The Best Seller She Wrote by Ravi Subramanian

Ravi Subramanian
Westland
2015
295 INR
Review copy via blogadda

                    Ravi Subramanian is one of the few Indian authors whom I love reading. Almost all his published works till date have been fast paced banking thrillers. 'The Best Seller She Wrote' is his first attempt at romantic intrigue and after finishing this book in just one sitting,I can confidently say that his attempt change over diversion is only moderately successful.The book has it's moments for sure but it has it's own share of flaws as well.

                   Aditya Kapoor is the king of mass market paperbacks.His career as a banking professional is equally successful.His wife is the georgeous,superbly talented,IIM educated Maya who is into social work.Kapoor chances upon Shreya Kaushik during one of his usual interactive sessions with the college students and what starts off as a bitter relationship soon transforms into fanship and eventually(and quite expectedly) to love. 

                   Coming to the positives,the language used is quite simple and conversational.There are enough twists and turns happening at regular intervals making the readers hooked to the proceedings.Though at the heart of it, the book is nothing but a typical bollywoodish cliched triangular love tale, it's the setting and the intelligent execution by Ravi which makes this work an okay read. Ravi Subramanian has tried to touch upon (albeit topically) some of the unethical practices prevailing in the Indian publishing Industry. Aditya Kapoor's character(the IIM trained 'rockstar banker-turned-author', guess who!) is quite well written and the reader can feel the pain and tension which he was going through.There aren't too many unnecessary supporting characters(this book review is sounding more like a movie review,I know,but then,this novel is also more like the screenplay of a Bollywood blockbuster!) but the few which are there are pivotal in taking the story forward.The tale feels semi-autobiographical at times.There are references to real-life authors(Ashwin Sanghi,James patterson,Wendy Doniger and Ravi Subramanian himself) and personalities(Nita Ambani,Nirav Sanghavi of blogadda) incidents.

                  On the downside,the book suffers from pacing issues at times. At 390+ pages,'The best seller...' is quite lengthy and somewhere towards the middle,it drags a bit. Another issue which I have with this work is regarding the 'sex scenes'. The sex scenes are quite graphic and badly written.As one of the characters in this book herself says,Sex scenes if badly written are a big turn off.The book cover also is not that much appealing and only managed to give a mushy feel to it.The character of Shreya is a bit confusing.You never get to know whether she was actually in love with Aditya or was it only her ulterior motive which drove her into the tumultuous relationship with Kapoor.There aren't too many unnecessary supporting characters(this book review is sounding more like a movie review,I know,but then,this novel is also more like the screenplay of a Bollywood blockbuster!) but the few which are there are pivotal in taking the story forward.The romance(Aditya-Shreya) is half baked and apart from the poorly written sex scenes there is nothing much which depicts the intensity of Aditya's liking/love towards Shreya.    

                Even if you don't enjoy reading this book,you will have a good time trying to figure out the real-life inspiration behind many of the characters and incidents featured in this book(Ramesh Karia,Kiwi books).

Verdict-To sum it up,Ravi Subramanian has tried to do a Ravinder Singh(I'm not a big fan of Singh either) with 'The Best Seller...'.The book might end up in the best seller list,but for me it's just average stuff.I'm giving a 2.5 out of 5.

I am reviewing ‘The Bestseller She Wrote’ by Ravi Subramanian as a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

God is a Gamer by Ravi Subramanian

Title-God is a Gamer

Author-Ravi Subramanian

Published by-Penguin India

Pages-320

Price-299 INR

Source-Blogadda Book Review Program 

               I am a big fan of Ravi Subramanian.(I think my love for anything written by him is well known among the regular readers of this blog).I have the copies of all his published works (till date) and it's not very long ago that we had reviewed his last work 'Bankerupt' here in RT.Touted as World's first bit-coin thriller,'God is a Gamer' is the master story teller's latest work and comes with a rather catchy tag line- 'Is revenge a Crime'?
               If you are a regular reader of Subramanian's thrillers,I'm quite confident that you are familiar with his template.There will be multiple,seemingly unrelated incidents/narratives(atleast one of them involving a murder),a wronged protagonist with his own share of flaws,frequent twists and turns and a couple of unexpected revelations in the fag end of the story.Well,the formula is almost the same here too.But what makes this new novel different from his previous works is it's setting and the concept of bit-coins.Besides,the book also touches upon the gaming industry,politician-underworld nexus,phishing and corporate fraud,to name a few.
               The story starts off with a Corporate fraud happening in the U.S which culminates in the murder of a powerful politician.Enter Adrian Scott,the officer in charge of the investigation.Meanwhile there is a phishing scam happening in the Newyork International Bank and no one has any clue about who is actually behind it.There is another track involving Varun-Tanya duo.Everything is not as they seem to be and by the end of the story,we get to know that all are inter-related.
              For the majority of us who are quite new to the concept of bit-coins,'God is a Gamer' will come across as an informative book.It not only describes the business of them but also explains the transaction process in a simple and lucid manner.This is a slightly lengthier work ,but the good thing is that Subramanian has managed to maintain a fairly decent pace throughout.The reader will never get bored and with twists and turns happening at regular intervals,the book is definitely an engaging read,to a certain extend.It seems he has taken a lesser or two from the James Patterson syndicate for the chapters are really short and hardly more than a couple of pages(there are a total of 89 chapters in this 300 odd page novel!).It's obvious that he has done his homework well and the end product is a well researched,no-nonsense inter-continental thriller.
               The book isn't entirely flawless though.In the initial chapters,there are multiple characters getting introduced to the reader in quick succession.Though the author can't be blamed for adopting such a writing style,I'm not sure how well it will go down with the 'average,casual' reader.There are twists galore but I must say that atleast on a couple of occassions they are forced and totally unconvincing.There are too many things happening in the plot and the reader can't be blamed for losing track of the proceedings mid-way.The middle portions of the novel drags big time and one gets the feeling that editor could have done a better job by trimming these over-long portions.   

Verdict: On the whole,'God is a Gamer' is a fairly engaging thriller and makes for a decent one time read.My rating-3/5

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

-nikhimenon

God is a Gamer by Ravi Subramanian

Aditya runs a gaming company that is struggling to break even. A banker slips off a
highrise building, plunging to her death. The finance minister has made some promises
that he is finding hard to keep. The LTTE has unleashed terror in America that sends
the FBI on a wild goose chase, bringing them to Mumbai.

Enter Varun, part-time drug dealer and full time genius. He turns around the gaming
company before disaster strikes. Meanwhile, the investigators plunge headlong into
the shady world of bitcoins and the Dark Net, websites that only exist for illegal
transactions—drugs, sex and money. God Is a Gamer culminates in a stunning climax
where money means nothing, assassination is taught by the ancient Greeks, and nothing
is as it seems.

God is a gamer is the first book of the author that I read. And I was very cautious of the book since the author has been already branded as India's No 1 thriller writer. What attracted me to the book was this being based on bitcoins. Although I have read a bit about them,a well researched novel usually offers more perspective and a wider reach into the implications of any technology - both good and bad of it , whether real or fictionalized.

The opening chapter reveals why bitcoins would have been thought of - to prevent government or corporate control over flow over money. It also introduces us to a central character Gillian Tan who is though murdered soon as the book jumps to current times, but is also pivotal till the book's end. Only after I had finished the book , did I realize that the tagline on the book cover , "Is revenge a crime" refers to him in more ways than one.  The world is much more connected than we ever admit, thanks to technology and so the book now jumps from USA to India immediately and also between multiple characters all powerful and dangerous. 

From introducing ( or say informing ) the readers about the phising scams, the loses and the security breaches we can be subjected to any day, the illegal trading ways and network , the book has linked many of economy's key events in the book is a way that reading about them is so much fun. The amount of research and the synchronization of all plot twists show that the author has put in a lot of thought and hard work in writing. The events in the book appear to be loosely inspired or based on some recent events and technology advancements we hear of.This is a really good way to connect to the young readers who also judge any book on its relatability. 

The same though is the weak point of the book since some of the events seem too easy or imaginative. One can not totally ignore the impossibility or the low probability of such attacks ( malware , hacking , stealing account information ) in today's world when everyone is so hyper aware of the security measures.  

The language of the book mostly conversational and without frills which doesn't take the attention away from the fast paced flow. The chapters switch between places and people which keeps your mind alert but sometimes that becomes too fast and disorienting. Also, the end disappointed me a bit. The false end was more convincing to me. The epilogue appeared too much of a stretch to me. And it not just created a lot of questions in my mind but also the image I created for a character I liked were hurt big time. Some characters were there for not much significant development and I wished either they were covered more or not at all. 

All in all, a one time but engrossing read. 

My Rating : 3.5/5

I will definitely pick up Ravi's previous books though.

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Bankerupt By Ravi Subramanian

Title-Bankerupt

Author-Ravi Subramanian

Published by-Penguin India

Pages-320

Price-299 INR

Source-Review Copy sent by the author via Think Why Not

Image Courtesy-roxylibrary.com

Hailed as the John Grisham of Banking by the Wall Strret Journal,Ravi Subramanian is the best selling author(and also one of the few Indian authors who write taut thrillers) of ‘The Incredible Banker’,’If God was a Banker’ and the ‘Bankster’,with all of them set in the backdrop of the banking industry.’Bankerupt’ is his latest book and I would like to thank the author for sending me a review copy of the book.

The Plot-Aditya Raisinghania is a high-flying Mumbai based investment banker who sets up a scam with the help of his friend-turned-Client,Shivinder which eventually results in his downfall.Meanwhile,Aditya’s wife(Cirisha Narayan), who is an academician at MIT(Boston) stumbles upon a secret which has something to do with the gun lobbies in the United States.True to it’s tag line,Bankerupt is a tale of desire,greed and murder which is played out in Boston,Coimbatore and Mumbai.

The Characters-Bankerupt’s characters are believable,yet tangible.Thankfully, none of them are portrayed as epitomes of all virtues.Be it the Protagonist,Aditya- the banker who measures everything in terms of money or his wife,the ambitious academician who has a soft corner towards her assistant professor colleague(Richard),each one of them have their own weaknesses.But more than the Raisinghanias,it’s Richard-the frustrated assistant professor who evokes the reader’s sympathy.

The Language and Writing-English is pretty basic.There are neither long passages describing the scenic beauty of Charles River esplanade nor long monologues about the pits of moral turpitude that the banking industry has fallen into . The pace is a bit sluggish in the beginning,but picks up pretty soon.Twists and turns come at regular intervals while some of them are really good,a few are nothing but mundane.

What I liked the most about the book-

1.Being a person working in the research field,I could easily relate to the ‘MIT sequences’ in the book.At one point,the author says-‘ In the field of faculty research,it was not about the pay packages:they never got that much to fret over.It was all about egos’.Can’t agree more!

2.The portions related to Dharavi were well written.Frankly speaking,it reminded me of a couple of the real life stories which i read in Rashmi Bansal’s book-‘Poor Little Rich Little Slum’.

3.The climactic twist was terrific.I must admit that I never expected it!

4.The novel has references to many real-life incidents like the June 2013,Santa Monica shooting,the anti-corruption crusade in India to name a few.

5.The book throws light into the strong arms lobby in the United States and the sinister games which they play to save their turf.

6.Ravi Subramanian never confuses the reader.Even the least trivial of the bank transactions/scams mentioned in the book have been explained in simple terms which makes them easy to understand for even the average reader.

What I didn’t like-

1.The tale isn’t entirely devoid of clichés either.For instance,the scene in which Aditya gets a fake call which prompts him to escape from his house looks straight out of a regular Bollywood potboiler.Similarly some of the events happening in the pre-climactic portion of the novel is also run- of- the- mill stuff.

2.The book has it’s predictable moments too.Even before they start working on the NRA project,the reader can easily anticipate what the ‘actual results’ are going to be!

3.The character of Richard had immense potential.It’s a pity that ‘he’ has been grossly under written.Of course,the 'e-mails' are there,but it would have been better if atleast some portions of the story were told in his point of view too!

Verdict-On the whole,Bankerupt is a gripping thriller.I’m giving 4/5 for this brilliant page turner.Highly recommended!

-nikhimenon

The Bankster - Ravi Subramanian

Reviewed by Yatin, Blahblaholic and Swarnali

Publisher : Rupa Publications

ISBN : 978-81-291-2048-9

Genre : Thriller , Fiction

Price:  Rs 250

Find the author at :

Website: http://www.ravisubramanian.in/index.asp

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Authorravisubramanian

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SubramanianRavi

Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/authorravisubramanian

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/AuthorRavi

~ Summary ~

Back Cover

In  Angola, a covert CIA agent is about to exchange weapons for blood diamonds.

In Kerala, an elderly man will do whatever it takes to fulfill a promise made to a dying son.

In Mumbai, an international bank is stunned by the mysterious deaths of its key employees.

It begins in Angola, as a man exchanges weapons for the infamous blood diamonds of Africa.

In Kerala, the head of a family is accused of a crime he says he didn't commit.

And in Mumbai, the GB2 Bank are losing their key employees in a row ..

~  Excerpt ~

"Why blame him? You are allowing yourself to be used. While I have nothing against the protest and I am with you in this cause, you got carried away by the fact that this was making you famous in your neighborhood. "

~  Blahblaholic's Review ~

This is one of those books that you just CAN NOT put down once you start reading it!

There are three parallel plots running together, as you read each chapter, your mind darts from here to there and back again.

It is a legit page turner, which keeps you hooked.

The background is banking but the author here, manages to not use terms which would completely confuse and put a reader off. All the banking terms used are explained, and not in dumbed down, just-so-you-understand-way.

Along the story, you feel bad about Arvind and Laila, and more so, with Arvind's father Krishna.
You realize how cosmetic appearances go a LONG way, and not always for the good. You read about the insecurity and I could actually see it playing in my head as Harshita started to fall apart.

Wherever you go, from banks to corporate offices, there always are these basic problems that arise, and they will continue to arise, because yes, we have computers, and yes, we have brilliant advanced technology, but a human operates them at the end of the day.
Greed, lust, thirst for power, jealously, betrayal .. These are but basic human emotions!

When I read the withdrawal email (page 128) , I felt so bad for him.
It reminded me of those times when I was forced to apologize, when you're not really at fault, but you just HAVE to, and it is embarrassing and humiliating, but one's gotta do what one's gotta do eh?

There are moments when you are insulted, and then there are moments when you are just numb as you realize all you ever were, is a pawn. You try and plan this mega move, but you fail, miserably, and the way the author has depicted all of this, including the wife's dialogues as she tries to console and talk to her husband, I found it very realistic and beautiful.

One of the parts I liked the best, were related to the post mortem and the tides thing. It was right there in front of everyone, but they couldn't guess it. It was very probable, and it reminded me of Hermione in DH as she said that she wasn't super intelligent, just really precise and perspective.

Not for a moment during reading of the book can you guess the ending, as i starts falling apart piece by piece, I went all, "Really?! I never would have guessed that!"
Quite honestly, the culprits were a shock to me! One of them, I detested since the start, but the way they conducted it, it was quite an interesting read!
The best part about this book is that it isn't drab for a moment, there are so many things happening simultaneously that will scream for your attention.

~ Final Verdict ~

4/5

It is an exceptionally well woven book,
Because once you start reading this book, these 358 pages will literally fly by!

  Yatin Says :

Long back, when I was studying, I borrowed this book from a friend, "If God Was A Banker", the title was intriguing and my friend was praising the book too much, so I picked it up. Absolutely loved the book, recommended it as well to a lot of people. Post that, I never really kept a track of Ravi Subramanian's books, in fact, to be honest, I had no clue that the Ravi Subramanian who started following me on twitter around a month back is an author, till I checked his bio.

I never really thought in my wildest dreams that I would actually get to meet Ravi, he was in Delhi recently and I got to meet him as well, my first one on one meet up with any author and he gave me a signed copy of his latest book that has got released on 19th October. Here is the pic of it, just to make reader of this post a bit jealous ! :P 

Enough anecdotes now, lets get to The Bankster now. Honestly, there are very few thrillers that I have read in which you are not able to spot who is the real culprit, the same is the case with The Bankster. An absolute page turner, spread over 358 pages, 47 chapters, that would definitely make you bite your nails. I started reading it last night after meeting the author who has just been awarded with a popular choice award for his previous book "The Incredible Banker". 

The book opens with a man who lands up at Angola. There he strikes a deal in which he exchanges weapons for the world famous blood diamonds of Africa. Then the plot shifts to a family in Kerala, the head of the family accused for a crime that he hasn't committed. The person is concerned about a social cause and with all his honesty and sincerity he is backing up the cause till some opportunists get involved with the whole thing and things take an ugly turn. A parallel plot runs in Mumbai at the GB2 bank, where their key employees get murdered one after the another, but every murder was presented as if those people have died in accidents and a suicide in one case. 

I could hardly relate all these parallel plots, but the way they have been weaved together as the book progresses turned out to be complete shocker for me. The Bankster has definitely got all the elements of a best seller for sure and I would not be surprised if we get to see it in the best sellers list in the next coming weeks. The author knows how to keep the reader on his toes till the end and everyone who has read any of Ravi Subramanian's books knows about his writing style. There is too much of banking involved, but it never creates any headache for the reader. The language is simple and you don't need to refer to dictionary as well ! :D 

I am now looking forward to read "The Incredible Banker" as well and I think I am also gonna pick the rest of the books written by him pretty soon and for you who has read this post, go pick up the book. You would thoroughly enjoy it ! :) 

Swarnali Speaks : 

This is one book I heard a lot about ever since it was on the stands and I had almost planned to buy it when I saw it on Blogadda's review programs. 220 copies for the much awaited The Bankster were available and I'm pretty sure almost everyone who had applied for the book must have received a copy. :P

The book is worth the wait and is a complete page turner. What I loved best about the book is the fact that the author has done a brilliant job in withholding the suspense till the very last. There are moments when you think you've got the whole thing figured in your head but then a totally unexpected twist to the tale makes you realise that you've been digging in all the wrong places till now. The end is completely unpredictable. The entire book can be summed up as a jigsaw puzzle with all small pieces scattered here and there and you cannot make out which piece fits where until the author takes you by the hand and connects the dots and you are left with a sense of awe.

The author efficiently uses his banking background to his advantage in the setting of the book. The language is pretty simple but the book does contain a few banking jargon spluttered here and there but that doesn't act as a hindrance to the reading process. The book begins in Angola’s alluvial diamond mines and then the scenes keep seamlessly shifting from there to Devikulam in Kerala to Mumbai and to Vienna. I loved the wonderfully detailed descriptions of the setting which made the whole reading process feel like a movie watching experience. Despite the skips from one location to another, the reader does not feel a sense of fragmentation which is a big plus point for the book. The first few pages are a tad bit slow as the settings and characters are slowly established. I was in fact pretty puzzled trying to figure exactly what was happening and how all these different incidents happening at seemingly unrelated places relate to the main plot that is the deaths of the employees at the bank as mentioned in the blurb at the back. The protagonist of the book, Karan Panjabi arrives pretty late in the book and has a very casual entry and all of a sudden the book begins to move at a neck breaking speed.

The book was a pleasant read apart from a few minor issues here and there. There are a few typographical errors which were missed during the proof reading process. Another problem I found was with the usage of a few Hindi terms in the dialogues and a few direct and literal translations of Hindi terms and phrases into English. The use of colloquial language does make the story feel more believable and real but it obstructs the complete understanding of the connotations for a non-Hindi understanding reader.

I would definitely recommend the book to all readers who love fast moving thriller plots.

 Swarnali's Rating : 4/5