Author : Vinod Joseph
‘When the Snow Melts’ is a slow paced thriller story laced with love,spy and suspense that presents a rather introductory of those people’s life who believes that above all,it is their duty to eradicate terrorism and terrorists from country.
As the back cover says ”
A spook!
His lady-love!
The al Qaeda!
THE TALE OF A MAN CAUGHT BETWEEN LOVE,DUTY,AND A GRUESOME DEATH AT THE HANDS OF HIS CAPTORS!
Veteran spook Ritwik Kumar is sent by the Indian government to the Intilligence Assessment Group (IAG) in London, where intelligence agents from all over the world work together to fight global terrorism.The IAG has a few pet projects.Nabbing Osama Bin Laden and Mullah Omar is one.Purging Pakistan’s secret service agency,the ISI,of rogue elements and fundamentalists is another.
Despite years of working in Central Asia and Afghanistan, things don’t go well for Ritwik at the AIG.Addiction to alcohol and gambling drive him to borrow heavily from loan sharks and even misappropriate office funds.When Ritwik’s senior officer, General West, gives him only a fortnight to return the money he has stolen,Ritwik defects to the al Qaeda.But he is a man who doesn’t easily fall in line and doesn’t share al Qaeda’s ideology.
Events take a turn for the worse not only for Ritwik but also for all those who come in contact with him.Even the beautiful Nilofer, who is married to the al Qaeda fanatic and one-man army Junaid,is not spared.
When the Snow Melts takes you through a dangerous world of diplomats,spies and fanatics, where appearannces are deceptive,and danger lurks around every corner.”
The simple cover seemed fresh and title seemed alluring and inviting, which initially didn’t give me any hint about the story.Coming to the synopsis, it gives the perfect brief illustration of the story, reading it one could easily go to the conclusion whether the book falls in their basket of interest or not.
The story starts in a stylish mode,the perfect start for the book which could hold reader’s interest.Along with that easy and friendly writing fashion acts as the backbone of the book.
Ritwik,the protagonist confused me at several points about his real identity which draws the book to be in the category of thrill plus love plus suspense.Also,last few pages served some spicy flavors of strands of unexpected events and truths.But, I was expecting the end to be more farcical ,albeit the end was unexpected and I didn’t get a single thought before, that it would end up like this.
Not telling much about the story ,as it would loose the essence and suspense the story holds.This story demonstrates the hard- core life of Intelligent Officers,risking their life for their country’s sake facing all the difficult situations.The spice of love sprinkled above the story is less,but is enough to lighten the story.The ideology behind the plot is riveting but it could have been laced with more dramas and twists.At some places, too much descriptions has been given which seemed lewd and boring.
The thing I like most about this book is despite of being a thriller story it offers a light read,where one could easily fall for the writing style and go at once through it.Through elaborative description, I could very well picturise the story and everything seemed real.Not too many facets are involved in the book,which after few initial pages gave a feather read.
All in all,a not-so-high-called thriller story but serves a good read, if one is too much into reading thrill-spy-suspense-nationalism related books.
Rating : 3.6/5
Reviewer : Shweta Kesari