Hell’s Corner…By David Baldacci

A thrilling story which gives you a mix of action, emotion, suspense and drama, but this time the adventure spice was not up to the mark.

This is the final of the Camel Club series, ie. the fifth in the sequel. 

Baldacci, no doubt has tried very hard to give a finale boom to this book and was successful in the attempt, however, I believe, a lot of stress was given to twist the plot after every few pages, which was very frustrating.

How a casual stroll at Lafayette Park, in front of the White House, changes Oliver Stone’s (John Carr) life, when a series of gun shots and bomb detonation takes place, which leads an investigation with him back at the center of all and his Camel Club buddies, all endangering their lives in order to solve the mystery.
There is no progress to catch the culprit behind this mess whatsoever, even after more than half of your reading is complete, which was exasperating. They continuously face one dead end after another without making much progress. Towards the end of the book, where Stone finally gets a crack on the problem, he is no where near the solution and we never get to know exactly how he did his psychoanalysis in the first place to reach there. Not to mention the end was pretty much predictable too.

The most striking thing I found about this book, was the negative character, I mean the person who was behind this all, about whom I am not going to reveal anything here, was very far ahead of the game already than the hero, which means Baldacci has made this character super brilliant. 
So, if you would like to read this book, please have a great deal of patience. And if you are willing to have that then you will find this book an adventure packed thriller, where you would never be able to guess who was behind it all.

Or if not, you can pick any of the other Baldacci novels, which is much more interesting and as always with a promise of Lots of Action.

Happy Reading!!!

The Time Traveler’s Wife...By Audrey Niffenegger

This is an epic love story between two people from a completely different times, I mean literally. It is so impressive as to how Audrey has described a tale so confusing and inventive at the same time and laid out in front of us in a most spectacular way.

"It's hard being left behind. I wait for Henry, not knowing where he is, wondering if he's okay. It's hard to be the one who stays."

                                                                                               —Clare

I am not sure how to give my opinion on this book without giving out a tad bit of spoiler. So, here goes...

This story is about Henry who has a genetic disorder that makes him travel in time. While doing this, he meets his wife, Clare in a period where she is just 6 years old. He is much too old and she is just a child, when she first meets her and soon befriends her, during the brief moments when he keeps popping up in her backyard.

But, when the younger version of Henry meets Clare for the first time, he is very surprised to learn that she has known him throughout her childhood and she is in love with him ever since.

The story keeps moving back and forth in time and takes a tragic turn when Clare realize that she has no choice but to be in love with a man whom she keeps losing in time. It was pretty calamitous for readers to learn that she gets pregnant with a child who has the same disorder and travels in time whilst inside her.

This is a kind of book that will keep you wondering how it should turn out in the end and I am sure at every turn you will be surprised, as how it actually turned out.

The plot turns out to be a little confusing to the readers, but it will surely keep you intrigued throughout.

If you are too impatient to read the book, you can always watch the movie, which has the same title. But I should warn you it will not be as much fun as to actually read it, as you will find the movie little dull as compared to the book and not as fascinating.

However, I would like to conclude by saying that the epilogue of both the book and the movie is both fabulous and very significant.

Happy Reading!!!

Empire of the Moghul # 1....Raiders From The North..By Alex Rutherford

Truly a Classic!!

This is the first of the series of Empire of the Moghul, which Classically represents their life and how India came to be ruled by them.

The first edition particularly focus on the life of Babur, his childhood contest with his father’s court and his enemies among the mighty forces of Shaibani Khan. It also tells us how he continuously tries and fails to capture Samarkand, a very old and beautiful city in Uzbekistan and his ancestral capital.

This book also features, how and why he abandons his home and head to conquer Hindustan via an extremely difficult terrain to lead an army against Lodi in the first battle of Paniput.

Its a first class book that will occupy your interest if you are willing to learn history in a new fashion. Although, the authenticity of this story is not entirely true, but the narration will spell bind you to believe it is.

It was actually written by two writers,  Diana Preston and her husband Michael Preston to be known together as Alex Rutherford. Their inspiration to write this book was purely based on their great love for India and the history it represents, which leads to a thorough research starting with Taj Mahal, into the complete Moghul dynasty, which is how they ended up writing this series that consists of 6 books showcasing Moghul lifestyle, elucidate in detail, the architectures of the most beautiful forts made during that period and illustrate the three greatest battle ever fought at Panipat.

I would say bravo on the recital of the story. Extremely appreciable character presentation and a promise of an adventure ride to the 16th century.

Add this book to your permanent collection if you are an enthusiast on digging the Medieval India.

Happy Reading!!!

The Seven Sisters. By Lucinda Riley

I borrowed this book recently from the library and am so glad I did. 

A very interesting read and a touching story.

Once I started reading, I couldn’t stop. Well, that’s true for most of the books. However, this one book I absolutely loved reading as it engrossed me till the end. This is a story about six sisters adopted by a wealthy Swiss man, who dies, not before letting them know of their past, from where they came from in a mysterious way. 

The oldest one, Maia, on whom most of the story revolves around, decides to pursue her past which leads her to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she stumbles upon the ancestral letters of Isabel, her great-grandmother, where she learns about her life, love, marriage, family, and sacrifices, that changes her way of dealing with difficulties as well.

This story has tangled the lives of Isabel and Maia in a way that kept me on my toes.

The things that struck me most about this book was:

1) The deep love of Isabel and Laurent, her care for her parents and the graceful way she represented her womanhood, even though tragic, made me wanna reach out and help her.

2) How the author kept apace with Cristo - The Redeemer’s construction in Rio and the history, even though a fiction, made a great significance of its time.

3) Relationship of Maia and Floriano was beautiful and how it turns out to be deep and a meaningful one.

I came to know that it is actually the first of a series of seven books. The next one is The Storm Sister, which I am definitely gonna go for.

I do recommend this book to all the book lovers, if you wanna enjoy a ride back to the 20s, with an imagination of traveling to Montparnasse- Paris, Copacabana beach and mountains of Rio and an astounding Casa near Lake Geneva, Switzerland, where our story unfolds.

Happy Reading!!!!