Author – Aarti V. Raman Genre – Chick list Price – Rs. 299
Synopsis – It’s a story about Krivi Iyer a former spy and bomb defusal expert who needs to settle some scores with an unstable bomber known as The Woodpecker and Ziya Maarten, who is alleged to be the sister of The Woodpecker. The novel is set amidst the backdrop of beautiful Kashmir, Ladakh and Tibet where the two main characters meets and the story unfolds. His quest to find his enemy leads Krivi to Srinagar in Kashmir where he meets Ziya who runs a small business known as ‘Goonj Business Enterprises’ as its manager. Krivi thinks that he will be able to reach his enemy through Ziya and in this context befriends her, just to find out that she is not his sister but just a beautiful distraction, which is leading him away from his mission. In course of time Ziya discovers Krivi’s past the two of them come to a point where they have to decide whether they should let the darkness of their past keep them away from each other. On the other hand Ziya herself has a thirst for vengeance that she has been hiding, which scars her heart as well.
It is quite an interesting read, especially for those who love spy stories with elements of romance here and there. While reading this book you will also get a feeling that it’s a romance novel, on the likes of romantic authors like Harlequin and Mills & Boons, but in reality it may not be totally true. Initially you would expect it to be an easy and fluffy read, which voracious readers could finish in one day, but you are disappointed when you start progressing as the book is filled with technical details and heartbreak. It begins with a thud where the hero rescues a kidnapped teenager but then onwards it moves quite steadily and at times even becomes slow. Giving too much detail would spoil your reading experience but it would suffice to say that it will be an interesting one time read.