Variety is the spice of life

Certain stories stay with us for a while after they are over. At times because of the ending. Sometimes due to the theme or the content. Quite a number of times because of the characters. This particular series stands out mainly because of the performances of every character involved, not just the leads. Even the minor one like the first wife of the villain or should I say the main character, who comes for just one episode though being mentioned throughout, leaves such a strong impression that, her presence via the conversations seems justified. The FBI guy who triggers the whole sequence in the leading lady which ends up in not just the arrest of the villain, has a minor role but like every other smaller characters has a powerful presence that elevates the entire setup.  What more can one say about the main guy, who played Nile Jarvis!! I have never seen an actor who shows up different in different lighting! He was so amazing in the closeup shots where only half his face had light...

It has been a while since he wrote anything new as he seemed to have been occupied with screenplay writing for his movies. I was randomly checking and lo behold! A new novel from Reilley. It is a typical Reilley novel in every sense, even though the title may say detective. He has tried his best to alter the usual genre of his by venturing into investigative space. But rather than being Sherlock Holmes, Sam Speedman is Jack West Jr. Lite. He may have been mentioned as a person having autism. But seems to have more powers than Batman!! The story is haunting to say the least and one of the most thorniest topics in American history  - slavery! Trust Matt to churn up a potboiler of a novel on such a sensitive topic! Even though the struggles of Black people who are still being held as slaves and the cruelty of the Southern families is the core topic, the usual chase, hyperbolic villains who never seem to die unless pushed to the most goriest of fights, a meek but cat-like hero who has ...

Like many other people, i follow women's cricket only during world cups and especially if they make it to the knockouts. There is a sense of relatability and grounded nature to their matches and somehow the level of passion which they display on field shows more strongly and expressive than men's version. For every single victorious step - be it a wicket or a boundary or a six - leave alone a century or half - it only shows the effort and struggles that would've gone behind each of those actions which would be several times more than the men's version. Not to belittle their challenges or to show up the ladies. They may've their own problems and expectations and stumbling blocks which could be quite different than what their lady fellow mates may suffer. But there is something that comes out extra and makes the heart bit more warmer to see them celebrate their victories, however small or big they be. It feels like - justified - deserved - and several other better wor...

 As mentioned prior, there is a similarity in naming their novels between Matthew Reilley and Chetan Bagat. Though chalk and cheese could have more similarity than their writing styles, Matt at least had a reason for the naming convention, it was a series with a countdown starting from 7 ancient wonders. For CB i guess, it could be more of numerology or a success template that seems to work for him.  Unlike regular people who may use QWERTY keyboard for typing, CB has stereotyping set in his keyboard i guess. Like every other book of his, where the protagonist or the male character with least negativity, always happens to be a Punjabi, it is no different in this one as well. Like every single soul in Punjab, this person also drinks heavily, non vegetarian and as an additional character trait - is a health conscious gymaholic. Like tamils, bengalis and many other characters of different ethnicities that were shown in as poor light, or to be precise only in poor light, possible,...

 Having already posted about this series last year, was wondering if it really require a season by season post. But considering the presentation thought it was worth a quick mention. The leading lady, Keri Russell, who is also the executive producer, is the central character and the titular one. But in this series, it seems they ran out of plotline as densely packed as previous seasons and after the initial shock of her husband getting the post of Vice president, most of the series is dedicated to her affairs and love life. The series picks up towards the end and the last couple of episodes more than make up for the time lost. Instead of a 8 part series, story wise it would've hardly been a 4 part one. There were several jumps on other characters as to the sudden loss of interest and secret marriage of the defense secretary, introduction of a spy character, who even though hogs the second most timeshare, leaves as fast as he got introduced. The reason why Keri decides to leave her ...

One of the earlier books of Rollins before he started the Sigma series. There is a downside to success, that it makes you becoming restricted in your thought process, especially true for those in writing industry in the aftermath of hitting bulls eye with a successful launch of a series. You end up restricting your thought process to the set of characters and beyond a point it can't be stretched unless newer characters are introduced which ends up diluting the whole lot. You cannot simply offer the scope and limelight for every character and in fact have to pander to the characterisation of the popular of the lot, which results in the ultimate story line being compromised to certain extent. In the beginning books of the sigma series, the first chapter will set the tone for the book, with an impossible plot or an unimaginable level of danger, involving known places, people or situations. The Sigma series led by Gray and later by Siechan, will travel the length and breadth of the wor...