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                                                                                                                  [Image source : Amazon ] A murder is committed once the novel begins (usually, within couple of chapters). There are  couple of suspects. A second murder also happens. After a couple of murders, the detective (mostly Poirot) reveals who the murderer is. Sounds familiar? This is the usual plot line of various Agatha Christie novels. However, Endless night does not follow this pattern.  Michael Rogers (Mike) is a middle class guy. His close friend is Santonix who wants to build a dream house for Mike. However, Mike doesn't have enough money to construct a house. Mike comes ...

                                                             Image Courtesy : Amazon                                                    Hercule Poirot frowned.  "Miss Lemon," he said. "Yes, M. Poirot?" "There are three mistakes in this letter." Yes. The most efficient secretary of Mr. Poirot has made 3 mistakes in a single letter. When Poirot questioned Miss Lemon on what has caused a very rare absent mindedness in her, Miss Lemon informs Poirot about the various mysterious occurrences in the student hostel where her sister works.  She arranges a meeting between her sister, Mrs Hubbard and Poirot.   'I congratulate you,' Poirot said warmly to Mrs Hubbard at the end ...

Image Courtesy : Amazon “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again”. The opening lines of Rebecca set the tone and mood for the rest of the book. Our unnamed protagonist, who works as a companion to Mrs Van Dee Hooper happens to chance Mr Maxim De Winter (a widower and who is almost twice the age of the protagonist) in a hotel. The acquaintance leads to couple of dates and eventually both of them fall in love with each other. Once, they marry, Maxim takes Mrs. De Winter to Manderley. Mrs. De Winter finds it difficult to adjust to the new house. Mrs. Denver, the devoted housekeeper of Rebecca (Maxim's first wife), still runs the house. She couldn’t resist anyone taking up raking up Rebecca’s place. Mrs. De Winter continues to think herself as inferior to Rebecca and strongly believes that Maxim is still in love with Rebecca. Mrs. Denvers uses this opportunity to persuade Mrs. De Winter to commit suicide. Slowly, it is revealed that   Rebecca did not die of accident. ...

                                                         Image courtesy : Amazon Mrs Willett and her daughter host an evening of a seance (google says it as "a meeting at which people attempt to make contact with the dead") on a snowy winter's evening in Sittaford. One of the spirit informs them that Captain Trevelyan is murdered. Major Burnaby is worried and decides to check out the well being of his close friend.To everyone's shock, Major Travelyan is actually found dead. James Pearson, captain's nephew, is arrested due to the circumstantial evidences that was  against him. Miss Emily Trefusis, James fiancee, along with Charles (a journalist) is determined to save him at any cost. There are too many revelations that happen over the course of the book. In addition to the murder mystery , AC also reveals who is Mrs Willet? why are...

[Image Courtesy : Amazon ] Any story on Mahabarata will keep readers engaged even after a million years. No wonder people call it as the greatest ever epic. Half the battle is won just with the premise of Mahabarata by Chitra.   Do we know Draupadi enough? Did she face a neglected childhood like the hidden Pandava Karna? What did she feel when she denied Karna the right to participate in her wedding? Whom among her 5 husbands did Draupadi love more? Did Draupadi love Arjuna more than the other Pandavas? Did Pandavas really love Draupadi? Was she longing for unconditional love all her life even after marrying 5 husbands at the same time? Did anyone ever love Draupadi unconditionally ? What are the other problems did she encounter just because of her gender?   The book does not try to just answer the above questions but also poses new questions like below. What is more important? Happiness of your loved ones or Dharma? Can money and comfortable life make everyon...

                                        Pic courtesy : Amazon What is it like to be known as Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi's daughter? Or to have a mother as famous as Sharmila Tagore? Or to be recognized as Saif Ali Khan's sister? Or as Kareena Kapoor's sister-in-law? And where do I stand among them? The above description is present in the blurb of the book. If you are looking for answer to the above questions, Soha Ali Khan does not provide the same.   This is a book that has got huge potential to strike a cord amongst the readers but it disappointed. Let me not be completely offensive. I was upset that the blurb completely misled my expectations on this book. Soha speaks about her paternal and maternal heritage for over half of the book. It would have been much better if she had given enough focus on how living amongst them has shaped her life. How does she...

                                Image courtesy : Amazon Center court describes the journey of Shankar Mahadevan , a Indian Tennis player over the course of 2 weeks during wimbledon.  It is not just the story of Shankar but it also brings the perspective of his father on how he feels during each of his matches.   The story is simple and straightforward. Of late, I have stopped reading books written by Indian Authors as I have developed a perception about the plot of their stories. (Credit Chetan Bhagat, Ravi Subramanian, Ashwin Sanghi and Amish Tripathi). Most of the Indian Authors try to be an Indian version of their western counterparts. Some want to be Indian DanBrown and some want to be John Grisham of Banking.   The most refreshing aspect of Sriram Subramanian is that he does not try to be any one. He does not try to mimic some western story to Indian context. He does no...