The Child of Misfortune - Review

Book: The child of Misfortune
Author: Soumitra Singh

ISBN: 9789382299929
Pages: 327
Ratings: 4/5
Price: 350

Something from the Book

‘You never ask someone to play chess Amar,’ his father called out from his side of the drawing room. ‘You challenge them to it.’

It rarely happens that I read a book, finish it and then post the review right away. But ‘The child of Misfortune’ by Soumitra Singh compelled me to do so – my way of showing the book the amount of appreciation it deserves. The Child of Misfortune is the first of his work that I came across, thanks to Blogadda and it has totally made me a fan of his words. The book is about two friends Amar and Jonah who loved the game of chess in childhood, but growing up their life also turned out to be as complicated as this age old game. The story is a geopolitical thriller that takes you on an intense journey revolving around terrorism, politics and financial dark zone, covering places from Mumbai to Kashmir to Korea to London.  The soul of the book is definitely the friend – enemy relationship between the protagonists, but it has so much more to it than that!

The book features dual protagonists, both very well sketched. The characters are smart, dark, complicated and very strong. Content of the book is fresh and rich and the author don’t flinch before crossing the grey limits. The book is also very well researched, unlike a lot of books that come up these days. From hacking to off shore account setups,  from drugs to politics the book explores each dimension carefully and gives us enough intricate insights to understand all of it. There are many characters in the book; some made me feel they were under used but in the retrospection I guess the role plays were all adequate. The book is a definite break through to thrillers by an Indian author.

Pros:

1.    The content – It is fresh and at the same time relatable. Often thrillers tend to ooze the sense of fiction aka not possible in reality; but Soumitra Singh saw to it that this 327 page roller coaster felt authentic like some real life incident, as closely as possible.

2.   The protagonists – The more I think of their brilliance the less words I get. They were just perfect. Jonah was a mixture of Tyrion Lannister and Jaime Lannister (If you know what I mean!)

3.   Well Researched – It is always a pleasure to read a well-researched work, than read a piece of fiction that isn’t make-believe  or makes you say I wish this world or these people were true atleast a 100 time.

4.   Drama not meant to be drama – The book has full scope of being made into movies, cause that is what is happening these days in India. But nowhere did I feel  that the content of the book was shaped as Bollywood desert.

5.   Pace – I finished the book in 2 days by staying up one night till 3:00 am! It is indulging and fast paced and yes – you would not want to put it down! :D

Cons :

1.    Too many characters and some I wanted to see more! *greedy me speaking but yes this was a con according to me*

2.   The end, it was a bit rushed and I wasn’t really happy. Though it did make sense, there were more feasible choices. It was like Abhishek Bachchan dying in “Dus”, if only he had heard of Auto Pilot or Dark Knight Rises had released back then. Not Author’s fault again – it was strong what happens, but I would have liked it to be different.

All and all a must read! Do not let this book slip out of your to read list. The contemporary topics and awesome characters totally get a 4 on 5 from me, 1 point out cause of the ending that left me repeating the word “Why?” It is a no nonsense page turner and will have a command over you when you start, so beware. Enjoyed it thoroughly and looking forward to more stories from the author. 

To know more about the book please visit -  www.soumitrasingh.com

P.S. - This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!