The Child of Misfortune

From the book blurb

“Amar and Jonah played chess in childhood before a series of events ripped their friendship apart. Now, they’ve grown up and find themselves challenging each other again – a dangerous game of chess with extremely high stakes involving their lives and the lives of millions of people – a game that takes them on an audacious journey from the valleys of Kashmir to the corporate houses of London. Who will survive and who will win?”

The book is a geopolitical thriller that takes places across various geographies and explores the concept of terrorism financing. The Child of Misfortune ventures into unchartered territories in writing – be it the conflict in frozen Siachen or the misuse of Offshore Financial Centres. The story aims at providing groundbreaking insight into these matters through a fast-paced, action-adventure narrative.

Author

Soumitra Singh is an Engineer by his first degree (NIT Jaipur) an MBA professional by his second (IIM Calcutta) and a writer by his third (Bath Spa University). He has worked in the finance industry at the Bank of New York Mellon and pursued research in Counter Terrorism Financing at a German think tank before returning to his first love: the written word

Apart from his beloved country, he has lived, worked and studied in Italy, the US, England and Germany. He loves to travel, write, and just generally create havoc wherever he goes.

What I think

To begin with, the cover page is eye-catchy. It is vibrant and attracts the potential readers to turn the book over and read the synopsis. On the other hand, the synopsis is vivid and gives a fair idea about the premise.

The author has maintained the element of suspense from the beginning of the book. The narrative style is very lucid and it has this ability to keep you hooked with the book. The author has excellent command over the language and that makes this book even more interesting.

The main characters, Amar and Jonah, are very strong with shades of both black and white. The author has taken up a very bold premise and has handled the same in a matured manner.

Another interesting aspect about this book is that the author takes us through different cities along with the characters – Kashmir, Mumbai London and so on. This journey lets us gather insight about each of these cities, especially Kashmir.

Further, I have to appreciate the author for doing extensive research for penning this book. As a result, the author sounds confident and comfortable while foraying into areas like hacking, terrorism financing.

But...

There are too many characters. Also, the book has about 350 pages making it difficult to complete in one-sitting. Further, in spite of so many pages, it seems like the book was ended hurriedly. It is because of the abrupt ending.

Should you read it?

Go for it because this is a very well-researched piece of fiction. Also, a different thriller penned by an Indian author.

Rating

3.5/5

Thank you

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

PS: Receiving author signed copy is always a delight and privilege. So thanks to Soumitra Singh for taking the time and BlogAdda for selecting me as one of the reviewers! J