Variety is the spice of life

Considering that this was the second in the list of 11 (till now), I guess, probably this is the book that formed the strong template for the other novels in the Harry hole series. It has everything that the rest of the series borrows into, probably the only few of the lot with actual deduction scope for Harry, the repeated twists towards the end which hurriedly try to hoodwink the reader and rest of the characters to believe that they’ve found the villain only to be fooled further and the James Bond like womanizing character of Harry, only change being, he really falls in love with the lady characters who only end up getting murdered, fueling his alcoholic rage. There is a racist undertone as well, which propagates across his other novels too, especially when it comes to referencing the only muslim character from Pakistan or the way the detailing about Thailand and Thai people being addressed in this novel. It may not be intentional and those characters could originally be factual rep...

The movie based on the life story of yesteryear super star actress Savitri, is already making waves in both Kollywood and Tollywood. First thought that came to mind while watching was, though touted as a bi-lingual, it felt more like a telugu movie dubbed in Tamil. Some of the dialogues from Savitri’s initial years were purely in telugu. Though not difficult to follow, the cast and the conversations, give it more of a telugu movie feel, which would’ve been intended I guess, considering that she came to Chennai and then only picked up the language. The story begins with the death of the Superstar and traces back her origins as a bubbly little girl and how fate took her all the way only to be bashed down to earth on a gloriously tragic fall. The narration grows as analyzed by Samantha, the reporter and through her conversations with her journalist colleague. The movie runs the risk of being a documentary and is saved by the screenplay. Coming to the characterizations, the biggest let d...

Finally managed to grab a copy of the first book of the Harry Hole series. As I keep mentioning on the other book reviews of the series, there is a lingering sense of a drama series that grows and matures in front of our eyes as one ploughs through the lot. In a typical drama series turnaround where some of the mid-season storyline traces back to the “origins” and where it all started kind of a setup, reading “Bat” gives the exact same feel. From what I understand, despite being the first book of the series, it was translated into English pretty late. But it’s probably the best translated of the lot and the smallest as well, running a shade over 340 pages in size. Not just the title for the book, even the chapter headings have weird titles across all the books in the series. In Bat its even funnier. Harry Hole is addressed as Harry Holy by everyone and even by himself as well !!! Somehow, the character who gets projected as a morbid, solemn, mature and arrogant across the rest of the...

I had been warned, even before starting the book that it would be boring. But, like all those dull drab movies that, despite your friends blasting it to oblivion in their reviews, you still take a peek at it, out of curiosity, I wanted to have a go at this book and also more of OCD to complete the series. With luck, I’ve been stumbling upon the series in almost the right sequence and the more I read it the more I am sure that, it has all the ingredients of a good action drama series. Probably it is already in Norway, maybe. Thirst, begins as a proper continuation to Police. It has a brutal murder, with the setup resembling a vampire attack, to start with that sets the ball rolling for more such similar murders to follow. Like all drama series, that have matured into their 5th season, the hero introduction, happens pretty late. Kat Bratt, who started off as a psycho lady, hell bent on avenging her dad in SNOWMAN, who is later touted as a computer Wizard in subsequent novels, is shown ...

I actually had started off with Phantom, after completing Leopard. But the book was so dragging and boring that, would’ve skipped closed to half of it. Didn’t feel like posting a separate review for the book. In fact thought of stop reading the series any further, but luckily stumbled on to Police, the next in the list. After reading about 8 books in this 11 book series, I can safely say that, Police is the best of the lot. Best in the sense that, it is more contemporary in its pace and setting and is more of pulp fiction variety. It has violence, murder, decent good police investigation, emotion, sentiment and some really good twists with a cliff hanger of an ending. Had Jo Nesbo’s Harry hole books been an action drama series, ending for Police and Phantom would’ve been blockbuster series finale. For all its dull and drab and dragging storyline, Phantom does ends in a bang and sets it up perfectly for a humdinger of a follow up in Police. Phantom – for a person who translates over 5...