Skip to main content

Book Review: Caleb – the Houdini of Heists by Harsh Agarwal

Caleb – the Houdini of Heists by Harsh Agarwal is a riveting con crime thriller. This novel of around 150 pages features Caleb, from being an orphan to one of the prominent heist artists in the world. The story opens up with a boy named Caleb. He was an orphan and then picked up by poor couple. Ever since he begins understanding the mechanism of the hedonistic world, he is inspired by heists. He wants to be a rich guy, unlike his foster parents. He runs away and lives on the street and slowly begins playing pranks to earn money. Well, one day he lands up in prison. But little did he know that his life is not going to be same ever. He is bailed by a gentleman called Charles, who seems to have a mysterious past. Charles mentors him. To his surprise, Caleb is a good con artist. Charles and his small team trains Caleb for a bank heist in New York. After successful training, Caleb very easily pulls of the heist. He got into news and interestingly no one could suspect him with an ounce of doubt.

In the book, there are total 3 heists. The first one is about a bank in New York, where Caleb takes up a janitor’s job and befriends someone to get all access and insights. A lot of action and adventure ensues as Caleb pulls this heist. At one point of time, the story sounds like a Hollywood plot. The author has put in a lot of detailing and action scenes. The story sounds surreal but at times lack intensity. Anyway, the second heist of Caleb is about a painting from Venice. This heist he pulls off with the help of one team member guided by Charles.

Before the third heist of a necklace from the UK is pulled off, the novel gains extensive narration. The story of Charles briefly follows. And a few more characters pour in and out and it seems like that a team of incredible con artists is formed for the final robbery. As a reader you may feel that first two heists were simple for Caleb, however, the last one was going to be different. A lot of gossiping about team trust goes on. Caleb, being a young guy, has to see a lot in life to become a perfect heist artist. His confidence and skills will be tested soon? He might have learnt to pull off heists easily but has he got enough experience and know-how to identify the greed and purpose of others? May be not…

What will happen to him in the last heist? Are his team original players? What will happen if something goes wrong? What if Charles turns the table on him? The last heist could be anything…read on the complete story to quench your curiosity…and you never know that there is a sequel on the way.

Harsh Agarwal is a student, and it seems that he is too much inspired by movies like ‘The Bank Job’ or ‘The Italian Job’. Though the novel is not perfect in the crime thriller genre, however, he put his best and with some more practice on stories, he can be that rising crime thriller author in India like Kochery C Shibu. Narration is fast paced with lucid language. Overall, a good novel those who want to start with crime and suspense thrillers.

Buy the book from Amazon.

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 conversation fo
64 comments
Read more

Poem Summary: Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Ozymandias is a short poem of fourteen lines written by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The concurrent theme of the poem is that nothing remains intact and same forever in this world. Even the brightest of metal, one day decays with passage of time. The throne name of Egyptian King Ramesses is Ozymandias. It was his dearest desire to preserve himself forever by building a huge statue that he thought would never tumble down. Stanza 1: I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; Summary: The poet narrates the poem through the eyes of a traveler who seems to have come back from a remote and far-away land, referring to Egypt. The traveler r
23 comments
Read more