Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Book Review: SIRENS SPELL DANGER - 3 Thrillers by 3 Authors



Sirens Spell Danger 
By 
C.Suresh, Radha Sawana & Karthik L



The Blurb

There are sirens and, then, there are sirens. Some warn you of danger and some lure you into danger...Lured by a sexy siren, Vicky is mistaken for a secret agent, kidnapped, tortured and slated for death. Will he survive and save Bangalore from going up in flames?...There is a serial killer loose in the city leaving mysterious messages around the bodies of the victims. Are the messages a challenge to the police or a siren call to lure another victim...Jay is sent to Bellary to investigate a possible ISI plot. Was it merely a murky political plot or was there something more sinister in the offing? And why were two women suddenly singing siren songs of love?...Three tales of nerve-racking suspense and pulse-pounding action.

MY REVIEW

This book consists of three stories that have been written by different authors – Suresh C, Radha Sawana & Karthik L. The common touch is the sirens who lure the protagonists into danger. Are they what they appear to be? 

Femme Fatale by Suresh C

The story is about Vikram who goes to Bangalore for an interview. He doesn’t bother to attend it when his mother calls him to say that he has been selected for IPS. Celebrating at a bar, he gets attracted to the gorgeous Tanya who leads him on a wild goose chase. Vikram lands in trouble – big time.

The story is fast-paced and takes you on a crazy ride as Vikram keeps getting into situations. Who is Tanya? Why is she leading him on? Why does he trust her despite the problems she creates in his life? You have to read the full story to find out.

I liked the narration and style of Suresh’s way of story-telling. My eyes rushed over the lines trying to find out what happens next. The situations and characters are quite believable and interestingly fleshed out. It’s definitely worth a read.

I have one peeve though. Right at the beginning, over the first 2-3 pages I noticed a number of words that have been oft-repeated. Case in point – “ogle”. Some of the sentences could have been better framed, definitely. It calls for better editing. The similes used are not very relatable. 

I will go with 3.5 stars for this story. 

Bella Dona by Radha Sawana

This story begins with a bang – a murder, no less. Inspector Shardul Reham is at a loss to understand how the dead body happens to be where it is. The man is a rich industrialist. Why would he book himself into a shady hotel? 

The post mortem does not come up with all the answers. Soon, the head of the forensic department, Rajinder Sharma, connects this murder to another that had occurred under similar circumstances. Where they on to a serial killer?

Sharma’s assistant Girish is intelligent and good at his job. But that still does not stop the next couple of murders from being committed. Shardul is desperate to find the killer. Will he be in time to stop the next murder?

The murder mystery by Radha Sawana is fast-paced and well-narrated. I enjoyed reading the book that almost drove me to tears at the pathos behind the murders. It makes one feel that the murderer is justified. A very well thought out plot that’s been neatly put together. The language is also very good. 

Just one complaint – I see that the author is a chemistry expert. So a story based on the subject is perfect. But this is a work of fiction. I love to read fiction and am quite picky about how it is presented. I liked the description about ‘atropos’, etc. even if some of them were repeated. But I draw the line at a Google search result with a lot of chemical formulae. It takes the joy away from reading the story. I hope the author makes note of this point and adapts it in her next work. I do look forward to reading her future works. 

Another point that I noted – not a sin, but a mite surprising! The story is set where? In which city or town or country? 

I will go with 3.5 stars for Bella Dona by Radha Sawana. 

Bellary by Karthik L

Jay is an Intelligence Bureau agent who is sent on an assignment to Bellary. His boss Vasu had given Jay clear instructions on saving a situation that is to occur on the 25th. 

First he meets Shenaya and later Ruksana. Both the women land Jay in trouble, even jail. Were they out to stop him from completing his assignment? You will have to read the story to find out whether Jay is successful in his venture.

I was surprised by the strange twist in the story is to say the least. It makes for an interesting read as the author works around the plot, making it suitable for 21st century reading. 

While the language Karthik uses is very good, the book needs to be edited thoroughly. 

I will go with 3 stars for Bellary by Karthik L.

Buy it @

Meet the Authors

C. Suresh
(Femme Fatale)

Fiction has been an addiction but the need to make a living took Suresh through Chemical Engineering and an MBA at IIM-Bangalore and, from thence, to a long 16 year stint in the area of finance with specific expertise in fertilizer subsidies and a further two years as consulting expert in the same area. That, in his words, about sums up the boring part of his life, except for the people he was privileged to meet.

Otherwise, he can be described as a mess of contradictions – a bookworm but avid trekker; alone but never lonely; enjoys solitude but loves company; lazy but a perfectionist, the litany is endless. Trekking, which side-tracked him from the writing for which he quit his job, is a major passion and he does, at least, one trek in the Himalayas every year in addition to numerous local treks.

He reignited his passion for writing with a fairly popular blog www.jambudweepam.blogspot.in and, currently, also has a short story – A Path of Thorns - published in a collection “Uff Ye Emotions”. His short stories The Gates of Hell and Yesterdays and Tomorrows have won contests. You can read a sampling of his fiction here.

Stalk him @
               



Radha Sawana
(Bella Donna)

Radha Sawana is part secretive, part playful, part ambitious, part indolent, and as a result, completely confused. She has been a bookworm as long as she can remember, and so it came as no surprise to her when suddenly the thought of starting her own blog occurred to her. Thus, in the 4th year of her education at BITS Pilani, she started her blog ‘Entropy’, the name paying homage to her subject of specialization – chemistry. 

Entropy began with random thoughts from her mind and before she realized it, she had started writing short stories too. Her first stories – The Late Goodbye and 48 Hours – are widely loved. Her personal favourite on her blog is her still untitled collection of three short pieces called Harakiri, Saisei and Wind. She is currently writing a seven-part story called Seven 

Stalk her @

               

Karthik L



Karthik, a management consultant by profession, has always had fondness for stories from his early childhood when he used to keenly listen to stories told by his grandfather. Over the next twenty five years, he has been voraciously consuming fiction starting with Enid Blyton and moving on to Arthur Conan Doyle and then Isaac Asimov. One fine day he decided he had heard enough stories and he start telling them instead and so he started his blog ‘Lucifer House Inc.’ in 2008. He has been continuously striving to entertain his readers through his blog posts over 5 years, winning some blogger awards as well in the process. The blog has a Google page rank of 3 and figures in the Top Indian blogs directory.

Do click on these links to check out some of his short stories.


One of his stories ‘Nootropic Egress’ won the best story award under science fiction category in a story telling contest and was published in the multi-genre anthology ‘Ten Shades of Life’. He has recently started another blog ‘Three Realms of the Mind’ to share his passion for his three favorite fiction genres – science fiction, fantasy and historic fiction with the rest of the world. He dreams of being a bestselling author in one of these genres. Last but not the least, he shares alma maters (IIT and IIM) with some of the most popular contemporary Indian authors and hopes he can share their success in garnering readers as well.
You can Stalk him @



               





Blog Tour Schedule
(19th Jan- 25th Jan 2014)

19th January '14
Sonia Rao (Spotlight)

19th January '14
Rubina Ramesh (Spotlight/ Review)

20th January '14
Janaki Nagaraj (Review)

21 st January '14
Byrappa (Spotlight)

21 st January '14

22nd January '14
Sridevi Datta (Spotlight)

22nd January '14
Jaibala Rao (Review/ Interview)

23rd January '14
Ruchi Vasudeva (Review / Interview)

24th January '14
From the Heart - Neel

25th January '14 (Review)
Dola Basu Singh
Shiuli

25th January '14 (Interview)
The Tales Pensieve







6 comments:

  1. Thanks Sundari for this great review

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice review Sundari...I agree with you on all points.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Janu,
      thank you for visiting my blog and posting a comment.
      I am glad you like my review :)

      Delete
  3. hmm interesting stories. Your points are superbly put. Hope to read them myself soon.

    ReplyDelete