THE DEVOTION OF SUSPECT X

How far would you go to protect the person you love? Japanese author Keigo Higashino explores this question in his chilling thriller The Devotion of Suspect X. The story explores the depths of the human psyche and portrays an unflinching and unfathomable devotion that renders the reader speechless with awe and horror.

Yasuko Hanaoka is a divorcee living alone with her daughter Misato. She has quit her former job at a bar and is now working at a local lunch shop called Benten-tei. Ishigami a maths teacher in school and her neighbour visits Benten-tei daily to purchase his boxed lunch. Everything seems to go along smoothly until one day Togashi, Yasuko’s ex-husband, shows up and tries to blackmail her. In a fit of rage Yasuko in the presence of Misato kills her husband. Ishigami comes to their rescue. He disposes off the body and prepares an elaborate alibi for Yasuko and her daughter. His brilliant plan seems to be working perfectly and it puts the police off the trail. But then enters Yukawa who is a brilliant physicist and an old friend and classmate of Ishigami. It starts a battle of wits as genius is pitted against genius - the brilliant mind of the mathematician against the perceptive and insightful mind of the physicist. The cat and mouse game goes and it leads to a shocking and horrifying final revelation.

The Devotion of Suspect X is an intense plot driven story which employs the classic technique of misdirection. Ishigami prepares an elaborate trap for the police. The investigators led by detective Kusanagi take the bait hook line and sinker. They are utterly perplexed and the investigation starts going around in circles until Kusanagi enlists the help of his friend Dr Manabu Yukawa. Ishigami and Yukawa are an ideal foil for each other and much of the tension of in the novel arises from the interaction between them.

All the main characters in the novel are well drawn out. Yasuko Hanaoka, a divorcee and a single mother, is a lonely and sad figure who is searching for love and stability in her life. Tetsuya Ishigami or the Buddha is a genius mathematician. But life has not been kind to him. Instead of a university job,name and fame he is forced to take the job of a humble school teacher and live a life of anonymity. Life seems to loose all its purpose for him until one day he meets Yasuko and her daughter Misato. Dr Manabu Yukawa is a professor and a brilliant physicist. He is a classmate and an old friend of Ishigami. He is clear and insightful, has a deep understanding of the human nature and has a affinity for decoding crime and puzzles . Because of these qualities his advice is often sought by the police and has earned him the moniker Detective Galileo. The other characters are staple in nature like the dutiful and obedient daughter Misato, the greedy & cunning ex-husband Shinji Togashi, the affectionate lover Kudo, the stock detectives Kusanagi and Kishitani.

The Devotion of Suspect X came out in 2005 in Japan as a third instalment in the Detective Galileo series and was an instant success. The novel has earned may awards including the prestigious Naoki Prize and the Honkaku Mystery Award. The novel has been adapted multiple times for the big screen including the popular 2008 Japanese film Suspect X and the 2019 Tamil language film Koligaran. The English tranlation of the novel by Alexander O. Smith was published in 2011. For the lovers of the classic murder mysteries this is a must read.

THE LEGEND OF LAKSHMI PRASAD: TWINKLE KHANNA

I have been a regular reader of the articles of Twinkle Khanna published in one of the major dailies of India. What distinguishes her writings is her innate wit & humour through which she presents matters of both domestic & national importance. So, when I got a chance to lay my hands on her book The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad at the local library I just gobbled it up and soon I found myself going through her other works as well.

The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad is a collection of tales - three short stories and a novella. With her trademark wit & humour, Twinkle in each of her stories brings out the social & personal issues, the discrimination faced by women in India .

The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad

In this story Twinkle brings forth one of the greatest evils to plague India - the dowry system. In India parents are saddled with worries from the time a girl child is born. They have to arrange for a lump sum to marry off their daughters. Sometimes they have to mortgage their homes, sell their property, their lands to arrange for the money. This often lands them in the clutches of moneylenders. But sometimes even this is not enough. There is a constant demand of more and more money from the in-laws, and if the same is not met the girls are tortured, sent back to their parents house and even burnt alive.

The story revolves around two sisters Sukriti & Lakshmi growing up in a village in northern India. Sukriti is married when she is only nineteen. But she is far from happy in her new home. Her husband and in-laws torture her and there is demand for more and more dowry, or gifts as they liked to call it. Burdened by their constant demands Sukriti’s father Bijendra Prasad is down to his last penny. In desperation he tells Lakshmi, “That is why a son is so important, for his old parents to lean on. With daughters, all our life savings go away in giving and giving.”

One day Sukriti is sent back to her parent’s home ‘holding the gifts her in-laws had given her in return- burns on her back, from boiling water and hot pans’, when their demands for dowry are not met. Soon it is discovered that Sukriti is pregnant. She wants the baby to be a boy. She tells her sister, “Lakshmi, I hope this baby is a boy. Life is easier for them. We girls have nothing. We go to live in other people’s houses and they treat us like slaves.” But the child turns out to be a girl. When her in-laws learn that Sukriti has begot a girl child, they refuse to take her back claiming that Sukriti had not been pregnant when she left their house. Sukriti’s father is ready to sell their fields to arrange for the dowry, so that Sukriti’s in-laws will take her back. At this point Lakshmi, who had been but a mute spectator, stands her ground and asserts herself, “Enough with this managing, of this bending……. It’s only when we have something that people will stop treating us like we are nothing.” She then comes up with a unique idea that will not only save her sister’s but of life of generations of girls in her village.

In this short story Twinkle brings out the various evils that plague the women in our society. She not only depicts the problems but also comes out with a viable solution.

Salaam, Noni Appa

In this story Twinkle brings out the loneliness that pervades the life of the elderly and their desire to find some love & companionship in old age. Noni & Binni are two elderly widows living alone in their respective flats. Noni’s daughter is now settled in London. The two sisters try to fill the void in their lives by engaging in various frivolous activities like shopping & frequenting the parlour; they also try art classes & also join embroidery classes but these fail to hold their interest for long. In comes a sixty three something yoga teacher Anandji in their lives. He has a harrying wife and tries to escape his domestic discordance by taking yoga classes. Noni & Anandji bond over yoga and playing cards. Soon they develop feelings for each other that are beyond the carnal. Anandji says to Noni “At our age I cant say that my heart flutters when I am near you, but it hums contentedly, and I want to spend the time I have left listening to that sound.” In each other they have found the love & companionship that fills the void in their lives.

If the Weather Permits

The stores narrates the tale of a modern woman searching for love and the societal pressures which forces her into loveless marriages with disastrous effects. The story opens with the marriage of Elisha Thomas with her long term boyfriend Javed. Elisha has been in an on-off relationship with Javed for eight years. “She had married Javed partly because she had a bond with him and also because she needed to get married before she would inevitably, one weary day, succumb to one of the Malayali boys, a Varghese or a Joseph, it didn’t matter which, that her parents used as battering rams to beak her defences down.” But soon the marriage breaks down and she is back at her parents house. “Two years went by where Elisha went from one relation to the next like she was trying on a pair of jeans, slipping it on, twirling around and then leaving it in a crumpled heap on the floor.” The pressure of her relatives again forces her into marriage a second time. This time with a half mad, clinically depressed drug addict Chacko who is the son of the local district collector. This marriage also ends in disaster and soon she dumps her husband and is back with her parents.

With her inimitable wit Twinkle exposes the institution of marriage. In India women are often forced into marriages as soon as she completes her studies or gets a job. She often succumbs to the pressures of the parents and society and often enters into an arranged marriage with a total stranger. The result is often a loveless marriage with disastrous effects to both the partners. On her honeymoon Elisha realizes the fallacy of her marriage to Chacko, “In the darkness, she sensed the empty space that lurked inside her, which she kept away with laughter and company; the vast loneliness that had brought her to this point, where she was now  married to a man whom she not only hardly knew but had no interest in knowing better. Elisha spent half the night staring at the ceiling fan as it turned round and round endlessly, moving continuously but not going anywhere.” Twinkle also pokes fun at the evils and superstitions associated with marriage in our society.  Elisha’s father tells her to marry a tree first as she is a Manglik, and this  ritual would enable her to acquire a “nice Malayali boy.”

The Sanitary Man from a Sacred Land

This novella brings into focus one of the most pertinent and burning issues of India - Menstrual Hygiene. Menstruation like sex is a strict taboo in India - you don’t talk about it like it does not even exist. A recent study has found that only 18% women in India use sanitary pads. Most women in India particularly in rural areas are forced to use dirty clothes which results in poor hygiene & diseases . The taboo is not only limited to the rural areas but even in urban India we find the taboos associated with menstruation. During their periods women are often treated as untouchables and are barred from participating in religious ceremonies. The issue has recently gathered international attention because of the Oscar winning documentary Period.End of Sentence. 

 The novella depicts the struggles of Bablu Kewat to make low cost and affordable sanitary napkins which are accessible to all. Bablu is shocked one day to find his wife Gowri using a dirty rag during her periods. He promptly buys her a packet of sanitary pads. But instead of being happy on seeing the packet she retorts, “If Shalu and I start buying these packets every month, the let alone curd and ghee, we will not even have enough money to buy milk.” Bablu is dejected but he decides to make the pads at home rather than let his wife use a dirty piece of cloth. He promises his wife, “Gowri, I will find a way to make a pad for you at quarter the price.” Each month he tries to make the pads using various combination of materials like cotton and cloths at home but each time he fails. During one such experiment at testing his home made pads, he uses a rubber bladder filled with goat’s blood and a plastic tube and attaches it to his body to resemble a realistic uterus. But unfortunately he is discovered by the neighbors with bloodstains on his pants and is ostracized by the society and abandoned by his wife and relatives. He leaves his village, but instead of giving up Bablu becomes more resolute at making low cost pads and making them accessible to all the women of the society. After years of hard work and with the help of his distant relative Bhaskar Sharma, a Professor at IIT Indore, he finally manages to build a machine which could manufacture sanitary pads at fraction of the cost of the such products available in the market. But instead of selling his machine to some multinational company and making a a lot of money, he decides to travel from one village to another selling his machines to the women there and helping them set it up so that they can be financially independent.

The story is based on the real life story of Padma Shri awardee Shri Arunachalam Muruganantham and has been adapted into the screenplay of the 2018 blockbuster Pad Man, starring Akshay Kumar.

In The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad Twinkle Khanna emerges as a Feminist with a difference. Her brand of feminism is not limited to just male bashing but in each of her stories she brings out the relevant issues pertaining to women of today's India. The ease with which she brings out the humour in everyday mundane matters reminds one of the works of Ruskin Bond.

Other Books From the Author

1. MRS FUNNYBONES

In her debut book Mrs Funnybones Mrs Khanna recounts episodes from her own life. With her self-deprecating humour she tells us one anecdote after another . From the baby to the man of the house, from her mother-in-law to her own mother, everyone has to pass through the intense scrutiny of her microscope of humour. It is a tale of the struggles of the quintessential modern Indian woman trying to balance her professional & domestic life.

2. PYJAMAS ARE FORGIVING

Pyjamas Are Forgiving, the latest offering from the author is a journey of a woman to self discovery. Anshu is a divorced middle aged woman. The infidelity of her husband and the consequent divorce had hit her hard and she went into depression. She was able to recover slowly only with the help of her sister. Now every year she visits Kerala’s Shanthamaaya Sthalam, which is an ayurvedic spa cum resort to heal herself. But this year among the residents of Shanthamaaya she notices one familiar face-her ex-husband Jay, who has come here with his trophy wife to settle a deal. Passions are reignited as Anshu is irresistibly drawn to her ex-husband. 

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

The time is Nazi Germany. The start of the second world war. Death is at its busiest collecting souls by the thousands. He notices the Book Thief for the first time while he is collecting the soul of her little brother.  Subsequently he has many encounters with her. Over the course of the book Death narrates the story of the Book Thief Liesel Meminger, her Papa Hans Hubermann, Mama Rosa Hubermann, friend Rudy Steiner and a Jewish Fist Fighter Max Vandenburg; and when Death tells a story, you really have to listen.

The story starts on a train to Munich in which Liesel Meminger, a ten year old girl, is travelling along with her little brother and mother. The children are to be given over to foster parents in Molching. But Liesel’s brother does not survive the journey and dies on the train. Her mother hands her over to the authorities at Munich and leaves never to return again. Liesel is then taken to Molching, a town on the outskirts of Munich, to her new foster home at 33 Himmel Street where she is greeted by her new foster parents the Hubermanns. Here she befriends a boy named Rudy Steiner. Over the course of the book we witness the life and adventures of Liesel and Rudy - the football on Himmel Street, the school life, the stealing of fruits and books, and finally the war.

Hans Hubermann (Papa) is a kind, loving and merry figure; a painter by profession who likes to roll his own cigarettes and play the piano accordian. He has already cheated death once in the First World War. Eric Vandenburg, a Jew and Hans’ dear friend saved his life during the war but was himself killed. When he went to meet Eric’s family Hans promised Eric’s widow and son that he would help them if ever the need arises. On a later date he would surely be required to keep his promise.

Rosa Hubermann (Mama), was once beautiful and quiet spoken as described by Hans to Liesel. But time has changed her. Now we see the picture of a squat woman “who looked like a small wardrobe with a coat thrown over it.” Her vocabulary consists of chiefly two words, Saumensch and Saukerl, which refers to pigs of the female and male varieties respectively. “Her cooking was atrocious. She possessed the unique ability to aggravate almost anyone she ever met. But she did love Liesel Meminger. Her way of showing it just happened to be strange. It involved bashing her with wooden spoon and words, at various intervals." But behind the tough exterior Rosa had a heart of pure gold as subsequent events in the book would prove.

Max , is the son of Eric Vandenberg. He was nearly two years old when he lost his father to the war. At nine his mother was completely broke and they moved to his uncle’s house where while fighting with his cousins his love for fist fighting began. Soon he began to engage in fist  fighting on the streets. He held a job at an Engineering Factory but was sacked in 1935 following the Nuremberg Laws of the Nazi Party. Soon after the persecution of the Jews began and by the end of 1938 Max had to leave home and stay in hiding. He remained in hiding for the next two years and was slowly rotting away when he remembered a promise made by someone years ago. He arrives at 33 Himmel Street.

The lives of all these characters meet at 33 Himmel Street (Himmel means Heaven). Here we witness their joys, their sorrows, their fears and finally the devastating effect of that war has on their lives.

Sketch from Max's Book

The book presents a picture of the Germany under Nazi rule. Though Hitler does not appear in person in the book, but we feel his influence everywhere. The ideology of the Master Race, the training of Hitler Youth, the hatred and persecution of the Jews, the horrors of holocaust and of concentration camps are presented in the book. Though the subject matter of The Book Thief is grim, but the author never allows the narrative to brood or slack but enlivens it with his dark humour. The narrator itself is no ordinary narrator but Death himself, who is shown to have a heart. He introduces himself, “I most definitely can be cheerful. I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable….Just don’t ask me to be nice. Nice has nothing to do with me.”  He threatens the readers “personally, I don’t think you want to argue.” But in the next sentence he reassures, “Please, be calm, despite that previous threat. I am all bluster - I am not violent. I am not malicious. I am a result.” The horrors of the war are presented through the eyes of small children and ordinary commonplace people.

Sketch from Max's Book

Despite its grim subject matter the book is about hope, about the power of words. Liesel tries to overcome her human condition through the strength of words. It is words which binds her so deeply to Max. Each stage of her progress is symbolised by the stealing of a book. At her brother’s funeral Liesel picks up her first book The Gravedigger’s Handbook which was dropped by one of the gravedigger’s apprentices. Each night when she woke up after having nightmares Papa used to read her from the book in the middle of the night. Then as her reading progressed she received two more books at Christmas which was bought by Papa by trading his hand rolled cigarettes. Then on Hitler’s Birthday in 1940 a bonfire of books was lit up. Even as the embers were cooling she managed to pick up a book The Shoulder Shrug from the ashes and hid it into her dress; the book burned her but she clung on. Subsequently she would steal The Whistler and many more from the mayor’s library. At the time of war during the air raids she would comfort everyone present in the basement through her reading. Max acknowledges the power of words and in his allegorical book The Word Shaker, Liesel is shown to defeat the Fuhrer himself with the power of words.

 I have just finished reading the book and my eyes are still brimming. It’s full implication is yet to sink in. It has touched me in a way that only a few books have. The only other books I can think of are To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. The Book Thief undoubtedly lays its claim to be one of the classics of English Literature. It is not just a piece of fiction but a Human Document of immense value.

P.S -

Suggested further reading : The Diary of a Young Girl  & To Kill a Mockingbird

THE CHALK MAN - C.J. TUDOR

Never judge a book by its cover, they say. Well, at first what attracted me to the British author C.J. Tudor’s debut novel The Chalk Man was the title and the cover of the book . The picture of a stick figure , drawn with chalk, with a noose around its neck is really creepy and intriguing. The book explores the darker side of childhood, the secrets that people keep & the huge consequences that even small acts can have.

The Prologue of the book in which a dismembered girl is lying in the woods and someone comes and takes away her head in a bag sets the tone for the book. The book is set in two time periods 1986 & 2016.

In 1986 we find a twelve year old boy Eddie and his friends. Everyone in this gang of five is known by their nicknames. So we have, Eddie Munster, Fat Gav, Metal Mickey, Hoppo and Nicky. One day they go to the local fair. Here Eddie meets his new school teacher Mr Halloran. Together Mr Halloran and Eddie rescue a teenaged girl who has met with a terrible accident at the fair and this sets into motion a chain of events which ultimately leads to tragedy. It is Mr Halloran who introduces Eddie to the Chalk drawings.The idea takes root and soon the gang is sending each other secret messages through the chalk drawn figures of stick men. Trouble brews when the chalk figures start appearing on their own and they ultimately lead them into the woods where they find a murdered and dismembered girl.

Then after thirty years we see a grown up Eddie or Edward Adams in the year 2016. He is now a school teacher in the same town. Eddie thinks that the events of 1986 are are past him. But one day he receives a mail containing a drawing of a stick man and a piece of chalk. It turns out that all his friends have received the same mail. Metal Mickey pays a visit to Eddie and discloses that he is thinking of writing a book about the events of 1986. He says that he knows who the murderer was. On the way to his hotel from Eddie’s house Mickey is drowned in the river. In order to survive Eddie must now discover the truth of the events of 1986. As Eddie investigates he is in for a shock. 

We see the events from the perspective of Eddie. In 1986 we see the events as it appears to a twelve year old Kid. While in 2016 the world is seen through the eyes of a mature forty two years old Edward. To connect the two periods the author employs the technique of flashbacks as Edward reminiscences about his childhood .

Though it is Tudor’s debut novel but it never feels so. She is a skilful storyteller and writes in a simple, uncomplicated and lucid manner. To describe the horror of Eddie who mistakes Mickey for his dead bother Tudor writes, “Ghosts didn’t exist in daylight, or zombies. They only existed in that sleepy hollow between midnight and dawn, crumbling to dust at the sun’s first rays. Or so, at the age of twelve, I still believed.“ The characters are well drawn out. We have the jovial Fat Gav who is the leader of the pack. His humour is evident in the manner in which he describes people’s secrets, “Secrets are like arseholes. We all have them. It ‘s just that some are dirtier than others.”

Tudor’s love of the horror, of the dark and macabre is clearly influenced by Stephen King. There are enough scenes in the book which makes one’s hair stand up on end. The prologue, the discovery of the body in the woods, the bullying of Eddie by Mickey’s elder brother Sean Cooper and his cronies, the appearance of Sean’s ghost and the final struggle with the killer is creepy and horrific.

The only problem with the book is its pacing. The mystery unfolds at a very slow pace. A lot of time is given in building up the atmosphere. The narrative shifts between the present and the past and a lot of time and space is given to the activities of the children, their games etc. Also you feel just a little bit cheated at the final revelation, though it is quite unexpected .

The Chalk Man is one of the best mystery novels to come out in 2018. It is being hailed as The Girl on the Train of 2018 and undoubtedley it will be made into a movie soon. This book is highly recommended for the mystery lovers.

C.J. TUDOR

THE MYSTERY OF THREE QUARTERS

World’s most beloved detective is back. After the success of her first two Poirot novels The Monogram Murders (2014) & Closed Casket (2016) Sophie Hannah is back with her third novel in the series, The Mystery of Three Quarters.

Returning home after lunch Hercule Poirot is accosted outside his home by an angry middle aged woman Sylvia Rule. She accuses Poirot of writing a letter to her accusing her of the murder of Barnabas Pandy, of whom she has never even heard of. Soon he is confronted by three other persons John McCrodden, Miss Annabel Treadway & Hugo Dockerill each claiming to have received a letter from Poirot accusing them of the murder of Barnabas Pandy.

Barnabas Pandy turns out to be the 96 year old grandfather of Miss Annabel Treadway who had accidentally drowned in his bath three months ago. Poirot compares the case to the Church Window Cake prepared by Euphemia Spring, the young waitress at Pleasant’s Coffee House. Each slice of the cake is comprised of four sqaures. Likewise the case seem to have four suspects. When, Poirot starts investigating he is able to establish the connection of only three of the accused to the late Mr Pandy. John McCrodden seems to the only one who has apparently no connection with the case. Hence the name of the novel The Mystery of Three Quarters.

 Was the death of Barnabas Pandy a accident or was it deliberate murder? Who has sent those letters impersonating Poirot and what is his/her motive? Is a murderer on the loose? Will Poirot be able to answer the questions before someone else is hurt? The mystery deepens and family secrets start tumbling out of the closet as Poirot starts digging deeper.

       Here we find the Poirot we have come to know and love from Agatha Christie’s books. His mannerisms, his obsession for neatness, order & method, his love for his mustaches, his use of foreign words and expressions are all there. His eyes turn green when he has hit upon the solution. But instead of Arthur Hastings here we have Inspector Edward Catchpool of the Scotland Yard as Poirot’s sidekick. The story is presented through the eyes of Inspector Catchpool. Sophie weaves a web which is worthy of Agatha Christie in its scope, conception and execution. The Mystery of Three Quarters, is a delight for Poirot fans.  Thanks to Sophie Hannah we are able to enjoy the exploits of the Belgian detective after four decades of his final exit in Curtain which came out in 1975. Eagerly waiting for the next instalment of the series to come up.

SOPHIE HANNAH

THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW - A.J. FINN

“The Woman in the Window is one of those rare books that really is unputdownable. “ - Stephen King

There is a lot of buzz around A.J.Finn’s (pseudonym for Daniel Mallory) debut novel The Woman in the Window. So I ordered my copy from Amazon. It arrived promptly and I began reading. With the turning of each page I got immersed deeper and deeper into the world of Anna, the principal character of the novel. The pages kept turning themselves. Everything else, my family, my job took a backseat until I reached the chilling climax of the book.

The book starts slowly by building the picture of a middle aged woman Anna Fox tormented by her past memories. Anna  is living alone in her home in New York. Her husband and daughter has left her. She suffers from agoraphobia. She is seeking psychiatric help and is on medication. She has also developed a drinking problem due to her loneliness. It has been ten months since she last stepped out of her home. Her principal pastime is sitting by her window, watching and capturing her neighbours through her Nikon camera.

One day she notices the Russells, a family of three moving into the house opposite her. She sees a reflection of her own family in the Russells and becomes obsessed with them. She keeps peeking into their lives through her window. She develops a friendship with the Russell boy and his mother. Everything seems to working out fine when one night Anna sees a murder being committed in the Russell household through her window. The Police arrive but find everything in order. So what did Anna witness? Was it real or a hallucination? A result of her medicines and her alcoholism? In this world nothing is what it seems.

The novel feels like a Hitchcockian drama unfurling itself on the big screen. The writer starts slowly, building up the character and the world of its central character, investing it with a dreamlike quality. Gradually the writer builds up a claustrophobic atmosphere against which the drama of deceit and illusion is to be played out. Through flashbacks the writer brings out the nature of the extreme pain felt by Anna. The narrative picks up momentum once the Russells arrive. From this point onwards the narrative races on until it reaches its shocking final revelation. The story is full of twists and turns which keeps the reader transfixed till the end.

A.J. FINN

The Woman in the Window is one of the best mystery/thriller novels to come out in 2018. No wonder Fox Studios have bought the rights to the novel. Grab your copy of the novel before it hits the big screen.

MORIARTY - BY ANTHONY HOROWITZ

Moriarty is second book in the series of pastiches written by Anthony Horowitz who has been authorized by Conan Doyle’s estate to carry forward the legacy of the phenomenon that is Sherlock Holmes. The first book The House of Silk which came out in 2011 brilliantly captures the essence of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s works and presents to us a sombre, dark and gloomy picture of the Victorian London. Moriarty the second book in the series is bolder in its scope and treatment.

Moriarty is essentially a Holmes novel but lacks its two central characters - Sherlock Holmes and John H. Watson. Their places have been taken by Inspector Athelney Jones of Scotland Yard (who is first intoduced in Doyle’s The Sign of Four), and Frederick Chase, an agent of American detective agency Pinkerton. The story fills the void between 1891 after Holmes’s disappearance in The Final Problem and his reappearance in 1894 in The Adventure of the Empty House, the period commonly known as the Great Hiatus.

The events of the novel takes place in 1891 after the episode of the Reichenbach Falls as described in The Final Problem. Both Holmes and his arch enemy Moriarty are supposedly dead after falling from the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland while fighting each other. A dead corpse resembling Moriarty is fished out of the Reichenbach Brook. Inspector Athelney Jones who is investigating the matter meets Frederick Chase and together they start investigating.  From Chase Jones learns of the existence of a master criminal from America named Clarence Devereux who is ready to take over the underworld of London after Moriarty’s death. What follows is a series of gruesome murders and much blood is spilled on the streets of London.

Moriarty has all the elements of a Holmes novel. Macabre scenes of murder, disguises, honest thieves and red herrings are there in abundance. Athelney Jones is an admirer of Holmes. He has studied Holmes’s works and has modelled his investigating techniques on the techniques employed by the great detective. But he is no Sherlock Holmes. Frederick Chase here plays the part of Dr. Watson. Much of the interest in Holmes’s stories is generated by the relation between Holmes and Watson. The chemistry between Jones and Chase does not quite match up to that between Holmes and Watson. Like The House of Silk Horowitz here exposes the dark underbelly of the Victorian London. The atmosphere here is darker and the murders more gory but the story never quite reaches the heights attained by the The House Of Silk which is a more polished work of art. The final twist which though unexpected has no novelty about it. Overall it is a good novel and is recommended for the Holmes aficionados.

P.S - The short story The Three Monarchs which is attached to the end of the novel is more in the Sherlockian mould and is a delight for the fans of the Holmes.

STORMBREAKER - FIRST ALEX RIDER NOVEL BY ANTHONY HOROWITZ

Stormbreaker is the first novel in the Alex Rider series written by Anthony Horowitz for Young Adults. In the writer’s own words “I’ve always wanted to write a modern ‘teenager saves the world’ story. It was a recurring fantasy when I was at school that I wasn’t a bored thirteen-year-old, stuck in a gruesome north London prep school, but that I was, in, in reality, an MI6 agent.”

                Stormbreaker introduces us to Alex Rider, a fourteen year old orphan boy, who has been raised by his uncle Ian Rider. Ian Rider, a Banker by profession is killed in a car accident. Alex grows suspicious when he learns that his uncle, who was a stickler for road safety, was not wearing his seat belt. Alex starts investigating his uncle’s death and soon learns that he was in fact an MI6 agent. Ian’s last assignment was to investigate the activities of Herod Sayle. Herod Sayle is a millionaire who has announced to donate his company’s state of the art computer called Stormbreaker to every secondary school in Britain. Alex is forced to join MI6 by its Chief Executive of the Special Operations Division Alan Blunt. He is given gruelling SAS training & then sent undercover to uncover the truth behind the truth behind Sayle Enterprises. Alex starts investigating and soon learns of the deadly secret of the Stormbreakers’ which can destroy Britain for generations to come. Alex races against time as he must now not only save himself from the immense danger to his life but the whole of Britain from extinction.

                Stormbreaker is a Bond novel written for the young readers. Here we have plenty of cool gadgets - a motorized Yo-Yo, a tube of Zit-Clean Cream which can cut through metal and last but not the least a Nintendo Game Boy Color which can turn into a fax machine, a X-ray machine, a bug finder or into  a smoke bomb. The action sequences, especially the one with the Portuguese man-of-war, are breathtaking. Alex Rider is every bored schoolboy’s fantasy. Highly recommended for young readers of 10-16 age group.

P.S. – If you have watched and enjoyed the 2003 Spy movie Agent Cody Banks, you will simply love Horowitz’s Stormbreaker no matter what your age.