Book Review : God is a Gamer.

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Ravi Subramanian's latest thriller "God is a Gamer " is the first bitcoin thriller ! Ravi Subramanian is a banker .He has authored many books in fiction ,namely Bankerupt,The Incredible Banker,If God was a Banker,etal All his books have been been loved by readers in India as also abroad ! He has also penned a non fiction book "I brought the Monk's Ferrari ". 

 The book "God is a Gamer " is published by Penguin.It has an impressive cover .The title is embossed  in Golden letters.There is a stamp of a Bitcoin, also in gold ! The cover shows the White House at a distance & a man in black from head to toe standing in front of the White House.It appears as if he wants to confront the political establishment represented by the White House.

 This is story which unfolds all over the world in many places.Gillian Tan ,a senator and a trusted friend of US President is ambushed in Washington D.C. Gillian Tan seems to have the best of everything .He had a loving family & ab great career.Or was it just a screen saver ? There is Aditya Rao & his son Varun who are upbeat about their gaming company in Mumbai.There is Sundeep as also Swami who look up to Aditya Rao as their guru.Malvika is Swami 's boss & the two of them cannot get along.Many banks in India have outsourced lot of work to Aditya's BPO company.And when the ATMs are raided across New York in one single day,all hell breaks loose.Swami resigns .Aditya & his BPO unit are the main suspects.Malvika jumps to her death ( out of frustration) or was she murdered ? Tanya, Malvika's daughter accuses the Indian finance minister of killing her mother.Kabir Khan of CBI,India ,Adrian Scott,Special Agent,Tony in US & a host of others are having a hard time cracking the ATM heist,the death of Gillian Tan & Malvika & the blowing up of many laptops.And to top it all ,Bitcoins are being exchanged all over the world to cover up illegal deals in drugs & other contraband.Who is the brain behind all this? Why was Gillian Tan killed ? Is the finance minister guilty ? Is Aditya Rao, the mastermind behind the ATM heist ? Or perhaps, Varun as he is tech savvy ? Or maybe, it is the father son duo, who are up to dirty tricks.

The novel narrates how the internet age has made cyber crime, a harsh reality in the internet age.And many times,it is nearly impossible to point out the perpetrator /s .This is because, any server anywhere in the world can be used to commit a crime somewhere else.And if bitcoins( an internet currency )  are used instead of real currency,the cyber crime becomes a double jeopardy.That is,it is doubly impossible to unearth anything.

 The book is spread over 310 pages & is divided into 99 chapters.The book begins with a Prologue.Many chapters are just one page long.This encourages readers to finish that page & move further & so on.The mystery starts building up from the first chapter itself.There is never a dull moment.There is lot of technical lingo that is used & yet, it never gets monotonous.There are many characters & the author has managed to give equal importance to one & all.The story ends in a spell binding climax & how !A truly worthwhile read !

Book review : Losing my religion.

Vishwas Mudagal 's debut novel "Losing my religion " is by Fingerprint publishing.Vishwas Mudagal is an engineer from RV College ,Bangalore.He turned entrepreneur at the age of eighteen & has founded many companies, since then, one after the other ! His is at present, the CEO of GoodWorkLabs ,a leading technology firm.

The cover of the book shows a distraught young man sitting on the floor.He is wearing a black leather jacket & dark grey ( almost black though not completely ) jeans .He is wearing a full sleeved shirt as the sleeves can be seen peeping out, a good four to five  inches from his jacket ..The jacket zipper is open, revealing the unbuttoned shirt.It reveals a horizontally striped tee shirt .He is wearing a chain or thread from which a rectangular pendant is hanging from  his neck on to his chest.He is wearing black shoes.He looks fair & yet the way, he is looking towards his right, makes one, wonder if his future is bleak.The wall behind him, is  yellow.The floor below, is light brown or buff colour.Towards the right hand top of the cover,the city of New York can be seen.

Rishi Rai is a gamer .He has started  a gaming company & failed.He is bankrupt & clueless about what to do next.He meets up an American,Alex  & before he knows it ,they are backpacking all over India.Rishi buys a shack in Goa & makes a decent living .He bumps into another American ...this time, it is a babe,Kyra & sparks fly ! And then ,too soon,she bids goodbye.Lover boy is distraught & pathetic.His American buddy decides that they should travel to get him out of this & they head to Kumbh Mela,the great ocean of a pilgrimage ! And then their lives change forever, when they witness Kumbh & it becomes their life.

Does the Kumbh mela bring peace & joy to Rishi Rai ? Does Kyra come back to him ? Rishi knows nothing about Kyra except that she is a passionate gamer just like him.What is Kyra & why did she disappear as suddenly as she arrived ? Will Rishi just languish in grief lamenting Kyra's departure ?  What has the future or rather the Kumbh mela  in store for him ?

The book is interesting in the beginning & then loses its steam.The escape from the Himalayan region looks too unrealistic as the buddies are always on a high, on drugs & drinks. The tale gets too predictable,from then onwards .There are too many foreigners in the plot,all Americans.It is no secret, that reality shows are  manipulated & scripted.Nothing new in the tale.It gets unbelievable that a business tycoon agrees to be part of a soap opera masquerading as a reality show just to degrade another. Corporates have many more tricks up their sleeves apart from  the idiot box ?The reality game show gets more shocking & degrading .And just like in Bollywood ,the readers know that the hero will win despite,all the odds .In fact,the more impossible it looks,the more is the predictability of the hero being larger than life ! This makes the story & characters too much unreal.The reader cannot empathise.

The print if slightly bigger ,would have been easier on the eyes.The chapters are short  & medium ; .The paper quality is good.There is an author's note in the beginning of the book followed by Epilogue.Then the Chapters start.There are 31 chapters, followed by the chapters describing the reality show.It is spread over 360 pages.Towards the end, is the Epilogue, followed by Fingerprint diaries ,wherein, a short interview of the author is given.

All in all,this book would be a hit with those who are gamers ,IT industry wallahs ,etc.With other readers who are the  majority ,it is  slow & a drag on the nerves.

This review is courtesy,Storizen.