Review of Murder in Paharganj by Kulpreet Yadav

Book: Murder in Paharganj

Author: Kulpreet Yadav

Available at: Flipkart

The mystery opens on a very crisp note, bang with a murder, of course. An out of work journalist Vicks Menon is informed by the hotel authorities and he dives head-first into the case reaching the murder scene even before the police. The plot starts on a very intriguing note and it starts to hook the reader.

There are numerous side characters, which have been developed quite nicely by the author. The book takes you on a tour of Udaipur, Delhi, Bangkok and even Sikkim. Each and side character has some important part to play in the plot and that is where the book loses out because there are just so many characters and so many roles that they play. The storyline meanders a bit and starts to confuse the reader slowly and towards the end, the ending seems like a Plan B.

Vicks Menon is out to prove himself with this case and also get his job back. And that is where the plot meanders a bit and becomes rushed. The intriguing starting of the book starts to fizzle out a bit and the ending is even more rushed. 

In having so many characters and events, the author has managed to left out a few unexplained events, which of course do not sit well with any discerning reader. All in all, a decent effort by the author but the book did need the services of a good editor, who could have crisply edited it to make it more relevant and thrilling. 

Review of Toppers by Aayush

Book: Toppers
Author: Aayush
Available at: Flipkart

Toppers is a young adult fiction book, which is a thriller to boot but surprisingly it is set in a school in a fictional town Woodsville. I got this book as part of the Flipkart Book Review Program. Generally, the school tales that we read are the innocent and naive Enid Blytons or the Archie and Jughead cartoons, which give us a romanticised view of the school life. However, this could not be further from reality, as it is illustrated in Toppers.

Toppers portrays the tales of students in Woodsville where the buzz word is competition. The stress, the adrenaline rush, the agony and the tension of school life is the constant factor throughout the book. It makes you revisit your school days and while you are reminiscing over nostalgia, it gives you a jolt of the blue as the tale is peppered with competition references and the burning desire to succeed at all costs.

All the major protagonists in the book have their own belief system and philosophies, which they safe guard at all costs. The characters are well-etched and they have their own personality, which carries the book forward. Vishakha, Dev Bhushan, Ramanujam, Himanshu and Rikhhe Rajput will seem like your cronies while you are reading the book and you will sometimes nod in agreement when you will find the traits of your own school friends in them.

The writing is taut, the plot is good and as i am always partial to thrillers, i would recommend it to anyone who wants to know how life is in the current day schools and the competition that is buzzing through the whole educational system.