Author

Suresh Chandrasekaran, Radha Sawana, Karthik L

Date

December 29, 2013

Final Verdict

 4/5

About the Author

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.

Radha Sawana is part secretive, part playful, part ambitious, part indolent, and as a result, completely confused. She has been a bookworm as far as she can remember, and so it came as no surprise to her when suddenly the thought of starting her own blog occurred her. Thus, in the 4th year of her education in BITS Pilani, she started her blog ‘Entropy’, the name paying homage to her subject of specialization – chemistry. Entropy began with the random thoughts of her mind and before she realized it, she had started writing short stories too. Her first stories – The Late Goodbye and 48 Hours – were widely loved. Her personal favourite on her blog is her still untitled collection of three short pieces called Harakiri, Saisei and Wind.

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 been 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.

Book Review: Sirens Spell Danger

A review of Sirens Spell Danger By C. Suresh, Radha Sawana, and Karthik L

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The Blurb of Sirens Spell Danger

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

A huge fan of crime thrillers and spy books, I started reading Sirens Spell Danger with great anticipation, and it did not disappoint. Three short stories written by three bloggers, a sure recipe for disaster one may think. But what it is actually is an interesting read from start to end.

Femme Fatale is a story about an individual trapped by a beautiful woman and drawn into a terrorist plot. C. Suresh writes a very fast-paced thriller, with great action and plot twists at every turn. Although at some of the story is quite predictable, Suresh manages to hold your interest till the very end. But I feel that the story could be better with a little more editing.

With Belladonna, Radha Sawana tells the story of a serial killer. The thoughts of the killer, the manner of committing the crime, the science behind the crime, and the mythological references are all done in a manner that makes the reader want to read more, and know more. At no point does the story become monotonous or boring? The story is anything but predictable and the twist comes as a surprise. The climax is extremely well-written.

Karthik L writes Bellary, which is the story of a RAW agent sent to investigate, suspicious happenings in the mining town of Bellary. Two women he meets during the course of the journey have an impact on how the story progresses. The twist, in the end, is something that no one can predict.

Sirens Spell Danger did live up to my expectations. All three authors have made a great debut and I am looking forward to reading more from them.