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Rating: Summary: wildly off mark Review: A pretty shoddy job. one would think it is some hollywood potboiler and not a touch of indian ness to this book(except names) . all the cuss words,jargons are western. and author has gone overboard with use of "F" word(s). amkes it all too unreal.
Rating: Summary: Overrated Review: Aniruddha Bahal is a good reporter and journalist. But that doesn't make him a great writer; Bunker 13 stands testament to the fact. For starters, the supposedly astounding plot isn't well constructed....Bahal gives the impression of conjuring up side-stories and sub-plots not in a steady, built-up fashion but in ways that best suit the many twists and turns in the main plot. Next, there simply isn't any Indianness to any of the Indian characters....almost all of them (right from the Jawans to the 'Mossies' to the Majors) babble away in Yankee jargon, their curses forming a greater part of their vocabulary than meaningful sentences. The whole thing might have looked a little more authentic had Bahal sprinkled some Indian cuss words over his concoction of stale wit and murky sarcasm. Thirdly, the entire novel is written in the second person....it does get to the reader if he/she does not relate to the character in question. Finally, Bahal seems to have drawn some of his inspiration from Hollywood action flicks. There's this bit which has an uncanny resemblance to a scene from the movie Spy Game - Bahal's protagonist MM, does a Brad Pitt when his instructor tells him that he is to be seen with a glass of water in his hand and talking to a man in a suit within 5 minutes. And there are traces of the opening scene in The Peacemaker in the planned heist of the nukes from the chartered train. The only good bit, I felt, was the exhaustive research that Bahal has done on Indian weapons and geography....Kashmir in particular. But on the whole, I was disappointed since I was expecting a little more Indianness and ingenuity from the Tehelka man.
Rating: Summary: Dark and Fast paced... Review: Aniruddha Bahal's Bunker 13 moves at such a lightening quick pace that the reader rarely has time to think. Bunker 13 stars MM, an adrenaline junky of an investigative news reporter, ostensibly researching illicit weapons and drug deals in the Indian Army. MM spends much of the book stalking his nemesis, a Major Rodriguez, but nothing in Bunker 13 is exactly as it seems. The story takes off with MM going through paratrooper training in the Indian Special Forces, with a high octane narcotic chaser. From there, MM follows Rodriguez into Kashmir... and to go into any more detail would give away too many spoilers. This is not a book meant to make you think; its all action, well written and fast paced. If there's a major flaw in the book, its that at times the package is so fast, dark and smooth it doesn't feel particularly Indian. In that regard, Bunker 13 had a vaguely Bollywood feel to it... not only is it a twisted version of real life, on speed, but its an idealized Indian/Western version at that. Bahal uses the 2nd person while writing the book, and while at first annoying it eventually has its impact. In some ways, the second person perspective gives the book a slightly psychedelic feel, although in the beginning it felt derivative of something else, perhaps Complicity by Iain Banks. Despite any flaws, or lack of Indian flavor Bunker 13 is nothing but a literary version of a high end Hollywood action film. Thinking too much spoils the fun, and the plot twists at the end are so wild that nobody could anticipate them. Instead, the reader should sit down, pour a drink, and just enjoy the ride. Its dark, fast, fun and not easily forgotten!
Rating: Summary: Dark and Fast paced... Review: Aniruddha Bahal's Bunker 13 moves at such a lightening quick pace that the reader rarely has time to think. Bunker 13 stars MM, an adrenaline junky of an investigative news reporter, ostensibly researching illicit weapons and drug deals in the Indian Army. MM spends much of the book stalking his nemesis, a Major Rodriguez, but nothing in Bunker 13 is exactly as it seems. The story takes off with MM going through paratrooper training in the Indian Special Forces, with a high octane narcotic chaser. From there, MM follows Rodriguez into Kashmir... and to go into any more detail would give away too many spoilers. This is not a book meant to make you think; its all action, well written and fast paced. If there's a major flaw in the book, its that at times the package is so fast, dark and smooth it doesn't feel particularly Indian. In that regard, Bunker 13 had a vaguely Bollywood feel to it... not only is it a twisted version of real life, on speed, but its an idealized Indian/Western version at that. Bahal uses the 2nd person while writing the book, and while at first annoying it eventually has its impact. In some ways, the second person perspective gives the book a slightly psychedelic feel, although in the beginning it felt derivative of something else, perhaps Complicity by Iain Banks. Despite any flaws, or lack of Indian flavor Bunker 13 is nothing but a literary version of a high end Hollywood action film. Thinking too much spoils the fun, and the plot twists at the end are so wild that nobody could anticipate them. Instead, the reader should sit down, pour a drink, and just enjoy the ride. Its dark, fast, fun and not easily forgotten!
Rating: Summary: Twisted Thriller: Real Nail Biter with a crazy ending Review: I had met the author on one of his visits to New York and he had mentioned about writing this book. I kept in touch with him, and actually got to go through an advanced copy of it too. The book starts out tight and only gets tighter page by page. Reads like your typical Tom Clancy thriller, with good action, descriptive but not boring .. enough of a pace to keep you hooked and glued ... but the real twist comes in the end. The end just leaves you gasping for air at the audacity of the whole plot. The story is contextual to India and Kashmir, so i would suggest getting a brief overview of the nationalistic rivalry in that part of the world (much like the happenings between the Serbs and Croats) to really and truly appreciate the wonderful insanity of this book. Also makes you question your perspectives on nationalism and what it means to be patriotic .. but then thats too deep a topic for this book. This is a true blue nail-biter of an action thriller. Overall, an awesome read that i just cant seem to get out of my mind ...
Rating: Summary: Wild & Messy Indian Thriller Review: Indian investigative journalist Bahal's fictional debut stars MM, an anti-hero investigative journalist who covers military affairs for a fledgling weekly magazine. The roller-coaster of a thriller starts off with MM on an undercover assignment with Indian army paratroopers in Kashmir. Before the reader knows it, the story is knee-deep in corruption, as he discovers an elite unit siphoning off captured weapons and drugs to sell on the international market. With this as the background for gripping set pieces of jungle patrol against the "Mossies" (Kashmiri guerillas), shooting heroin while parachuting, plus loads of recreational drug use and three exceedingly explicit sex scenes, the book rockets along at a furious pace. However, that's just the tip of the iceberg, as it is quickly revealed that the crusading journalist also works for Indian intelligence. Bahal works hard to keep the reader guessing as to MM's true motivation: is he really a righteous journalist who hates corruption, or is he an Indian James Bond looking to take down India's enemies, or is he a recklessly brilliant hedonist who's playing both sides against the middle, or is he all of these, or maybe none? The second-person perspective writing helps to blur matters, but careful readers will pick up on one clue early on that may provide the answer. The overall tone is very hard to describe. Loaded with military jargon, acronyms, weapon specifications, and machinations, the book reads at times like a subcontinental Tom Clancy. Yet the corruption angle and black humor is very reminiscent of Robert O'Connor's excellent novel Buffalo Soldiers, whose plotline also features military drug smuggling, or even the classic military satire Catch-22. However, there's also a wacky Elmore Leonardish feel to it as well, with loads of kooky memorable characters, scathing humor, and wild heist schemes. At the same time, each set piece is vivid and believable, from Mm's visit to the Russian mafia, to the office politics of his magazine, to a giant rave, to the spooky final battle scene in Kashmir. As the book rockets along and the stakes grow higher and higher with each fresh twist, it somehow gets rather exhausting. The second person voice grows old fast, and under Bahal's breakneck pace some of the satire is left behind and the book becomes more of a straightforward thriller. Crammed with action, the pace is relentless enough, however, to largely divert one's attention from the outlandishness of it all. It's a fun read, and a refreshing break from the tidal wave of measured highbrow fiction coming from India over the last decade. American readers may want to do a tiny bit of background reading on the Kashmiri conflict beforehand, as Bahal assumes readership familiarity with the main gist of it.
Rating: Summary: Don't pass up on this book, you'll regret it! Review: This is the best thriller I have read in a long time. Picture Hunter S Thompson writing Catch 22, that's how funny and ferocious this book is. This book is about a dangerous game of double dealing and an anti-hero that layers identity on identity. MM is a defence journalist but has an agenda of his own, and with Spider Jerusalem-like vehemence he takes on everybody that stands in his way. Saying more about the story would be giving it away, go and read it for yourself, you wont be disappointed. Here are a few tasters though: free-falling while shooting heroin, spies and mobsters, rogue army units and nuclear arms-heists, stingers and mp5's, swastika shaped pubes and kinky sex, chemical torture and Jihad. Do I really have to go on?
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