Book Review- When The Snow Melts

Let me begin with apologizing to the Blogadda team for not having submitted the review within the stipulated time. Somehow Blogger hasn’t been working and that’s why I haven’t been able to post much. Also MBA has left me majorly caught up. SORRY for the inconvenience guys. :(

Overview of the book:

A spook!
His lady-love!
The al Qaeda!

The tale of a man caught between Love, duty, and a gruesome death at the hands of his captors!

Veteran spook Ritwik Kumar is sent by the Indian government to the Intelligence Assessment Group (IAG) in London, where intelligence agents from all over the world work together to fight global terrorism. The IAG has a few pet projects. Nabbing Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar is one. Purging Pakistan’s secret service agency, the ISI, of rogue elements and fundamentalists, is another.

Despite years of working in Central Asia and Afganistan, things don’t go well for Ritwik at the IAG. Addiction to alcohol and gambling drive him to borrow heavily from loan sharks and even misappropriate office funds. When Ritwik’s senior officer, General West, gives him only a fortnight to return the money he has stolen, Ritwik defects to the al Qaeda. But he is a man who doesn’t easily fall in line and doesn’t share al Qaeda’s ideology.

Events take a turn for the worse not only for Ritwik but also for all those who come in contact with him. Even the beautiful Nilofer, who is married to the al Qaeda fanatic and one-man army Junaid, is not spared.

Know the Author:

Born in Kerala, Vinod Joseph is a Mumbai-based lawyer. Apart from corporate and banking law that keeps him busy, he is a keen long-distance runner, wine taster, and cricket- and film-aficionado. Vinod hones his story-telling skills by making up bed-time stories for his five-year-old daughter.

My Take:

When The Snow Melts, starts is a suspense thriller with so many different angles, that the reader can’t help but thinking if he’s still on the right track. The first half of the book is slow and I have to say a part of me lost interest when the description of the surroundings were given a lot of importance, which didn’t seem relevant. But in the second half, it grows interesting with all the plots forming shape and secrets being revealed.

Vinod Joseph has done a good job with this book and all the while I was reading it, I was on the edge. There were many instances where I presumed the situation differently, but was in for a surprise. The narration style is good but certain references leave you confused, which I thought could be avoided. Also the monotony gets to you!

The story begins with the main character- Ritwik getting into debt, followed by loan sharks and then defecting to the al Qaeda for safety. All this sounds easy, but NO! It’s actually quite confusing, because you don’t really know how the story builds up.  Often, you feel like a lot’s happening at one go and you’re trying to fix your mind for a proper conclusion. Secret messages, spies, diplomats, new places, new characters and a series of activities are a part of this roller-coaster ride.

Interestingly, I was amazed at the behavior of the diplomats. They’re essence has been truly captured by the author and we feel a connect-disconnect with their thoughts and actions. It’s all about pretending, spying and getting information for the right people, keeping the rest informed on just a ‘need-to-know’ basis.

The intensity between Ritwik and Nilofer, the wife of an Al Qaeda spook is great. Ritwik falls in love with her when he sees her without the burkha and plans to rescue her from her husband. But hey, there’s a twist here too!

This book is definitely different from the recent love stories genre, which is a relief. It has the right amount of suspense, spice and twists to keep the reader fixed right till the end. You can totally tell the author has given a lot of thought before writing this book to make it a crisp read. All in all, I think it’s a one-time decent read.

Rating- 2.5/5

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