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Showing posts from March, 2017

Book Review: One Shot by Lee Child

Jack Reacher is neither a wanderer nor a soldier. Once he was into the US army working as a military cop. But still he loves cracking down the ocean-deep crime mysteries. Six bullets and five people, of random origin, die in a public square. The news is everywhere and the city recoils in terror shock. However when the police come to the site, a trail of evidence leads them to James Burr, an ex-military sniper. Once looked a case of terror and complex felony is now proving to be an average case. James Burr gets into the jail and is soon brutally beaten up owing to a jail fight. He firmly says: you have got the wrong guy and get me Jack Reacher. Jack Reacher gets into the city after watching the news and his name being propped out from nowhere. He meets the cops and Alex Rodin, the defence lawyer handling this case. Bitter memories from Kuwait enforce him to see James Burr punished and perished. 14 years ago they both were in the military, out in Kuwait, where James had shot

Book Review: Return of the Long Riders by Cliff Farrell

Del Kitteridge returns to Combabi country after a long spell with a terrible message to be relayed to the wealthy Camden family. The message is: Walsh Camden, the head of the family, is taken as a prisoner by the famous Mexican bandit Torreon. Walsh Camden had gone to sell horses in Mexico but in a pursuit of avarice and better price he happened to visit Torreon’s bitter enemy. This move angers Torreon and as a result Walsh lands up being his captive in a dungeon. Rumours had it that Dave Kitteridge and Walsh Camden had a gruesome quarrel. And soon, Dave Kitteridge was murdered, his ranch burnt and plundered. His son Del Kitteridge runs away only to become a long rider like him. The suspicion falls on Walsh Camden. The Camden family dislikes Del but has no option to trust him. Del takes a fight with Quinn Camden and augments the enmity him. However to his rescue comes Rezin, a hidden long rider but works as a coppersmith in Combabi country. Also, Quinn and Cullen Camden show

Book Review: The Mark of Vishnu by Khushwant Singh

The snake often emerges in Indian fiction as a multi-faceted symbol. Khushwant Singh seems to have made a tacit agreement in the use of serpent as a symbol in his short fiction – The Mark of Vishnu. Khushwant Singh weaves a story around the superstition and blind reverence towards the snakes. The servant Gunga Ram, though a Brahmin was illiterate and full of superstition. He believes in the trinity Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, - the creator, the preserver and the destroyer. He is the devotee of Vishnu. And therefore, he smears his forehead every morning with V mark sandalwood paste to honour Vishnu. To him all life was sacred even if it was of a serpent or scorpion or centipede. Daily he puts saucer full milk outside the hole near the wall and says: this is for Kala Nag. And by the morning finds the milk gone. The boys make fun of him, by saying that it is drunk by the cat. For, they are science students and know that the snakes don’t drink the milk and have also seen many i

Book Review: Sharpe’s Revenge by Bernard Cornwell

Major Richard Sharpe, a great British soldier, seems to have bad terms with his beautiful second wife, Jane, over the duelling with Captain Bampfylde. Duelling is against the law and Sharpe has bruised the buttocks of Bampfylde, who in the previous Novel (Sharpe’s Siege) runs away with the ship leaving Sharpe in the mid of danger. His wife Jane is doubtful about her husband’s arrest or he may lose his life as well. And she never likes insecurities. To tone down her fears, Sharpe gives her access of his money and instructs her to buy a country home in Dorset and he will join her after the war is over. It is 1814 and the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte is imminent. Under the command of General Nairn, Sharpe takes part in the Battle of Toulouse, during the battle General Nairn is killed and Sharpe unwillingly takes the command of the battalion in his hand. They win the war. Subsequently, Napoleon, almost defeated, escapes to Elba with some of his best fighters. After the war, in the