Book Review: God is a Gamer

Hello there! Festive October is nearly over, and before we move on to chilly November, I thought I'll quickly squeeze in a book review.

Book: 'God is a Gamer'
Author: Ravi Subramanian
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 337 pages
Genre: Thriller


This is my first book review of the book by the renowned Ravi Subramanian. 'God is a Gamer' is his latest offering after the best selling series of books namely 'If God Was a Banker', 'Bankster'. If you jump at the mention of gaming, bitcoins, cyber laws, the deep dark mysteries of the internet as a whole, this book is for you and you are bound to like it.

Book cover: Bitcoin and the White House can be clearly understood. Nice artwork.

Here is the short brief, without giving away the climax of course.
The action takes place in current times in various major cities across the world. Cities like Washington DC, New York, Mumbai, Goa are featured in the story. A gaming company run by Aditya is struggling to find ground among competition. Varun, Aditya's estranged son  suddenly emerges to help his dad in his business. LTTE spreads terror in the US and FBI is called to the action. An serial ATM heist ensures FBI agents are led on a wild goose chase. Suspected murders of key people – a US Senator, high prolific banker and more - take place; some linked to each other, some not. However, there is more that meets the eye in the world of the internet – it's dark side. Finding the tiniest bread crumb of evidence in the depths of the dark web is nothing short of finding a needle in the proverbial haystack.

The plot thickens with twists and turns at all the right places. The characters of the story come together beautifully in one seamless plot. The author has left no stone unturned to make it a page-turner. Made me even Google some of the facts and my, was I surprised !

Pluses: The author has well researched some facts and events and woven it beautifully into the plot. Some events coinciding with recent events that happened of late.

Minus: Initally, the pace of the story is slow but picks up later. Also, introduction of many characters at a time can make it difficult to keep track. Few chapters before the end, you can somewhat accurately guess the mastermind behind the killings, but perhaps not the reason behind it. The reason behind has a backstory.

Would I recommend it? Yes ! Must read.

Overall this is a pacy thriller with all the elements of romantic past, scandal, revenge, terror, drugs, sex and money. God is a Gamer is an engaging story with page turning short chapters. Would love to also read and review the other books in the series written. Mr. Ravi Subramanian, you've got a fan !

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Missing (Part 22)

This is the twenty-second part of the short story that I am writing in collaboration with other bloggers on Blogadda. Our team is 'Tete-a-ten'. Read the previous parts here: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen , sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty and twenty one

Cloud 9 Hospital

Mumbai

Veda replaced the receiver and looking at Dr. Sneha Phadnis said, “Madam, Doctor says he’ll schedule an appointment for tomo-“

 “Look here now, I need to talk to him!” Dr Sneha Phadnis cut her short and spoke loudly but with desperation in her voice.

“Madam, madam please have a seat. I’ll be right back” said Veda as she left the reception, trying to get help from another nurse to handle the situation.

Reluctantly, Dr. Sneha sat in one of the sofas near the counter. She pondered her next step to trace Aryan Ahuja. Within moments, another nurse walked in balancing stack full of folders and files in both hands.

She placed some files on the counter and said, “These are Dr. Ahuja’s cases. File it inside.” She was too busy to pay attention at the unmanned reception counter.

Dr. Sneha noticed the nurse leaving the files on the counter. She stared at the files and wondered if they have Aryan Ahuja’s contact details. She felt tempted to see those files and carefully unlatched one of them. On the top corner of the letterhead she noticed the Cloud 9 hospital address and below it she saw another address. ‘Aryan Ahuja must be running a consultation clinic from another address as well.’ She thought and smiled when she spotted the apartment number in the address. ‘What Luck!’ It was indeed Dr Aryan Ahuja’s home address.

Acting swiftly, she plopped out her phone and clicked a photo of the address. Wasting no more time, she placed the file back onto the counter and rushed out. The fatigue of the traveling, the drama was now replaced with excitement and anxiousness. There was a spring in every step she took as she dashed out of the hospital. Beaming with new sense of excitement she hailed a cab and headed off to complete what was missing in her life.

 

_______

Meanwhile the receptionist returned to her desk to find Dr Sneha Phadnis gone.

“Madam? Madam!” She looked around the place, inside the consultation room, the corridor- but Dr Sneha was nowhere to be found. “Oh God” exclaimed a panicked Veda.

_______

Seated in the cab, Dr. Sneha was now lost in thought. She reminisced her long dates with Aryan back in medical school. There they perched in the campus canteen sipping on cinnamon tea and chatted endlessly which would melt away all their daily fatigue. She still remembered his smile, one that reached his eyes. His eyes, sparkling with intellect. Despite the hectic med school schedule, they talked, and when they did, hours seemed like minutes.

'Have I caught thee, my heavenly jewel? 

Why, now let me die,  for I have lived long enough’

She had blushed to a shade of crimson as he quoted Shakespeare to her looking into her eyes, after they had made love on one such night. Days passed and nights passed. And then came one such day where he quoted Shakespeare again:

‘This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath,

May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.’

Aryan had quoted as they parted ways after medical school. And how Sneha's eyes showed exasperation when he said he was not ready to commit and that she was not ready to ask him to. It seemed like a professional decision, her choosing Psychiatry while him choosing Paediatrics as a specialization. But back then Sneha did not realize how bitter the end would seem in the following years.

Over the years she had learned to live with the tinge of regret of what could have been with the love of her life.  She pondered over the fact of him getting married and settling down to someone else. There was always a chance that he wouldn't. What would his reaction be? How would he look? Why didn't he try to find her? Oh, never did a day go by she wished he would tap on her shoulder and say-

“Madam! Madam, aapka building aa gaya!”

The cab driver’s yell shook Dr Sneha from her reverie and she was brought back to her present. She paid the cab fare and stepped outside. She composed herself and became conscious of how she was dressed. She adjusted her kurta, smoothed her hair and checked her compact mirror for her mascara. Pressing her flame like bindi in place on her forehead with one hand she pressed 9 with the other and Beethoven’s Für Elise filled the elevator. Seconds later, she was going to be outside Dr. Aryan Ahuja’s residence.

Read Part 23 HERE

My team and I are participating in ‘Game Of Blogs’ at BlogAdda.com. #CelebrateBlogging with us!