January Reading – Part 2

 

Continued from previous post …

  

11. Hitchcock – Auction at McKay's Corner by Alan K Young

This story came with a twist at the end and for once even I was confused. There is an auction and it seems that there are 2 characters in the story who are preparing to scam some of the members of the audience. The climax is pretty anti-climactic.

 

12. Hitchcock – The Shadow of Silence: Nature Morte by Vincent Mc Connor

A gentleman lives his routine life auctioning art. A beggar sort of a person keeps insisting that he visit his home to see an old painting of his. He finally relents and his life goes into an overdrive of 'how to steal the painting which could fetch him millions'.

He plots and conspires and put his plan through … only to be left speechless (and almost tearing his hair apart, figuratively) after a visit by the Chief Inspector investigating the case (of the murder of the beggar).  

 

13. Hitchcock – The Shadow of Silence: Too Many Sheriffs by Richard Hardwick

Just imagine … a convention of Sheriffs is taking place in the town and a bank gets robbed. It is pretty incredulous. Who could imagine such a thing happening!!

 

14. Hitchcock – The Shadow of Silence: Bone of Contention by Thomas M. Disch

The story is about a house where a single member of the house is taking care of all the 'other members' while another member is irritating the 'other members'. His irritating behavior increases so much that he is made to join the 'other members'. Who are these 'other members' … you ask. Well … you can't even imagine !!

 

15. Novel: RIP: The Resurgent Indian Patriots by Mukul Deva

RIP has an explosive start with 3 high profile murders taking place across the country followed by a statement sent to major media agencies regarding the intent and objective of the group who is behind the murders. The message concludes the threat that if the demands are not met, more will die and as a token of this threat, 3 more will die in next 3 days. This leads to a flurry of activities in the Indian political system sending waves across the country … amongst politicians, police, military as well as the common public. The start gave me (once again) a Robert Ludlum like feeling. Interestingly, the group which is responsible for murders is called the K-Team.

I liked the book but was somewhat dissatisfied too. It could have been better, tighter.

One thing surely differentiated Mukul Deva from Ludlum … Romance and associated Emotions. I don't know why, but Mukul Deva decided to introduce a Love Triangle and 2 kids into the story. Yes, they did play a role in the story to some extent but that could have been managed without this extra emotional baggage. It looked more like a 'formula' to spice up the book rather than a real need of the plot – one can see the Bollywood influence – almost written as if a screenplay for a movie. 

Detailed review posted in Jan.

 

16. Prof. Shonku Short: The Sahara Mystery by Satyajit Ray

Prof. Shonku's scientist friend disappears and he goes on a quest to find him, along with another common friend. They arrive at the Sahara Desert and notice some strange rumblings in the ground. No one is ready to take them to a certain portion of the desert which is scaring the hell out of the men and the animals. They see an unusual cliff and when they discover what the cliff is and what that rumbling sound was … they are pretty much shell shocked.

 

17. O Henry Shorts: Tictocq by O Henry

A short story about a detective and his foolishness.

 

18. Novel: The Janson Directive by Robert Ludlum

Paul Janson owes a debt to a seemingly great man who is kidnapped by a terrorist group. He is roped in to rescue him and rescue him he does. And then something goes very very wrong and the mission meets a disastrous end. Janson's life spins out of control where he becomes a 'wanted' man for the murder of the man he was to rescue ... only no one seems to know that the man is dead. The complications become convoluted and nothing seems to be what it was supposed to be. Janson is in Deep Shit and he is out of his depths (yeah yeah, thats a paradoxical statement but that is exactly what he is in). Robert Ludlum, once again, proves his genius. A fantastic concept in the story and a pretty shocking plot with several twists and turns.  

 

Series Tracking as of Jan 31^st 2013 (14 out of 432)

 

1 out of 23       3 Investigators Novella Series – Crimebusters series & Series by Mark Zahn

0 out of 09       Three Short Novel Trilogies by various Authors

1 out of 200     O. Henry Short Stories (O Henry Shorts)

0 out of 80       World's Greatest Selected Short Stories (WGS Shorts)

4 out of 85       Philip K Dick short stories (PKD)

0 out of 40       Arthur Conan Doyle short stories (ACD)

0 out of 30       Munshi Premchand short stories

1 out of 15       Satyajit Ray authored Professor Shonku short stories

3 out of 29       Hitchcock Series – Shrouds and Pockets (Hitchcock - SP)

2 out of 21       Hitchcock Series – Most Wanted (Hitchcock - MW)

3 out of 28       Hitchcock Series – Shadow of Silence (Hitchcock - SS)

0 out of 12       Hitchcock Series – Home Sweet Homicide (Hitchcock - HS)