Review: Murder in the Ashram

Murder in the Ashram is Kathleen McCaul’s debut book , a murder mystery revolving around a yoga ashram in Delhi. The book’s synopsis had me hooked. Well anything to do with murder, mystery based in a yoga ashram sounds like fun read. But sadly I was quite disappointed with the book. The book started out as fun but just lost the plot mid way. I felt the book tried to hook in many reasons to show why Yoga ashrams will continue to be enigmatic, intriguing and mysterious forever.

The story goes thus. Ruby Jones moves to Delhi to pursue a career as an international journalist. When her closest friend and flat mate Stephen Newby’s body is pulled out from the Yamuna river she uses her investigative instincts to get to the bottom of who was responsible for her friend’s death. Was it a suicide or a murder? And ,if it was a murder who were the people responsible for it? All these questions keep leading her to Swami Shiva’s ashram where Stephen was a regular. What brings an intriguing angle to the murder is that just a day before his death Stephen writes to Ruby about having found the identity of his yet unknown to the world father.

As she explores deeper her questions take her deep into the world of Indian policing and into the heart of Swami Shiva’s yoga ashram. She realizes that everything is not as calm and peaceful in the ashram as it seems.

What I found was that the author followed a typical pattern of how to handle a book based on an ashram. Let me tell you that I am absolutely no fan of ashrams and yogis but it is a feeling I got while reading the book. To write a book checklist followed is this a) murder b) drugs c) sex D) money e) ashram at the crux of it all. Hence the predictability.

Review: I Can See You

Karen Rose’s book I Can See You brings to the reader an intense and different plot. I have read many books in the popular fiction recently but this one is a definite page turner.

Eve Wilson as a young girl was raped and beaten by her friend’s father. Though the man is caught and imprisoned it leaves her badly scarred. To get over her trauma Eve moves to another city and tries to build her life anew. She pursues a course in psychology where she is involved in developing an online game which provides the player a secret identity and can have a social alternate life. Eve who has fully recovered from her past trauma with the help of the virtual world is trying to help others to kick-start their own recovery by using the virtual world.

But soon things start going horribly wrong when women users who have shared their fears, their dreams and vulnerabilities in this virtual world are getting killed one by one by an online predator. With Eve herself now a target it is a race against time to find a killer who can disappear with the strike of a key.

Detective Noah Webster who is investigating these murders along with Eve put in their all and very best to find this new age predator.

The book is a good read and has a nice, intriguing concept. A differently written serial killer story. With various twists and turns in the plot this book will keep the reader hooked till the very end.

About the Author:

Karen Rose was introduced to suspense and horror at the tender age of eight when she accidentally read Poe’s The Pit and The Pendulum and was afraid to go to sleep for years. She now enjoys writing books that make other people afraid to go to sleep.

Karen lives in Florida with her husband of twenty years and their children. When she’s not writing, she enjoys travelling, karate and, though not a popular Florida pastime, skiing.

Review: The Common Lawyer

Mark Gimenez's book The Common Lawyer is not a typical courtroom drama unlike his other books but nevertheless an interesting read. If you are a fan of John Grisham then you absolutely must add Mark Gimenez’s books to your must read list!

The protagonist of the book, Andy Prescott, is a 29 year old lawyer in the city of Austin, Texas. Andy is not the typical American lawyer living the American dream but is a gofer who makes a living specializing in getting his clients to evade traffic fines in the traffic court. Not particularly ambitious and happy with whatever he is earning he prefers to take it easy.

Andy’s life changes when billionaire Russell Reeves retains him to represent him in the redevelopment of economically backward areas of Austin. Russell pays Andy more money than he has ever earned or ever imagined in his lifetime. This turns out to be the turning point in Andy’s life and from here on the book becomes a roller coaster ride for the reader with its various twists and turns. Andy gets more than what he bargained for when he gets more involved in Russell’s life. Andy realizes nothing comes for free and that Russell is a desperate man whose sole aim is to save the life of his eight year old son, Zach who is suffering from a rare cancer disorder. He believes the cure to his son’s problem lies in his so called relationships from the past and sends Andy on a chase to trace them back.

The book is a good and fast paced read. An interesting book in the popular fiction genre. Makes for a good weekend read or airport read!

About the Author:

Born and educated in Texas, Mark Gimenez attended law school at Notre Dame, Indiana and practiced with a large Dallas law firm. He is married with two sons.