Book Review: Black Sol-Vengeance in the heart of deceit
This book is the First of the Mihir thriller series set in India's beautiful and scenic northeast. An adrenaline spiker and an engaging thriller that keeps you hooked up till the end. If you are an adult and an adrenaline junkie looking for some well-planned reconnaissance, daring hostage rescues, and unconventional warfare making your adrenaline gush out, then the Mihir series is the best one.
Summary
The book starts with a prologue dated 12 January 2018, which paves the way for the story to unfold. It describes a heinous incident with a girl. The author uses an explicit literary skill to introduce characters in the advancing pages. With each lesson, a new character and a new suspense unfolds that keeps the reader engaged and guessing. In my experience, I started with Sneha, who met the fateful incident of rape and died. The opening chapter carried us to the far Northeast, where a very vigilant and sharp army officer Chris was on a mission to meet his source and was unfortunately killed, leaving me guessing how such an army officer be involved in a rape case. The main character, Major Mihir Pratap Singh, brother of Sneha and an ex-PARA SF with 3 shaurya chakra and bar, and sena medal, was introduced here and portrayed as a regretful and regressed person full of rage and anger.
Along this storyline, many more stories were unfolded chapterwise, like the Kankan-Maymunah; Chris Unit in the Northeast; goon raj with girls called Silki and Naomi, Mwhaay, Monster, and Maalik from Lal Bangla; Tuhin Khanna-CEO of human resource firm; and Gene, Chris's wife which was explicitly woven to maintain the thrill throughout the pages till the end.
The death of the army officer Chris brought Mihir to his unit in the Northeast, and he started investigating the case, which brought him to a dead child's grave called Islam Khan, where he discovered his diary. Further probing into this diary's contents with Lt. Col. Sumer and Col. Randhawa, with his map reading skills, unlocked the grid reference codes. Meanwhile, he saved Assistant Sub-Inspection Gogoi's life, who was searching for Maymunah and Kankan. Helping him, in this case, brought Mihir into the limelight of the Goon Raj there, who started tracking him. Combat-ready Mihir successfully overrode their traps, landing in their warehouse where he explored the 10-parked trucks unfolding the real mystery.
"Mihir stepped on to one of the thicker trunks and stretched his arms till his hands caught the tip of the compound wall."
This discovery opened the doors of real thrill between the Major and the mysteries of Chris's Diary.
"Mihir turned towards the trucks. They were 10 in all.......then 3 feet from the front end of the container, there was a break in the metal- so minute that it was easily missed by the naked eye......As Mihir held the knob and pressed it down....he opened it wide.....was shocked by what he saw.....Stepping back, Mihir took a couple of snaps, tagged his pin location and sent it to ASI Gogoi......Mihir gave the location of the warehouse he had been to....said Sumer.....it is the third grid reference from the top in the diary."
By this time, the whole scene was understood, however, the author continued a few more chapters answering the secrets of Gene and Maalik the politician behind all these heinous acts. I think these chapters could have been more interesting if the author had mingled the discovery of Maymunah and the Gene and the Maalik together going in one go.
In my opinion, the author wisely introduced important characters in short chapters in the beginning before indulging in the investigation, and once the investigation started, connecting the old dots was quite easy, giving the reader full freedom to image and experience the swift moves of Major Mihir and his team as if live motion picture in reeling. The first of the Mihir series is so interesting that I feel others would be even more interesting.
However, I feel Mymunah, being a teenager, believed everything and accepted whatever was happening. Teenagers are impulsive and inquisitive. She should have smelled fishiness when she discovered herself in the dim cell, and then things immediately changed. In addition to this, she should have tried a few times when she discovered she was in the trap. Further, the attitude of Inspector Sarma from Razak police station was corrupted, which could have been further emphasised with gifts and other rewards from the goons. A negotiated deal before destroying the evidence would have portrayed him as a villain. Thirdly, the phone conversation between Mihir and Maalik to abandon the case and go back also felt less impressive. Mihir was fine. However, I was looking for a more illusive collaborative deal that Mihir could accept, but he rejected it because friendship meant a lot to him.
Overall, a good turnover of events and wise play of characters keeps the reader engaged throughout the pages, expecting yet another unfolding as we walk through the lines.
Rating: 4.5-4.8/5
Author: Sachin Warty is a retired colonel of the Indian Armed Forces, having the privilege of commanding the celebrated 230-year-old armoured regiment, Deccan Horse. He is currently the director of the Schools of the Army Welfare Education Society, which runs 356 schools and 12 colleges in India.
A third-generation army officer with more than 31 years in uniform making him an insightful veteran filled with a unique perspective of the physical and cultural diversity of our country.
After hanging up his spurs, he took inspiration from his grand-uncle, Dr. A. W. Warty and continued the literary tradition with Black Sol which is the first book in the Mihir thriller series.
Along with authorship he also dons creative artistic potency in watercolour, charcoal, and pencil sketches, which bagged him several awards in his childhood days.
He lives with his wife and sons in Gurugram, India.
Follow him at:
Instagram: @sachinwarty
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You seem to have captured the essence of the story well … the gripping opening, patriarchy, tradition etc.
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