The Dark Crusader

As I mentioned in the previous post, my most favorite fiction genre is Suspense Thriller. And IMHO, no-one can beat Alistair McLean, when it comes to thrillers. I can state this with a fair degree of confidence, having read 28 of his titles. Many of his books have been made into famous films, eg, The Guns of Navarone, Ice Station Zebra, Where Eagles Dare, Fear is The Key, and many more. Of all these movies, I have only watched The Guns Of Navarone, and I strongly recommend it to anyone and everyone :-)

Generally speaking, what I like about McLean's stories is fast pace, witty style, underlying technical details, and characters who are not superior in physical strength, but in mental strength and dndurance. And then there is drama, twists, and treason. In this way, 'The Dark Crusader' is typical McLean, and thoroughly enjoyable. The 'hero', John Bentall, is a solid-fuel specialist, who is recruited by the Brtish secret agency. He has just returned from a long, dangerous mission, when he is sent on another, with a beautiful female agent, who poses as his wife. Eight top scientists and their wives have gone missing, after they accpted lucrative jobs in Australia. After a while, advertisement for a ninth position appears, and Bentall is volunteered by the agency for the position, under the obvious conclusion that one of the the scientists has befallen a tragedy. He goes on to encounter an eccentric archaeologist and his chinese henchmen, find out what is 'The Dark Crusader', and finally come to a realization that he has been double-crossed! And that is all I'll say for now, to avoid spoiling the suspense in case someone intends to read it. :-)

Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less

Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less - Jeffery Archer

Archer is one of my favorite fiction authors. My most favorite genre is suspense thrillers, and although his stories are not really thrillers, I like then for their fast pace and lucidity. I had read "Not a Penny More ..." the first time, way back in college, borrowing a friend's copy. For a long while, I have been wanting to get my own copy, and re-read it. However, most of the times, I have new stuff to read :-) But the last time when I went browsing in a bookstore, and could not find anything interesting, so I finally decided to buy it for my collection.

The premise of the story is simple (even artificial, according to my brother), but it is fun nevertheless - a big-time crook sets up an elaborate stock market scam, and four people who have no understanding of stock market, but a fairly good amount of money, get conned of almost all of their assets. One of them is a mathematical mind, he gets all of them to join forces, and plan to steal back there money - "not a penny more, not a penny less". And the way they set about it, is enough to keep one amused for a few hours.

An unlikely experience

I have been out of circulation from the blogosphere for so long that now it seems to be sheer inertia that is holding me back. Well, that is not exactly true, that (dis)credit goes to hectic work schedule that has sapped up most of my energy for last couple of months.
I have hardly been able to post anything on my three blogs for almost 2-3 months. However, till 3-4 weeks back, I still managed to check on my reader from time to time, and each time it showed 100+ unread items. But now, I am so overwhelmed by the reading I have to catch up on!
In the middle of all the chaos, I managed to get a much needed break, for a trip we had been planning for quite a while - a trek in 'The Valley of Flowers'. The trip was rendered partially unsuccessful by heavy rains and landslides - we could not even get to Joshimath, but we finally made it to Kedarnath. I will hopefully post pictures of the trip on 'Travel Memoirs' soon; in the meanwhile I'll share an unlikely experience here ....
We had planned to travel overnight from Delhi to Haridwar by train, and take a taxi from there for the rest of the journey. The train we had reservations in, goes till Dehradun, reaching Haridwar very early morning. Though heavy rains were reported in the region, the train departed from Delhi in time. But when we reached Roorkee around midnight, the situation in the higher areas had deteriorated, and the train stopped there for a considerable time. After an interminable wait, the train started from Roorkee, but stopped again after some time - in the middle of nowhere. After dawn, when there was some light, we could see it was a very small village station, with no platforms even. One of the attendants informed us that the train will stop there for an undetermined time - there was water on tracks on the way from Haridwar to Dehradun; so the trains scheduled to go to Dehradun had piled up at Haridwar station, leaving no space for more trains to be parked there. The attendant advised us to board another train that was going to Rishikesh (and would therefore be given a pass at Haridwar) which was about to cross. And so, we jumped down on to the tracks (no platforms, remember!) with bag and baggage, stood by the side of the other track (along with several other passengers), and waited for the other train. When it arrived, we waved it to stop, and climbed up!
Though I have had varied experiences in trains earlier, this was something I never expected to have to do!! I have done this number of times in buses - the roadways bus breaks down on the way, the conductor stops another bus going the same way and helps you board that bus. But never ever have I done it on a train!!