Book Review: The Hunt for Kohinoor by Manreet Sodhi Someshwar

 

Book: The Hunt for Kohinoor

Author: Manreet Sodhi Someshwar

No. of Pages: 402

Genre: Fiction, thriller

Publisher: Westland Publishing 

 

I had written last month in my review of the Taj Conspiracy that the author got my attention in the first few pages. She does it again in the Hunt for Kohinoor. It has an explosive start (literally) which makes you wonder what direction the novel will take.

The novel has several aspects which hold the reader – the under-current of a daughter meeting her father who was considered dead for many years and on the other side the father has recovered from a partial memory loss. The father being held captive so that the daughter can do some spy-work ... something for which she is neither trained nor does she have the skills. The story is about love and friendship, loyalty and patriotism, action and adventure, India-Pak-Afghanistan-US political and military as well as spies.

There are many characters in the story and you begin to identify with each one of them. Each one manages to create their own space in spite of their ‘guest appearances’. Manreet has done justice to the character development of the key actors in the story and at some point in time while reading the story; you may begin to understand the character so well that you may begin to cast Bollywood/Hollywood actors into the roles.

I have always loved the inner conflicts and inner demons of characters and Manreet pays special attention to this aspect of the character development. None of the characters are untouched.

The story of ‘Hunt for Kohinoor’ is not only multi-faceted but also multi-layered and you often wonder how much has the author packed into the 400 pages. The novel feels compact and tightly packed with no time or words wasted in unnecessary descriptions or plot lines.

It has a very nice build-up of the story and an equally action-packed climax. I would love to see this being converted into a movie. More than taj Conspiracy, this one is more apt for picturization – on account of the locations across India-Pak-Afghanistan-Himalayas and so on and for the sheer variety of emotions and vibrant events in the storyline.

And yes, before I end the review, let me tell you that the ‘Kohinoor’ in the title is NOT the Kohinoor diamond you were thinking about when you first read the title. :)  

Ratings on Book Review Parameters:

Cover Design: 3.5 / 5

Writing Style: 4.5 / 5

Characters:     4.5 / 5

Story / Plot:     4.0 / 5

Climax:            4.5 / 5

Overall:           4.0 / 5 

(I loved the novel so much that I am very tempted to give a 4.25 or 4.5 overall rating)