Skip to main content

Book Review: The Poacher by Neiley Khasnabish

The Poacher by Neiley Khasnabish is part crime thriller, part adventurous novel. Set in Assam, the book highlights the issues of poaching of rhinoceroses in Kaziranga National Park.


The story opens with a girl being assaulted by some goons in a silent lane. George Hazarika rescues the girl only to know that she is the daughter of Dr. Hemant Saikia - a famous wildlife enthusiast and editor of ‘The Kaziranga’ bi-monthly newspaper. He has been murdered recently. Assumptions are that it has been done by the poaching gang of Kaziranga. Well, for the world the murder looks mysterious and the case is closed.

George Hazarika is a sub-inspector. He personally wants to solve the case of Dr. Hemant Saikia for two reasons. First, he loves ‘The Kaziranga’. And secondly, he does not like poachers. Well, his expectations are snubbed when he is allegedly suspended for mishandling a rape case. He meets Dr. Hemant Saikia’s daughter and son – Jonali and Jagan. They send him to Kaziranga National Park to burst the gang of poachers. He goes there posing as a photographer.

In the park, he meets Mantu Bora, a park official, and Chacha, the assistant of Mantu. Mantu takes care of him and strictly warns him about the ‘Dos’ and ‘Don’ts’ of the park. Soon, Mantu goes out of the park on account of some personal work. In his absence, Chacha becomes his companion for short and long night excursions, but before George can take up anything special to find more about the poachers, Mantu’s instructions hinder him.

So finally, he, with the help of that old Chacha, corners aside the instructions of Mantu and takes up the ways for catching the poachers as well as the real culprit behind Dr. Hemant’s Saikia’s murder. From this point onwards, the novel gathers speed and the count of the characters reduces. The rest of the narration is about his investigation.

By reading this novel, even a person who never visited Assam or Kaziranga can make out the details like types of rhinos, Kaziranga history, and a lot more about the park’s flora and fauna.

The narration of the book is fast and at times tightly packed with action, especially when the protagonist George goes inside the intricacies of the park. Assam’s scenic landscape makes this book quite riveting. This book will surely remind ElephantSong by Wilbur Smith to those who love books on environmental crimes.

How do poachers network work is something that is missing from the novel? And it could have been more enchanting if the author included a map of Kaziranga. There could have been more sweeps and force with the characters, a tale of romance between George and a female lead – well it was there but in shadows. Despite all, this novel holds a distinct voice for nature lovers and wildlife enthusiasts. Read it anytime, you will not get bored – that’s something charming about adventurous and crime suspense novels.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Poem Summary: Where The Mind Is Without Fear by Rabindranath Tagore

Poem by Rabindranath Tagore: Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high Where knowledge is free Where the world has not been broken up into fragments By narrow domestic walls Where words come out from the depth of truth Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit Where the mind is led forward by thee Into ever-widening thought and action Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. Short Summary: This poem is written by Rabindranath Tagore during pre-independence days, when India was a colony of the British. The underlying theme of the poem is absolute freedom; the poet wants the citizens of his country to be living in a free state. According to the poem, we see that the poet is expressing his views there should be a country, like where people live without any sort of fear and with pure dignity…they should ...
68 comments
Read more

Book Review: The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond

Among all Ruskin Bond books, The Blue Umbrella has, so far, gathered immense applaud from readers and critics alike.  This is a short novel, but the kind of moral lessons it teaches to us are simply overwhelming. This is a story of Binya, a poor little girl living with her mother and an elder brother, Bijju, in a small hilly village of Garhwal. One day while herding her two cows back home, she stumbles upon some city people enjoying the picnic in the valley. She is enthralled to see them well-groomed and rich. She craves to be one like them and among many other things of their, a blue frilly umbrella catches her attention. She begins craving for it. On the other hand, the city people get attracted by her innocent beauty and the pendant in her neck. The pendant consists of leopard’s claw – which is considered a mascot widely in the hills. Binya trades her pendant off with the blue umbrella. The blue umbrella is so much beautiful that soon it becomes a topic of conversatio...
65 comments
Read more

Character Sketch of Binya from ‘The Blue Umbrella’ by Ruskin Bond

The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond is a popular children’s story. It features Binya as the main character, though there are other important characters as well, but the story revolves around Binya and her little beautiful umbrella. The story is widely popular among children, thus it has also been included in the schools’ syllabus all across the country. Since it is often taught in the school, thus the character sketch of Binya is often demanded by students from year to year. Character Sketch of Binya from The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond Binya is the main character of the novel ‘The Blue Umbrella’ by Ruskin Bond. Her full name is Binyadevi. As in the hills or anywhere in India it is a kind of trend to call children with their short nicknames. Binya’s elder brother’s name is Bijju, whereas his real name is Vijay. Binya aged eleven is a hilly girl. She lives with her small family in the hills of Garhwal. Her father died when she was two years of age. For sustenance, the...
41 comments
Read more