Next

Title: Next

Author: Michael Crichton

Frank Burnet survives an aggressive form of leukemia after four years of what was called an 'intensive treatment'. However, he learns that the 'treatments' were actually a pretext for extensively studying his miraculous genes which formed the genetic basis for his unbelievably quick recovery from the disease. As he learns that the rights over his cells have been sold to BioGen, a biotechnology startup, there follows a string of suits to claim the rights. Meanwhile, Jack Watson, a relentless venture capitalist, schemes to steal BioGen's cultures of Frank's cells. Situations get out of hand, and Frank and his family is forced on a cross-country spree as they are hunted by different parties for their miraculous genes. 

This makes the crux of the story, although there are many other sidelined plots that run parallel to it. The build up of the plot line and the narrative is very engaging, and is guaranteed to keep you hooked to the story. 

Crichton spirals you into a mind-blowing world of genetic makeup, it's potential, it's applications, and it's undeniable detriments- both legal and ethical. As he weaves a thrilling story, Crichton brings the perfect blend of the legal, medical, analytical aspects of the world of genes through a mix of fact and fiction. Next is a closely woven story with many parallel chunks of plots and sub-plots, and some of the subplots fail to tie up neatly in the end. However, the book feels like a whole load of interesting bio-genetic information on current research presented in the entertaining form of fiction. 

Genetic manipulations can change the way the world runs, and that era has already begun. I had Biotechnology and Genetics as brief subjects during my first and second year in the University. Thanks to my extremely enthusiastic professor for these subjects, there was a lot of discussion and interest in the medical, ethical and legal aspects of genetic study and genetic advancement, and I used to thoroughly enjoy those classes. I could relate to a lot of the discussions we had in our class while reading this book. 

I think there is probably no better way to introduce a concept, especially to someone who isn't familiar with it, than through fiction. I think Next uses the wide array of research that is ongoing in today's Genetics to fictitiously show the future. And, at the breakneck speed at which the world sees advancement today, that future is probably not far off!

It's a very interesting read, though the sub-plots are way too many and sometimes the book takes you around for a spin. It's fast paced, and I enjoyed it!

Veerappan: Chasing The Brigand

Title: Veerappan: Chasing The Brigand

Author: K. Vijay Kumar

Veerappan is a name too well known to all of us. Being a nomadic brigand who used the Sathyamangalam forests as his turf, Veerappan rose to infamous heights as a Sandalwood smuggler and brigand that every household in the states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu knew about and feared. The brigand was finally done away with in the successful Operation Cocoon of 2004 led by K. Vijay Kumar, IPS and chief of the Tamil Nadu Special Task Force(STF) that was involved for years in tracking and capturing Veerappan. This book is a narration of the true accounts, to the best of his knowledge, that led to the final Operation Cocoon where they managed to trap the infamous bandit. 

Vijay Kumar says in the book: "I wanted this book to read like a thriller." And, it was exactly that. Chasing The Brigand narrates the story in a manner so gripping that it is impossible to keep the book down until you get to the end. The incidents that the officers of law, including policemen and forest officials, who were part of the teams that worked for years together attempting to capture and make Veerappan surrender are so enigmatic, dramatic, and command bravery beyond our imagination, that the lines of what we'd think as exaggeration start blurring. The whole book and the events described in the book make you feel like you are watching it all through your own eyes. 

The twenty year long fight with Veerappan has been captured in a compulsively absorbing narrative, starting from when the fight began significantly to how K. Vijay Kumar, the author, got involved with the STF to details of all the major attempts to nab the infamous brigand to finally nabbing him in 2004 through Operation Cocoon. Each and every person mentioned in the book aroused a whole another level of respect, awe, and admiration- including the author himself, DGP Walter Devaram, ADG Kumarasamy, Shankar Bidari, DIG Radhakrishnan, Sanjay Arora, Ashok Kumar, Hussain, Rajarajan, Kannan, Shrinivas, Gopal Hosur, Nataraj, and many many more from both the teams in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. 

Through the incidents, there is a revelation of Veerappan, his family, and his gang members, through the encounters that these officials had with them. While reading, I got a rising feeling of how some of Veerappan's actions were similar to the Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, and I just had to read a couple of more pages after this thought, when I came across the author drawing a similarity too. Here's the excerpt talking about the conditions that Veerappan put if he were to surrender:

"One of them was that Veerappan be kept in a special camp in Tamil Nadu, where he would receive visitors freely. It reminded me of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, who had got a jail built to his specifications, comprising a soccer field, a bar, a Jacuzzi, his own guards and women of his choice. But Jayalalithaa, then the Leader of the Opposition, blasted Veerappan’s request."

Veerappan also tried to imitate Che Guevara, wearing a beret like him and clad in his standard green outfit. One remarkable thing about him was that he managed to be highly aware of politics, not just of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, but also all of India and even the world, sitting in a secluded, uninhabited terrain of the dense Sandalwood forests. He had the support of the villages that he frequented through a constant build up of fear, and any attempt by the police to get to him, however secretive it was maintained, managed to get to him as a tip-off. 

The read was absolutely thrilling, and I loved it. It brings immense respect to all the officers and the teams of both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, whose bravery is unparalleled, and a reverence to the many who lost their lives trying to nab him. I loved every chapter, every incident of the book, and the story carried me along with unwavering attention. Every time an officer went in, I found myself hoping they'd nab him. The story has a very fluid narrative, building a whole big picture of 20 long years of struggle through the dots of small, significant incidents which fueled strategies and learning. 

Once I began reading, my hands flipped the pages involuntarily and my mind ran along with the story. It's racy, gripping, absorbing, fascinating, scintillating, and it chills you to the bones when you realize it's a true story! I have made sure I don't talk one word about any incident from the story itself, because I strongly feel that the beauty of the read was in the build up that the book achieves. And, that is something that I would hate to spoil for you. I spotted this book yesterday night, started reading out of curiosity, and couldn't put it down till I finished it. The book is a must-read!

Presumed Innocent

Title: Presumed Innocent

Author: Scott Turow

Carolyn Polhemus is dead. Rusty had an affair with Carolyn. Carolyn also had an affair with Horgan. Horgan is Rusty's boss. Rusty is employed under Horgan for the re-election campaign. Rusty is assigned the prosecutor to deal with Carolyn's case. What happens? A tight knot of a solid conflict of interest. Rusty's campaign job with Horgan is on the rocks- he stays in employment if Horgan wins, or gets fired if Horgan loses- and the latter happens. Rusty finds himself not only fired, but also charged with murder by the winner of the elections. His only hope is Alejandro Sandy Stern, an Argentinian lawyer whom he approaches to deal with the case.

Presumed Innocent is a fast-paced court drama, taking us in giddy rounds through the ever-evolving possibilities of Rusty's innocence and guilt, as it plays with the evidences found on record. As Stern battles with Rusty to open up to him, and battles the case in court, we try to find the missing piece along the way to pin one person responsible, to shift the weight of blame on one individual, but in vain. 

The book has elaborately drawn out court scenes, and explores the importance of evidence in a case, the presumption of innocence, the honesty of judges, and the state of morality in which the justice delivered is wrapped in. 

Presumed Innocent has some of the most brilliant, spellbinding interrogations and cross examinations in the scenes where the case is tried. The courtroom scenes are absolutely enthralling, and keeps you hooked to every sway in the storyline. The other scenes that build up to the court room scenes are also interesting, however I enjoyed the court scenes better.

This is a brilliantly detailed mystery and legal thriller, and Scott Turow keeps you on the tow and engaged till the very end. There are absolutely no spoilers here, and the book has a brilliant finale that puts an end to the question of what happened to Carolyn Polhemus. 

With a perfectly clever storyline, and even cleverer scene sequences that neatly present the construct and deconstruct of the central plot- I absolutely loved it!

A Time To Kill

Title: A Time To Kill

Author: John Grisham

Carl Lee, an African-American distraught father who kills the two men responsible for the brutal rape of his ten year old daughter, is charged with capital murder. Jake Brigance, a close friend and white attorney, represents Carl Lee in his gruesome trial. Jake is aided by a pro-bono team of Lucien and Harry Rex to fight the case down to every possible thread, and finally they settle for the last possible defense: the plea of insanity. 

Set in a fictitious town of Ford County around the time period where the racial discrimination against the African-Americans was at its peak, Grisham's legal thriller projects and discusses through the simply woven story line about the steep unfairness and the biases of the judges almost always leading to an injustice served. 

The book also captures the support and the feelings of the fraternity of the African-American characters. As Jake and his friends fight the case, they also get a lot of aid and under-the-table illicit information from those departments where there is a rare African-American to help. During the plea of insanity backed up by a medical test, Jake presents before the jury an undeniably guilty string of corroborative evidences against the court doctor, who in all the previous cases wantonly denied the defense of insanity to all the African-Americans, and this had led to all of them receiving a death penalty. How Jake and his band of determined attorneys manage to get the acquittal of Carl Lee makes the crux of the novel.

The novel sometimes plays out more as an action sequence with killings, fights, bombs, and what not! Yet, A Time To Kill is not something that's a page-turner. There is nothing of the sort that you could call major twists or turns in the plot. The trajectory of the story is something that is well-expected out of it. It revolves around and focuses on death penalty, racism and injustice. If you have already read a book like To Kill A Mockingbird, then this wouldn't come across as eye-opening. 

However, it was a nice read. 

The Son

Title: The Son

Author: Jo Nesbo

A determined Sonny Lofthus, "the Son", is all set to get out and avenge the death of his father who was a policeman. Sounds a typical action-thriller? Really, but not really. The Son is gripping, and an unputdownable read, that takes you through an unnerving, action-packed ride, and keeps you on the edge. With a villain named "The Twin", and an unidentifiable police mole, the Son is rooted to the cause of ridding the world of characters detrimental to society. 

Nesbo's pace of the story is brilliant, and so is the suspense of the sequences in the novel. Half-way you think you know who the unidentified police mole is, and then you change, and then you change again, and then again, till  it catches you by surprise at the end of the novel!

I loved it. It was a proper thriller read. Nesbo's character development of Sonny is absolutely brilliant. It is almost like an antithesis developing between the characteristics of an empathetic Sonny and the Son. The story keeps you hooked, and feeds information about the characters drip by drip, making you stay and not wander off from the story. 

The narrative in the books shifts between the two main leads, Sonny about his mission, and Simon Kefas, the policeman attempting to track Sonny. The characters are real, with abundance of flaws and strengths. The shifting perspectives between the two main leads builds up a tension and thrill that lasts till the very end of the book. There are also a host of twists, turns and jumbles, taking the story into a complicated knot, but also neatly sorting them all out and leaving no knot undone at the end.

The book is an absorbing read, that will definitely make you indecisive on who to root for: the police, or the Son?