Inane Murtaza

Title : You Beneath Your Skin Author : Damyanti Biswas Genre : Thriller It is pretty much surprising when you pick up a book and it exceeds your expectations to a great extent. I recently came across 'You Beneath your Skin' by Damyanti Biswas due to its intriguing plot and almost apt timing (with Delhi currently under smog) and this book did exceed my expectations to another level. Here is my take on this book. The story revolves mainly around Dr Anjali Morgan who lives with her autistic son Nikhil. On one fateful day, Anjali is attacked with acid who resembles her son and how her entire life comes crashing down. Her affair with Jatin Bhatt (the other central character) forms another vital part of the story and how their life gets involved with one another forms the rest of the plot. I was pretty much surprised by the book since I did not expect the book to be so good. A thriller with characters such immensely deep was way beyond my expectations. The plot kept giving bringin...

Title : Bone China Author : Laura Purcell Genre : Horror I came across Laura Purcell when she had launched her first book 'The Silent Companions' which was quite spooky for me. Her book gave me chills that many horror movies failed to do so and I couldn't stop myself when her third book 'Bone China' (I'm yet to read her second outing 'The Corset') was announced and I got my hands on it as soon as possible. This was my read for the Halloween month and here is my take on it. The story revolves around two main characters Hester Why who had arrived at Moroven House to take care of Miss Pinecroft. As the story moves ahead, we see Hester experiencing a certain spook around the house and she also tries to deal with her past before she arrived here. On the other hand, we also get to know about Louise Pinecroft and her father's experiment on five prisoners who were suffering from a terminal disease. In my opinion, though the book is pretty go...

Title : The Doll Factory Author : Elizabeth Macneal Genre : Thriller I have been pretty erratic about my book reviewing for past one month due to excess travelling that I have been making the entire month, though I did make sure my book reading abilities do not take a toll and one of the books that did make it in the list was 'The Doll Factory' by Elizabeth Macneal. What attracted me to this book was the era the book was based on. Last year I had come across another book from the same era 'The Silent Companions' and that book haunted me for quite a while. So, I finally picked up this one and this is my take on it. My Take on the Novel The book pretty much revolves around three major characters. Iris, a small time worker at a Doll Factory who is an apprentice along with her sister, Rose. She gets noticed by an upcoming painter Louis Frost who wants her to model for his latest painting. Their lives are connected to Silas who is known to make stu...

*I was provided an ecopy of this book for review purpose* At times, you do land up with a book that is pretty easy to read but takes a toll on your capacity to think. Greed Lust Addiction was my recent pickup by an upcoming Indian author and this is my take on it. To be honest, my review is pretty polarised from the ones you would find online but again this is my opinion and you are free to counter the same. Blurb (From Goodreads): The book covers the journey and encounters of an investigative journalist, thrillingly revealing mysteries of the corrupt material world, who believes in following the virtuous, righteous and spiritual path in life but is lured by a society dominated by corrupt politicians, unscrupulous greedy businessmen, puppet media, insensitive police, and even a biased judiciary. It leaves the readers wondering: Will the protagonist survive in the midst of the powerful lobbies who have scant regard for human life? Or will he be crushed like a beetle under a booted fo...

If I had to choose between Marvel and DC, I would undoubtedly choose Marvel for movies but when it comes to handpick one superhero from the entire universe, my vote would always go to Batman. One of the quotes that I repeat most often in my life is, "Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now.", and hence there were no two thoughts when I heard this book was coming out. Also, this is my first venture into Marie Lu books and a new author is always a new experience in my opinion. Blurb : Returning home from his lavish eighteenth birthday party, Bruce Wayne stops a criminal's getaway - disobeying the police and crashing his car during the chase. Sentenced to community service in Gotham City's Arkham Asylum, he encounters some of the the city's most dangerous and mentally disturbed criminals. Among these, Bruce meets the intriguing Madeleine who has ties to the Nightwalker gang that is terrorizing Gotham City. She's a myst...

It's been a pretty long time that I have started on a thriller that I had picked up without considering the author. A good amount of rave reviews online made me pick up this book which otherwise would have gone unnoticed by me if it hadn't been the posts on my various social media handles. Lotte and Soren Hammer's The Night Ferry though is the fifth book in the series of thrillers featuring Konrad Simonsen, is a pretty standalone novel and that's what made me decide to pick up this book as otherwise I haven't read the series. So how did the book fare in my eyes, read ahead to check it out. Blurb : Sixteen children and four adults are killed in a devastating boat crash in Copenhagen. Detective Chief Superintendent Konrad Simonsen is called in, only to discover that this was no accident and that one of the passengers has a very personal connection to the homicide team. Reeling from this revelation and not knowing who to trust, Simonsen follows a trail that even...

I have been suffering from a reading slump for quite a while and hence finishing a book has become a huge task for me these days. So, I wanted to make sure that I would start with a book that could make me get over this slump. Chakravyuh was one of those stories that has a lot of promises in store. Read on further to find out whether it stays high on its promises or falls flat. Blurb : Arjun Sud, A 42 year old, CA lives a stressful corporate life working for an MNC with his family in Mumbai. Their adventure holiday turns into a brutal battle when the innocent family gets surrounded by the tribals. In the middle of the jungle, Arjun is faced with the tremendous horror of fighting the mighty Paharias at the same time solving the complicated puzzle (CHAKRAVYUH) to free his beloved family. Racing against time the family has a daunting task of cracking a meticulously designed ancient maze against unknown scavengers in uncharted territory. The story unfolds as the family finds the secrets...

I remember sitting in a cinema hall and looking at the screen in awe when Steven Spielberg brought the dinosaurs to life in his movie Jurassic Park. Years later, when I finally got my hands on the book I was quite impressed by the way Spielberg had kept the spirit of the book alive while making changes to the book at quite a lot of places. Imagine my excitement when I finally came to know when he was directing yet another movie based on a book and I geared myself up for it. So what was the book all about which garnered so much attention. 'Ready Player One' is a story set in dystopian future where the entire population is obsessed with a Virtual Reality game 'OASIS'. When the creator of the game dies announcing his heir to be the one who finds the easter egg hidden in the game, a mad rush engulfs the world. Wade Watts a.k.a Parzival is one such gunter (a person looking to find the easter egg) who incidentally becomes the first person to solve the first clue and thu...

Photo Courtesy : Kajree G February had been quite a sluggish month for me as I was not able to catch up much on my reading due to my travel plans. Though I did manage to complete this one, as I had heard quite a lot about this one on my Instagram Profile. Though I had intended to start this a few months back, I was warned against reading this without reading the original Grishaverse Trilogy. Since, I could not get my hands on the original Grishaverse trilogy, I finally decided to start this one and here is my take on the first part of this Duology. Blurb : Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price–and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone… A convict with a thirst for revenge. A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager. A runaway with a privileged past. A spy known as the ...

Picture Courtesy: Instagran (@siri_s_book_14) So, after a very disappointing start to February with Keepers of Kalachakra, I decided to pick this one up for a bit of light read. I was provided this book in exchange of an honest review and I would try my best to be as honest as possible. I chose this book for the sole reason that it did not promise any cheesy romance that Indian authors churn these days and the blurb provided quite an interesting read about a serial killer. Did the book live up to the expectation? Here is my take on it. Blurb (From Amazon): Over a span of ten years, he killed forty pregnant women and then vanished without a trace. After five years of silence, he is back again, seeking his next victim. Only one man can stop him - Professor Black. Maher was found unconscious in the middle of the highway and later, in the hospital, she revealed that she had escaped from a killer's house. All the details and patterns matched the serial killer 'Kansa,' ...

Okay, so I won't say that I'm a die-hard fan of Ashwin Sanghi but he was one of those unique writers that could spin a story on conspiracy theories giving competition to Dan Brown. I absolutely loved his Chanakya's Chant and that made me get all his other books and this is my take on my first February read. Blurb: A seemingly random selection of heads of state are struck down like flies by unnamed killers who work with the clinical efficiency of butchers. Except that they leave no trace of their methods. Welcome back to the shadowy and addictive world of Ashwin Sanghi. After The Rozabal Line, Chanakya’s Chant, The Krishna Key and The Sialkot Saga, Ashwin Sanghi returns at last with another quietly fearsome tale—this time of men who guard the ‘Kalachakra’ or The Wheel of Time. My Take on the Book: First and foremost, what made me take so much time to write this review were the ratings on Amazon and Goodreads. I'll come upfront about it but the ratings on the ...

Agatha Christie is one of those authors that needs no introduction. She is the queen of thrillers and over the years she had spanned out numerous thrillers with Hercule Poirot being one of her most famous characters. Recently, I had chanced upon one of her books 'The Crooked House' which is a non-Poirot mystery and once again Christie has delivered a page turner. Blurb (From Goodreads): In the sprawling, half-timbered mansion in the affluent suburb of Swinly Dean, Aristide Leonides lies dead from barbiturate poisoning. An accident? Not likely. In fact, suspicion has already fallen on his luscious widow, a cunning beauty fifty years his junior, set to inherit a sizeable fortune, and rumored to be carrying on with a strapping young tutor comfortably ensconced in the family estate. But criminologist Charles Hayward is casting his own doubts on the innocence of the entire Leonides brood. He knows them intimately. And he's certain that in a crooked house such as Three Gables...

So, John Grisham has been one of those authors whom I absolutely adore. There has always been a cold war between the fans of John Grisham and Jeffrey Archer and ultimately we all know who is the winner, the readers ofcourse. Off late, John Grisham has started writing two books releasing them back to back. One adheres to his usual adult audience and the other talks about Theodore Boone, the child lawyer. Rooster Bar adheres more to his adult audience and this is my take on the book. Blurb: Mark, Todd, and Zola came to law school to change the world, to make it a better place. But now, as third-year students, these close friends realize they have been duped. They all borrowed heavily to attend a third-tier, for-profit law school so mediocre that its graduates rarely pass the bar exam, let alone get good jobs. And when they learn that their school is one of a chain owned by a shady New York hedge-fund operator who also happens to own a bank specializing in student loans, the three ...

So basically, I was provided this book to give a honest feedback on this. Though my experiences with Indian authors have always been an average one, this book promised me that it is different from the regular off-the-mill romance drama that most new Indian Authors churn up with these days. After I finished reading the book, I tried to look up a bit on the author (which I generally do before I buy a book) and it turned out his previous book was quite interesting as well. The book was beyond what I had expected and has certain uniqueness to it. Blurb: Sapna Vaid has lived with a unique power for a decade; a power that turned her from a timid, wide-eyed, college-going girl into the most influential and powerful Goddess on Earth. Sapna can see the future and saves thousands of people around the world every year through her record-breaking, popular show ‘Lucky People’. The show had given Sapna’s life a meaning and gives her the courage to sleep every night, where death and blood await ...

So basically, I was provided this book to give a honest feedback on this. The reason I picked up this book was quite a few of my friends from bookstagram community were giving out interesting reviews on this and I decided to go ahead with it. The book which revolves around two major characters Vedant and Misha has its own ups and downs throughout and took me hardly 2 days to finish. Blurb: How far would you go to protect your loved one? Would you even condone murder? Eight years ago Vedant Birajdar fled Tamara, a small nondescript village on the banks of the river Kaveri, after a wild night out with his best friend Jay Varma, turned disastrous. Now he is back and Jay is dead, Misha, the love of his life is engaged to another man and his older brother, Tarun, is missing. All he is left with is a strange message Jay leaves on his answering machine, before his death. Misha does not believe her brother, Jay, committed suicide. Yet, she has no reason to believe otherwise. Not until ...

I always loved Imtiaz Ali and his movies as he used to bring the best out of his actors working for him. Though as his career moved forward, one thing was quite redundant in his movies. The main protagonists meet each other at an unexpected location, they travel and find a change in their character when they fall in love with each other. So, why am I discussing Imtiaz Ali instead of Dan Brown's book here? The main reason is Dan Brown's books so resemble Imtiaz Ali's movies. The same plot where we are introduced with the character who is apparently a friend of Robert Langdon, the murder of the character followed by Langdon being framed for it, Langdon assisted by a female character, an assassinator involved who will most certainly die when we reach the final quarter of the book and a cult/group who will be framed. Also, one should not forget a character apart from Robert Langdon who will be portrayed as a villain but eventually does not turn out to be. So, let me explain ...