Little Black Book

"What happens if the faction of Indians who do not believe in democracy (naxals) join hands with our neighbors who don't want democracy in India?" This in a sentence is the basic premise of the Red Jihad. "Interesting" and "intriguing" are two words which immediately pop in your consciousness like bubble wrap.  And Sami Ahmad does an almost decent job at executing the premise. It is very evident that Sami has spent a LOT of time researching things and all the time and effort comes through in the text when you are reading about the detailed weaponry which the characters use. And I say this because it is no mean feat for anybody to go through scores of online and offline resources to get your facts right. And this is where the good bit stops. Red Jihad opens up with a young boy sneaking out of the house to play cricket, only to have his cricket pitch bombed by the Americans. The book then quickly and rapidly presents a story which is unnerv...

** SPOILER ALERT **   For starters, I am not sure what the blurb writer found funny in this story. The story wasn't funny. At least I didn't find the humor in it. Not even smile inducing kinds. The ending, however, was proper Keigo Higashino styled punch to the guts. Though not sure why this book is listed under mystery genre. I am not sure what genre it should be listed under but mystery doesn't quite cut it. It is sheerly through Keigo's penmanship that you get thrown on this roller coaster ride of emotions as you empathize, hate, pity and get repulsed by the protagonist Heisuke and his 3rd person narrated stream of consciousness. And like the blurb advertises, the ending is soul shattering. The emotion which the protagonist feels leaps from the pages and clenches your heart and takes a life of its own. The ending is very 'Usual Suspects' meets 'Et tu Brutus' moment. And that emotion creeps up on you and blindsides you with the most visceral gut w...

So let me split this up into two bits. Things I liked about this book and the things I didn't fancy.  Things I liked: I have always said that Indian writers who write for Indians should not give out explanations about samosas and vada pavs like they are talking to imbeciles. And this book doesn't. The story is peppered with hindi words, especially in the dialogues and it is quite refreshing. The three stories are firmly enmeshed in the often neglected genre of pulp noir. The stories are short, fast paced and focused on the setting/environment. All the three stories end with a nice twisty cherry stick. The pacing of the first story and the latter ones are much like a steam locomotive. Chugs lazily along before throttling down the tracks.  Thinks I didn't fancy: I am not sure if it is just me or if the stories themselves seem a tad misogynistic. The fact that the stories themselves present Mumbai (Bombay is what I still call it and will continue to call it) as a omnipresen...

Where do I begin? Reckon will start with the things I didn't like about this book. For starters the cover of the book looks like a bollywood movie poster designer being "inspired" by hollywood. The cover is something like Amish's immortals of meluha. Hmmmm... What other negatives are there? Oh yeah, for some godforsaken reason penguin decides to publish this book under their metro reads banner.  Now the good bits... Remember the time when Farhan akthar made DCH? I am sure you do. You didn't care that it was made by a first director. And you wouldn't care that this is juggi bhasin's first novel. Lovely story structure. Strong well defined character's. Furtive pace. And I am not even going to venture to describe the grand, stylized visuals. The epic proportions of plain and pure unadulterated, unhinged story telling. The story and the author is what Indian publishing was long waiting for. Maybe Oswald Periera who wrote newsroom mafia may take a note...