24 October, 2013

Baramulla Bomber - [Book Review]

A book review after a long gap.. Cool.. this book is fiction with some historic facts, which is a lovely combination.. Let me give you details..

Title: Baramulla Bomber
Publisher: Niyogi books
Author: Clark Prasad
Genre: Fiction, Mythology, thriller

Expectation: After reading the brief behind the book, i was expecting a rollar coaster ride of mythological, historical fiction. Something in the lines of a Dan Brown's novel. Thought, i can learn something on sound of the Universe which is covered in bible and also in Vedas. Sounds pretty interesting right?


Plot: A CIA agent gets killed in Shasksgam valley near Kashmir, where there is suspicious test conduced on a sonic weapon. This experiment is funded by both China and Pakistan to experiment a weapon which is developed from sound waves in infrasonic range, They want to use it for a planned attack on India in December. Another CIA agent Adolf, is appointed in the place of Kurt, who comes to Kashmir to find out the links between the mysterious weapon, killer Jalal, suspect Mansur haider and stop the attack by understanding the sonic weapon.

While reading the book, i see a pattern. Introducing many places, different characters in first 20 pages to elevate the suspense or to make the story more interesting, then running the story well and ending it with grace. I have observed same pattern in other novels like Sydney sheldon's or Dan brown's. I felt boring reading stories in this pattern, as i have read many books written in this way. The clarity of content that we get from first 20 pages is important to maintain interest levels. In this book, i felt, first 20 pages are confusing making it difficult to correlate and remember things. 

Explaining the concepts of sound, AUM with the help of science by a Buddhist monk and professor Dr Tamang in Dharmashala is very clear and good for a layman to understand. Mansur was selected to execute project Babylon(to use sonic weapon in attack) and he doesn't know anything about it and he will be tried in national cricket team and in few days he will also be selected to international team. This seems ridiculous. Even with any person having high influence on BCCI, taking a decision in few days to select some unknown player of the country to international team is not easy. I couldn't realize the relevancy of the title of the book until i read 50% of the book. Still, iam not very convinced on why it should be 'Baramulla bomber' and not something related to kashmir/ Srinagar. 

Author's writing style is very good, except for few pages, where the flow is missing.In some pages, i felt, usage of images is not appropriate/ unnecessary. I felt the scenes covering indian cricket matches are very lengthy and descriptive and it made me to skip those pages while reading. I appreciate the author for good research and explanation of concepts in basic terms. Overall, it's a learning experience and a thrilling journey. But missing points are clarity and proper flow of sequences.

What i liked? 
Characterization of Mansur , beauty with brains 'Ahaana' and intelligent Adolf. 
Concepts of sound, AUM etc.,

What i didn't like?
Not very relevant title
very quick turn of events making me think unrealistic
climax is not very effective
No clarity and not a smooth transition between different scenes

Rating: 3/5
When you compare with Davinci code etc., it will definitely fall below your expectation. So, these are my thoughts on this book. Please share yours in comments :)

Until next time,






Image courtesy: http://www.clarkprasad.com/


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