Pound of flesh by Mukul Deva
Retired Inspector General of Police, Ravinder Gill knows that he has only few hours to track down and recover the missing girl, his daughter Jasmine's college mate and friend. As he digs deeper he realizes that Pamela is only one of scores of young girls who have gone missing. Not one of them has been recovered alive. And those found have had their organs harvested.
The search for Pamela turns even more vicious and murkier as the finger of suspicion swings towards Harpal Singh, a powerful political broker with a shady past, and also the father of Dr.Mandeep, a surgeon, and recently betrothed to Jasmine.
Spearheading Harpal's operation is the mercurial Santosh Kumar aka SK aka The Hammer, a ruthless enforcer who hates Ravinder for killing his father. The battlr becomes intensely personal for The Hammer when he realizes that Pamela is the friend of Ravinder's daughter.
Torn between rescuing Pamela, finding the truth and protecting Jasmine's happiness, Ravinder battles alone.
Could Harpal be the man behind this deadly gang of human traffickers and organ traders? Could Mandeep, his future son-in-law, be the surgeon who is cutting up these missing girls and harvesting their organs? And why is Chetan, the police officer investigating the case, covering up the facts?
Book Details:
Book title: Pound of flesh
Author: Mukul Deva
Publisher: Westland books
Pages: 484
Cost: 350 INR.
Book title: Pound of flesh
Author: Mukul Deva
Publisher: Westland books
Pages: 484
Cost: 350 INR.
My review:
A book belonging to suspense and thriller genre is always exciting to read. The same goes to this book. It was a racy read, which makes you want to know what will be happening to the characters in the next chapter.
The storyline involves human trafficking and organ harvesting. The core of the novel is a heavy topic, and it actually gives you a scare. But, the book has many sub-plots. Like, the romance of Jasmine and Mandeep. The story of Harpal Singh and his relationship with his family. The police officer Chetan.
Also, there is a small flashback, about the main antagonist of the story, Santosh Kumar. It also shows the rise of his hatred for Ravinder Gill. But, being such an important one, it rather felt like a flashback in a movie which was inserted in the plot forcefully. Even the antagonist himself would not have been able to justify his actions based on such a weak flashback.
The search for Pamela, done by Jasmine, her father, Ravinder Gill and her other friend Rekha is interesting to read at first. As the pages are turned it keeps getting mundane. Ravinder is not satisfied with the help provided by the police officer, Chetan. But, he keeps on asking him to help.
Also the small fights between Rekha and Jasmine comes and goes throughout the novel. It comes so often that you are expecting it to happen, whenever their names come in the same page.
Also, there is Mandeep, a surgeon and the son of Harpal Singh. Ravinder doubts him to be involved in the organ harvesting scam, until the final pages. But, we readers know from the first few pages who was involved in the scam along with Santhosh Kumar. It would have been even more anxious for the reader, if we too saw Mandeep from the eyes of Ravinder Gill.
The whole plot would have been so great, if the reader could see only what the protagonist could see. And, as he discovers the hidden plots, we would have been as surprised as the protagonist too. But, the reader is fed with a good amount of plot from the beginning, and finally, the whole plot is visible.
For such a good storyline, the actual story lacked a few good elements of surprise. It will always be nice to find out something new in the last few pages.
A good suspense or mystery book should be like a treasure hunt. You should not know the final treasure until the last clue.
This book was a treasure hunt. But, like a treasure hunt, which was actually seen by the participant even before it started.
Overall, it was a good one. Could have been made better.
My rating : 6.5/10
A book belonging to suspense and thriller genre is always exciting to read. The same goes to this book. It was a racy read, which makes you want to know what will be happening to the characters in the next chapter.
The storyline involves human trafficking and organ harvesting. The core of the novel is a heavy topic, and it actually gives you a scare. But, the book has many sub-plots. Like, the romance of Jasmine and Mandeep. The story of Harpal Singh and his relationship with his family. The police officer Chetan.
Also, there is a small flashback, about the main antagonist of the story, Santosh Kumar. It also shows the rise of his hatred for Ravinder Gill. But, being such an important one, it rather felt like a flashback in a movie which was inserted in the plot forcefully. Even the antagonist himself would not have been able to justify his actions based on such a weak flashback.
The search for Pamela, done by Jasmine, her father, Ravinder Gill and her other friend Rekha is interesting to read at first. As the pages are turned it keeps getting mundane. Ravinder is not satisfied with the help provided by the police officer, Chetan. But, he keeps on asking him to help.
Also the small fights between Rekha and Jasmine comes and goes throughout the novel. It comes so often that you are expecting it to happen, whenever their names come in the same page.
Also, there is Mandeep, a surgeon and the son of Harpal Singh. Ravinder doubts him to be involved in the organ harvesting scam, until the final pages. But, we readers know from the first few pages who was involved in the scam along with Santhosh Kumar. It would have been even more anxious for the reader, if we too saw Mandeep from the eyes of Ravinder Gill.
The whole plot would have been so great, if the reader could see only what the protagonist could see. And, as he discovers the hidden plots, we would have been as surprised as the protagonist too. But, the reader is fed with a good amount of plot from the beginning, and finally, the whole plot is visible.
For such a good storyline, the actual story lacked a few good elements of surprise. It will always be nice to find out something new in the last few pages.
A good suspense or mystery book should be like a treasure hunt. You should not know the final treasure until the last clue.
This book was a treasure hunt. But, like a treasure hunt, which was actually seen by the participant even before it started.
Overall, it was a good one. Could have been made better.
My rating : 6.5/10
I would like to thank the Westland Publishers for sending the book for review. The opinion expressed in this review is my own.
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