Sneak Peek into Kunal Marathe's "The Internet Sensation"

I got a chance to read few unedited chapters of renowned author Kunal Marathe’s soon to release book “The Internet Sensation”. Well, friendship does give you few favours indeed. I am really grateful to Kunal for considering me for this privilege.

“The Internet Sensation” is a coming of age crime thriller. It revolves around the normal day-to-day life of a college student, his dreams, his love interest and his perceptions about different facets of life. The story gets a kick-start when the protagonist commits suicide in the very beginning of the book. Kunal has chosen the second lead i.e. the protagonist’s best friend, as the narrator. He narrates the story of his best friend to the investigating officer and that is how the cards unfold.

The prologue of the book is mind-boggling. Totally raw, crude and unexpected…! Even the opening sequence of the main story is relatively blunt. People with soft heart and mind may take a little longer to get used to this style of story-telling. But, that is what appealed me the most. It is time we quit sugar-coating ourselves and come in terms with the reality of life. And “The Internet Sensation” could be the perfect start for such people who are actually looking towards it. The title itself justifies the story and narration since Kunal has chosen the sensational art of story-telling.

The sample chapters of “The Internet Sensation” have left me craving for more. I cannot wait to read this story as a whole. Let us see, what more Kunal has to offer in this wonderful crime thriller.

Best of Luck, Kunal!

Book Review: 'DNA... Dad's Not Adopted' by Shikha Kaul

Let us admit that we Indians don’t have that much affinity for paperback thrillers. Love and Romance tops all the genres. Perhaps the oppressed feelings of young Indian souls find solace in their I-wish-it-happened-to-me type of romance fictions.

That has always been a bad sign for other genres including thrillers. It takes guts to be an upstream sailor. And Ms. Shikha Kaul has done that with her stupendous book “DNA… Dad’s Not Adopted”

About the Author

A graduate with Honours in Physics and a P.G. in HR, Ms. Shikha Kaul is a doting mother and wife. She loves books of all genres and writing gives her the peace of mind.

Ms. Kaul has been the winner of “Author of the Year” award by Salis Online Magazine for her debut novel ‘Hidden Husband’.

Storyline and Plot Structure

“DNA…” is basically an investigation and court-room drama. There is an allegation which unfortunately leads to the murder of the plaintiff. And a normal case of legal heir becomes a murder mystery. As the story goes, a Thai national claims to be the daughter of an Indian business tycoon. The man denies and a case is filed. The trial goes on and just when both the parties agree on a settlement, the girl is killed. Her murder leads to the unraveling of series of secrets being hidden for years which question the bond of family and friends. The storyline is riveting and almost every paragraph is connected to its successor leading the story from one stage to another.

The story is full of thrills as per the demand of the genre. A murder mystery in its true sense, almost every second page brings a new phase in the consequences and the turn of events leaves the readers dumbfounded. An insight in the high-profile life of affluent class and the mechanism of media and police is very interesting.

The entire story is divided in four sub-plots as in ‘The Murder’, ‘Thailand’, ‘The Past’ and ‘The Trial’ and the chapters has been allotted accordingly. The division of the plot makes it easier to grasp the story and connect the links. I appreciate Ms. Kaul’s effort in such a meticulous creation of the plot and such a proper configuration. It surely makes the reading more enjoyable.

Narration and Dialogues

Narration of ‘DNA…’ is lucid. It is emphatic and fluent. The shift of narration is diverse and unique simultaneously, which is itself quite an achievement and I congratulate Ms. Kaul for this. Monologues and soliloquies are part of the confessions during the investigations in the story and they often lay foundation for the scenes and dialogues. Half of the story moves in the form of confession and after that the main events follow.

As I stated earlier, there is uniqueness in the diversification of ‘DNA…’ and dialogues form a major part of it. The dialogues are witty, romantic, intricate and amusing. They are fluent and just. The dialogues provide an articulate insight of the lives of the people involved. Another prowess of Ms. Kaul certainly!

Characterization

The main point about any thriller is the power of the story. The story of a thriller is so much powerful in itself that it leaves little room for the development of any particular character. In a thriller, the story itself becomes the protagonist and shadows even the main character. Only exceptions are the spy novels, where the spy characters become equivalent with the story. In such a scenario, it really becomes tough to create and develop such characters which could be remembered once the book is finished. But hats off to Ms. Kaul who successfully created such characters which turn out to be equally prominent with the story! There are more than one central characters in this novel and Rishabh Shenoy is one of them. He is an Indian business tycoon who finds himself dragged into an unwanted legal whirlwind. He is sensitive yet smart and professional both in his personal and business life. After leading a life of a playboy in his youth, he obediently surrenders towards family goals. Nisa Yuen is a Thai national who is innocent and just. People with soft cord may easily develop affection for her. Ghazal is a journalist who alongwith CBI Officer Pranab embarks on the journey of unraveling the murder mystery of Nisa. Ghazal is very smart and commanding in her professional life but very sensitive and lovelorn in her personal life. Pranab plays the role of a commanding authority both in her professional and personal life.

One more thing, which is quite commendable in this murder mystery, is the frame of the characters. Pratibha Shenoy, Krittika Shenoy, Anusha Shenoy and Balbir are the minor characters BUT they play very important roles in this story. Even the character of Mr. Sadashiv Shenoy, who is already dead long ago, plays a pivotal role in the story. The way their roles have been interconnected and configured in the story, marvelous would be simply unjust to comment. Characterization is certainly strong point of Ms. Kaul’s writing.

Treatment of Love and Romance

In this outstanding thriller by Ms. Kaul, love plays a significant role. The love-life of the protagonist Rishabh Shenoy creates all the mysteries. Besides, there is a love story of a cop and a journalist which proliferates simultaneously with the mysteries. Now here comes the point where I beg to differ from Ms. Kaul. The love-story of Ghazal and Pranab germinates and grows like teenagers. There seems a lack of mature concerns. The lady seems confused at first. But later, when she finally discovers her true feelings, she behaves as ecstatic as a sixteen year old. The man, on the other hand, gets smitten by the beauty of the lady. Normally when you attain a certain age you become able to see beyond the outer beauty of any person. That is the age when the intelligence, maturity and inner grace attract more than a lovely face. This facet of love was very new for me. Perhaps, Ms. Kaul tried to do some experiments with love. And the interesting fact of this experiment is it can be both amusing and distasteful depending on the readers’ perspective. I can perceive that this facet of love could prove to be more interesting to a number of readers.

The Climax

It is the climax of any thriller which makes it memorable for any reader. The tension, unpredictability, the consequences and the concluding part are the ingredients which garnish the climax. The writing prowess of Ms. Kaul reaches its epitome in the climax of ‘DNA…’. It is as racy and unpredictable as it could be. I was literally biting my nails while reading the anti climax and when the mystery unfolded in climax, it was equally mind-boggling. I salute Ms. Kaul for such an amazing story and equally amazing climax.

‘DNA… Dad’s not adopted’ can be read and read once again. And it can be read one more time. And even if you read it so many times that you almost by-heart all the scenes and the dialogues, it can be read once again. So, if you love thrillers, ‘DNA…’ is your cup of tea. And even if you don’t love thrillers, ‘DNA…’ can make you go crazy about it. 

Norman Bates.... And what is next...???

Norman Bates was completely under his mother’s influence. His mother Norma Bates taught him that being a woman is a sin but she herself is the holiest woman. She taught him to hate all women on the planet. He loved her mother dearly but hated every female except her. Not to be mentioned that Norma Bates had turned psycho due to unsuccessful love and Norman Bates inherited this psychotic nature from his mother. Later Norma found a man who loved her truly. Her mind changed but this relation was not welcomed by the teenager Norman. One day he murdered both of them but guilt overpowered him. He burnt his Step Dad’s corpse but preserved his mother’s and assumed that she couldn’t die. Norma was a strong woman and Norman couldn’t believe that she died of his hands.

From here the bloody game started…

Norman never believed that his mother was dead. And he always remembered what she had told him about other women. Thereafter, dramatically a serial murder of females started in the city. A woman dressed in long robe with a knife in her hands would plunge the dagger bringing the captive to death. The police went on heels but never found that woman. Connecting the links, it was discovered that all women murdered, happened to be either Norman’s girlfriends or acquaintances. Norman was arrested and he gave his statement that it was actually his mother who was doing all this murders. He told the police that every night his mother’s spirit leaves her body and enters his and commits all the murders. Norman was diagnosed as a victim of DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER. He was mentally ill and assumed that actually his soul was under his dead mother’s dominance who directed all the murders. Norman was jailed and sent to mental hospital. But he escaped thrice from the mental hospital and twice from the jail. The concept of escape via toilet or gutter was first seen in the case of Norman Bates. Later he was spotted outside city and the police preferred to encounter him rather than arresting that enemy of women…

Robert Bloch, the creator of Norman Bates, came forward to declare it a complete fiction when the women had developed a dead fear for handsome guys. Norman Bates was deadly handsome and charming. He was soft-spoken and cool minded. He used his nature to lure women and then bring them to death. Norman Bates is considered one of the deadliest devils after Dracula. However, Dracula being a vampire was assumed a myth by one and all but Norman Bates was never understood the same. Norman Bates inspired a number of movies and stories. He is considered to be the first psycho killer of fiction world. Many characters of Indian Cinema were inspired from Norman Bates. Rahul Mehra, the central character of the movie Darr played by Shahrukh Khan was highly inspired by Norman Bates. Exception only coming the way was the motive of love and grudge. In the movie, the motive was psychotic love unlike the grudge of Norman Bates. The role played by Kajol in the movie Gupt was more or less similar. The escape from jail via gutters also came from Norman Bates’ unmatchable mind. Norman Bates was the man who created terror amongst women. No matter how many declarations Robert Bloch made to clarify the fictional existence of Norman Bates, it is still considered that Norman Bates lived once, the name being different.

It is still a question whether Norman Bates was actually fiction….????

I discovered all these facts while I was doing some research for the villain of my novel “The Untrodden Ways”. I had to make the villain deadliest of all. And I can say now, that Indian fiction has not seen any such psycho villain as mine, recently. In case of Norman Bates, the grudge was against females, in case of “The Untrodden Ways”, the grudge is against scientists…