MUMBAISTAN SERIES
COMPASS BOX KILLER by PIYUSH JHA
AN INSPECTOR VIRKAR CRIME THRILLER— a policeman one wishes every city had.
I was very curious to read COMPASS BOX KILLER and thanks to Piyush Jha that he made it readily available. I love thrillers and thus was gung-ho to read another one in the same league.
FIRST IMPRESSION: The title appealed to me and the first two words took me back to the times of the geometry classes. I was never fond of mathematics but geometry and the varied shapes were fun. I still remember my first geometry box (a combination of orange and black).
So what was up to be devoured?
Would the triangles and the squares come around useful in tracking the killer or would there be a killer using the accessories of the compass box as a weapon? The imaginations meandered around expectations….
The last offering from the author was Mumbaistan and it was a racy-pacy pack of three novellas. One of its protagonist, Inspector Virkar was impressive in there. The author has carried forward Mumbaistan and Virkar’s legacy. The first in the series is already makes raves all around.
COVER PAGE: The cop stands tall and strong above the city of MUMBAI. A splash of red in the middle of the page openly talks of blood and murder in the pages within and yellow makes it all vibrant. All in all, its good.
BLURB : It skillfully gives a crisp reflection of the story. There is a murder to begin with and then number of killings to look forward to. Our dear inspector Virkar is all geared up to pull back the whole story of shock and revelations.
STORY : The murderous play begins in the house of the crime-deterrents. It is carried out articulately and scientifically. The message comes across bold and clear, the killer is well-prepared. Virkar is fast to react but fails to prevent the second in the league. This time we know the killer is on a spree to end lives. The reporter Raashi Hunerwala interferes, intervenes in the investigation and plays around with her media tricks but the next game of blood cannot be averted by any of them, be it the Inspector or the reporter. By this time, the reader is neck deep into the story and cannot stop turning pages. The eagerness to connect the dots rises and know the loose ends come forth aggressively. To our solace, there is a convincing story with usual doses of bumps and rides. Till the last page the readers remain hooked to this one-on -one play between the Compass box killer and the Inspector.
THUMPS UP: The clues were interesting and the murders were flawlessly planned. Compass box killer was too good in his job at hand. Virkar is impressive as always. The pace of the story keeps boredom off it all along. The characters are neatly etched out. The story is put up in absolutely free flowing language, thus making it an easy and breezy read. It justifies the genre of crime- thriller and lives up to the literal meaning of unputdownable, once you begin, you wanna lay it off only when its done till the last page.
THUMPS DOWN — Comparing it with the author’s last work MUMBAISTAN, makes me say that this one was a little low on energy. Raashi Hunerwal and her acts seemed predictable and failed to add charm to the story. The end needed more of thrill and shrill, it ended peacefully.
LAST SAY: It has come out like a great movie and I am glad that I saw it through the weave of words.
SMILEYS WON: 🙂 🙂 🙂
Happy Reading!!!
Happy Blogging!!!
