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Showing posts from October, 2016
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Ashvamedha - The Game Of Power by Aparna Sinha My rating: 4 of 5 stars Ashvamedha by Aparna Sinha, I give this book 3.5 stars. Hats off to a woman author to write an english thriller mystery in India. Thank you Tushti Bhatia and author for a review copy. Come on a thrilling ride. Please suspend the belief and just enjoy. You will get your money’s worth and much more. The action start from first page with an accident and kidnapping and it is relentless till end. There is no slack moment except the unnecessary love track between Ashwin and Adya. Except that the action and thrill is unending and relentless. It is a welcome break to see a thriller from an Indian writer that too from a woman (except maybe Ashwin Sanghi). The market is overflowing with mushy romance. It is said that Indian reader wants nothing but romance. So it is very courageous from Aparna to write a thriller mystery in English. There are many thriller mystery writers in Hindi; most prominent being Ved Prakash Sharma
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The Three Wise Monkeys by Jeet Gian My rating: 4 of 5 stars A solid 3.5 starts. Thanks Saheli Chatterji and author to provide me a review copy. The author is a CA and the book is about money laundering. Though the book is light heated in approach but it deals with a serious issue of money laundering through bogus off shore companies. The book explained the concept in such a simple and interesting way that even a layman like me understood. There is an ultimate beneficial owner (UBO) or you may also call him/ her Unknown Beneficial owner ;). Then a chain of bogus companies is set up in countries like Belize, Panama, British Virgin Island, Cyprus and Cayman island etc. Then through these countries the money is finally parked into Switzerland. Even the name of UBO can be hidden by using share register or MOA. These countries are called tax heavens and they have double taxation avoidance treaty with India. So if the money is taken through this route it is almost impossible to trace it

Review of Raven Song by Ashcroft

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Raven Song by I.A. Ashcroft My rating: 3 of 5 stars Raven Song (Inoki's Game, #1) by I.A. Ashcroft Format : Epub Review copy provided by: Author Assistant Star Rating: 3 stars I was provided a review copy and thanks Author Assistant for that. The book is set into not so distant apocalyptic future. There is radiation harming humans. The Geiger counter is everywhere. The main protagonists are Jackson and Anna. The story is meandering and confusing. It reminded me of Kurt Russel movie Escape from L.A. One reason maybe that it is just part one of four part series. So the story is just building and it will pick up pace later on. It is strictly a one time read. Some excerpts: The men are disposable machines as explained beautifully below: “Besides, the Coalition will need your services in the future. Sort of stupid to poison you all now.” The argument was quite logical. ______ Anna wakes up in a daze naked: “She noticed then, in a distant way, that her palms felt only bare skin. Ann

Ketamine

Ketamine 2 Oct 2016 Dev Chakravarti was having coffee with Aditi at Starbucks. ‘Dev, don’t you become bored with chasing all these drug lords and criminals. It is such a boring field I guess. How do you feel being ACP, Homicide, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)?” Aditi teased him. “Dear what you do by the way? MAM of Spiel advertising.” Dev asked. “I study consumer habits and spot trends.” she said. Dev phone buzzed. Name of Mohammad Najeeb, ACP, anti Narcotics branch of NBI flashed. He listened the call for full five minutes. Then he remained lost in thought. After five minutes when the silence became too much Aditi touch his hand lovingly. He came out of his reverie. “What?” She asked. “That’s cool yaar. Can you do a study of consumer’s trend of a drug for me Aditi.” “Which one?” “Ketamine.” “What is the need?” “There are murders committed because of this as far as I know. Ganesh and Najeeb are already there. I have to go now.” “I want to come with

Stolen hope

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Stolen Hope by Shubha Vilas My rating: 5 of 5 stars A solid five hundred stars. The copy is provided to me by Sh Shubha Vilas as a token of affection with these remarks. “Dear Rajan! Here is a book that integrates Ramayan with our lives….and hoping that these life lessons become your life time companions.” Regards Shubha Vilas This is not an ordinary book. This is a gem. This is an epic. This is not merely a retelling of Ramyana. It is interpretation of it. It has pearls of wisdom. You can not give it a casual reading. It is so intense and enlightening you have to read each page 5-6 times so as to get the full meaning. It gives the deeper meaning of actions of various characters especially lord Rama. Sample some of the pearls of wisdom: 1. At the right time, when the desire to control is not given up voluntarily; it will be taken away involuntarily. 2. Responsibility is not a choice it’s an honor. 3. Nonfulfillment of our desires is not always someone else’s fault. 4. The lowest n

When my father cried

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When My Father Cried by Manisha Bhatia My rating: 5 of 5 stars A solid five stars. This is a debut novel of extremely talented Manisha Bhatia. The copy is provided to me as a token of affection with these remarks “Dear Rajan! With lots of love and best wishes for today and glorious future tomorrow. God bless.” Manisha. From here itself the compassion of author is evident. For a debut novel quality is first rate. You don’t feel you are reading a novel of a first time author. It reads like a work of a veteran. This is a tome of a book. It is thick and above that the font is small and line spacing is single. There are almost 400 pages. So when I first got it I felt daunted by its sheer size. But once you start you will fall in love with Malini Malhotra and you wish that the book never end. It is simply unputdownable. I identified with her and her emotions. To tell you the truth I cried with her and laughed with her. Ms Bhatia has written with a lot of heart. In the end I reproduce th