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Book Review: A Stranger is Following Me by Sunil Vaishnava

A Stranger is Following Me by Sunil Vaishnava is a riveting, semi-dark psychological thriller. The novel takes a classic stance on desires and lust for money. No matter how perfect someone becomes, but there is always something that is amiss and it keeps haunting that person. The title of the book is subjective and resonated well with the overall themes and characters.

The novel features three stories–one from the past, and two in the present. They are of different people but connected. When their stories intermingle they find themselves standing against one another at cross roads. As a reader, you will keep reading three stories and thinking them as different, but post midway when they begin converging to a point, you will realize their power and the brilliance of the author.

The novel opens up with Jai Dev Vasist. He is highly successful in one of the companies. He started as an executive and went to on to become the CEO of the company. He is a workaholic and had been a fitness freak. Well, over a few months, he has been a victim of nightmare disorder. He is depressed and visits a doctor for therapy sessions. He cannot sleep properly. He feels that someone invisible is following him. He is way disturbed than ordinary folks.

The next story is of Atheetha. He was from a lower middle class family. He was not a bright student but a good singer and guitarist. Somehow during school and college he gets local fame and fans. With three more guys from his college, he forms a band named The Mysorians. Their first album ‘Hope’ was super hit. However, money eluded them. He didn’t want to live on his girlfriend Meera’s money. All guys couldn’t plan well, so their band gets disbanded. They all were so tied up and poor that resurrecting that band was difficult. Atheetha takes up a job and forgets his band and passion for money.

Third story is of an aspiring author Akshay. He is an MBA graduate, hails from a rich family. He always wanted to be an author. When his first book failed, he loses balance of life. His rich father wants him to do job abroad, even his girlfriend. Things are not working for him. The story of Akshay superbly depicted the plight of a struggling author in India. How he lives on his friend and fails to earn anything from his book – is something that many authors will find relevant.

All the above mentioned three stories are connected. How? That is the real beauty of this novel. Jai, Atheetha, and Akshay are related? Pick up this novel to know the inside story. Sunil has used simple and lucid narration, with some sweeps and back stories. The story moves at its own measured pace without losing credibility.

Buy from Amazon.

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