inferno - by Dan Brown
Author Dan Brown would have done me a huge favor if he had included a single line at the beginning of this book - 'Fasten Your Seat Belt'. Piazza Del Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio, the Blue Mosque..........the landscape kept changing at a dizzying speed. If Professor Robert Langdon was claustrophobic, I certainly suffered from a bad bout of motion sickness as I read through Dan Brown's Inferno. 'For Heaven's Sake, Stop moving!' I almost screamed more than once :-)
The plot is pretty sinister. Professor Langdon wakes up in a hospital, thinks he is in Boston but when reality dawns, realizes that he is instead in Italy. The doctor, Dr. Sienna Brooks, tells him that he was admitted to the hospital after a bullet grazed his skull. Before he can make sense of this strange situation, a woman barges in the hospital, shoots down Dr. Sienna's colleague in cold blood, when he tries to stop her and shows every inclination to dispatch Langdon next. Dr. Sienna and Langdon escape by the skin of their teeth. This starts them on a whirlwind journey through city's monuments as they try to ponder over a lot of unanswered questions - why is Langdon in Italy? Who is trying to kill him? Who gave him the tiny projector that projects an altered version of Dante's journey through hell? And who is the mysterious lady with long silver hair that Landon keeps remembering?
As I said, the novel is very fast-paced, a bit too much for my taste. But in the end, unless you are staying in some remote corner of the world where a month passes before you see another human being, it is not difficult to identify with the problem of population explosion. As to the means employed to tackle it - well, long after you close the book, there are definitely moments when you wonder if it wasn't that insane after all!
2. The Kill List - Frederick Forsyth
In the US, and in the UK, there is a spate of killings - of people who are distinguished members of the society. In all instances, the killer either ends up committing suicide or is killed by the cops/body guards. But a thread runs common. Each killer is a Muslim, whose personality has undergone a lot of change in recent past as reported by friends or co-workers. A thorough search of the killer's belongings reveals, in every case, a computer with a video cache of sermons - delivered in perfect English by a masked man, whose only visible physical attribute is his intense amber eyes - filled with hate. The authorities name him 'The Preacher'. The responsibility of tracking and destroying him is given to The Tracker. This is the story of how The Tracker goes about it.
Forsyth has always been a favorite author and that was why I went for this book. But frankly, its first few pages made me wonder if I am reading a novel by Forsyth or a history book. I am still not sure why the author needed to waste quite a few pages giving us Tracker's background and a primer on worldwide terrorist activities. In my honest opinion, it only ended up disappointing the readers who would naturally expect a narrative moving at a break-neck speed, given the plot and the author.
That said, there is a distinct possibility that this could happen in real life, especially given the rise in terrorism worldwide. The plot might sound bizarre to ordinary folks like you and me, but it might not be so for those whose job is to prevent it from turning into reality. The Acknowledgments section, with its following lines - 'As so often, some half would prefer not to be revealed. But to those who live in the light and to those who work in the shadows, you know who you are, and you have my gratitude', is a chilling reminder!
And that is the thing that disturbed me the most about this novel.
3. Dillinger - Jack Higgins
The front cover said that this is a Classic novel reprinted for the benefit of those readers who might not have had the chance of reading the earlier versions. But honestly, after reading a few pages, I wondered if I had made a mistake by selecting it for my next reading because the story assumed prior knowledge of some aspects of the life of John Dillinger - a bank robber in the Depression-era US, if what Wiki says is to be believed.
The novel starts when Dillinger manages to break out of yet another prison and makes a run for Mexico. As luck would have it, he crosses paths with Don Rivera and ends up at the place where he is mining for gold. Enter Rose, a half-Spanish, half-Chinese niece of Rivera. Things turn ugly when a group of Indians are trapped in the mine and Rivera lets them die. The rest of the novel is about how Dillinger manages to make a journey back to the US border - through the fight that breaks out between Rivera's men and the Apaches.
I completed reading the book simply because I had started reading it. :-(
1. Inferno - by Dan Brown
Author Dan Brown would have done me a huge favor if he had included a single line at the beginning of this book - 'Fasten Your Seat Belt'. Piazza Del Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio, the Blue Mosque..........the landscape kept changing at a dizzying speed. If Professor Robert Langdon was claustrophobic, I certainly suffered from a bad bout of motion sickness as I read through Dan Brown's Inferno. 'For Heaven's Sake, Stop moving!' I almost screamed more than once :-)
The plot is pretty sinister. Professor Langdon wakes up in a hospital, thinks he is in Boston but when reality dawns, realizes that he is instead in Italy. The doctor, Dr. Sienna Brooks, tells him that he was admitted to the hospital after a bullet grazed his skull. Before he can make sense of this strange situation, a woman barges in the hospital, shoots down Dr. Sienna's colleague in cold blood, when he tries to stop her and shows every inclination to dispatch Langdon next. Dr. Sienna and Langdon escape by the skin of their teeth. This starts them on a whirlwind journey through city's monuments as they try to ponder over a lot of unanswered questions - why is Langdon in Italy? Who is trying to kill him? Who gave him the tiny projector that projects an altered version of Dante's journey through hell? And who is the mysterious lady with long silver hair that Landon keeps remembering?
As I said, the novel is very fast-paced, a bit too much for my taste. But in the end, unless you are staying in some remote corner of the world where a month passes before you see another human being, it is not difficult to identify with the problem of population explosion. As to the means employed to tackle it - well, long after you close the book, there are definitely moments when you wonder if it wasn't that insane after all!
2. The Kill List - Frederick Forsyth
In the US, and in the UK, there is a spate of killings - of people who are distinguished members of the society. In all instances, the killer either ends up committing suicide or is killed by the cops/body guards. But a thread runs common. Each killer is a Muslim, whose personality has undergone a lot of change in recent past as reported by friends or co-workers. A thorough search of the killer's belongings reveals, in every case, a computer with a video cache of sermons - delivered in perfect English by a masked man, whose only visible physical attribute is his intense amber eyes - filled with hate. The authorities name him 'The Preacher'. The responsibility of tracking and destroying him is given to The Tracker. This is the story of how The Tracker goes about it.
Forsyth has always been a favorite author and that was why I went for this book. But frankly, its first few pages made me wonder if I am reading a novel by Forsyth or a history book. I am still not sure why the author needed to waste quite a few pages giving us Tracker's background and a primer on worldwide terrorist activities. In my honest opinion, it only ended up disappointing the readers who would naturally expect a narrative moving at a break-neck speed, given the plot and the author.
That said, there is a distinct possibility that this could happen in real life, especially given the rise in terrorism worldwide. The plot might sound bizarre to ordinary folks like you and me, but it might not be so for those whose job is to prevent it from turning into reality. The Acknowledgments section, with its following lines - 'As so often, some half would prefer not to be revealed. But to those who live in the light and to those who work in the shadows, you know who you are, and you have my gratitude', is a chilling reminder!
And that is the thing that disturbed me the most about this novel.
3. Dillinger - Jack Higgins
The front cover said that this is a Classic novel reprinted for the benefit of those readers who might not have had the chance of reading the earlier versions. But honestly, after reading a few pages, I wondered if I had made a mistake by selecting it for my next reading because the story assumed prior knowledge of some aspects of the life of John Dillinger - a bank robber in the Depression-era US, if what Wiki says is to be believed.
The novel starts when Dillinger manages to break out of yet another prison and makes a run for Mexico. As luck would have it, he crosses paths with Don Rivera and ends up at the place where he is mining for gold. Enter Rose, a half-Spanish, half-Chinese niece of Rivera. Things turn ugly when a group of Indians are trapped in the mine and Rivera lets them die. The rest of the novel is about how Dillinger manages to make a journey back to the US border - through the fight that breaks out between Rivera's men and the Apaches.
I completed reading the book simply because I had started reading it. :-(
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