Personal by Lee Child

Posted on January 10, 2015 by Ajitabh

Personal Book CoverIf I remember correct this is the second book in which Reacher travels outside the United States. But the first time he did was not using his own passport and then only a certain part was spend outside the US. In this story he travels to Paris and then to London and most of the plot is outside the US.

Its a bit different from other Jack Reacher series books. Its a little more descriptive than the previous books. In this book, Reacher needed lot of data from various places in order to get going. You can clearly see Reacher’s vulnerability outside the US.

However, overall Lee Child has done a very good attempt on taking the Reacher series in a different direction. This is not my favourite Reacher book, but its good.

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The Eagle Has Flown by Jack Higgins

Posted on December 8, 2014 by Ajitabh

The Eagle Has Flown Cover ImageAnother excellent 2nd world war story by Jack Higgins. This is in continuation of the first book in Liam Devlin Series – The Eagle Has Landed.  This book is written in the same style as the previous one. Jack Higgins is the one who is being told the story by Liam Devlin. In this book, Liam Devlin is sent by Himmler to London in order to rescue Col Steiner from the British intelligence agency. And this book interestingly turns out to be yet another plot to kill Hitler. The book writing style is quite catching and does not let you easily leave the book in between.

Just like other Jack Higgins books which I have read earlier there is no unnecessary description and no unnecessary heroism in this book and I kind of like it that way.

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Chasing The Dime by Michael Connelly

Posted on November 30, 2014 by Ajitabh

Chasing The Dime Cover ImageThis is an excellent story by Michael Connelly. A little different type of crime plot. The main character of this story is Henry Pierce, who owns a company doing research on molecular computers. Henry’s company has recently achieved a breakthrough, but they are also looking for active private funding. They need to hold off to the patent filing for their innovation until one of the investors have gone through the research and still disagrees for the funding. Meanwhile Henry has recently broken with his girlfriend, Nicole. Nicole who was also working with Henry in his firm is now leaving the firm also and Henry moved away to a different apartment.

With a new phone number at the apartment Henry started receiving calls for some Lily. His curiosity led him to investigate Lily and he found out that she is an escort who is now missing. And then the plot begins. Henry’s curiosity led him to a state where he was being investigate for a murder which he did not commit. However, using some scientific investigative techniques and breaking the problem scientifically Henry was able to uncover the plot to trap him.

I would not divulge more details about it further here. I liked the book, and I hope you would also like it.

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Confessional by Jack Higgins

Posted on November 20, 2014 by Ajitabh

Confessional Book CoverThe Liam Devlin character is quite special in a way that he is not everywhere in the book and rather the author gives each and every character in a chance to be in the book and do justice to the story. At the end of this book I felt pity towards the bad guy and I must admit I kind of started liking him. He was the one who was in the book everywhere rather than the main character. Always three steps ahead of Devlin, he finally died but even then he won in a sense.

The story is very simple and strong and it keeps moving smoothly, always binding the user and wanting to finish it quickly. Devlin once again agreed to work for British in order to find a hidden KGB moul somewhere in Ireland who was disrupting the peace activities between IRA and British and always creating chaos. The chase started in Dublin and ended in Canterburry.

I would give three stars out of five.

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The Great Arc – A Dramatic Tale of How India was Mapped and Everest was named by John Keay

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Ajitabh

The Great Arc Book CoverThis book covers the story of trigonometrical survey carried out in India during the most part of 19th Century. The project was started by a British surveyor William Lambton and after his death the chief surveyor position was taken over by George Everest. However, surprisingly, people do not remember Lambton at all and Everest was only remembered because Mount Everest was named after him.

The book covers the hardship faced by the surveyors in the then prevailing geographic conditions. A good amount of surveyors died due to various diseases,  more specifically malaria and attacks by tigers and scorpios. The survey team also faced mobility problems as the survey instrument of those times weighed in tons and were difficult to transport.

If you are instructed in history and most specifically geographical history, then this book is a worth read.

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