Brajesh's Review : Mr Mercedes

Mr Mercedes is a Stephen King master-class.

We know the murderer and the crime fairly early in the book, the suspense is not who he is, or how he did it. It is his twisted , addictively evil, yet strangely believable motivation and mind-set hurling us into his next plot.

The characters of the murderer and retired police officer are so eerily similar yet contrasting. If I have read a page turner in 2014, this is the one.

I knew King was a master of horror, but in this book he made me realize that he is also the god of crime and drama. The sheer believability of situations and ordinariness of the settings leave the reader with a newer, scarier observational approach to his surroundings. I can’t wait to pick up the next King crime-drama offering.

Rating : 4 / 5

Brajesh's Review : Raja Ravi Varma - Oleographs

This is a collection of Raja Ravi Verma’s lovely Oleographs, which we picked up at the Baroda Museum’s shop. For a small sum of 500 INR, we now have a collection of Ravi Verma’s on which one can spend hours reflecting and picking up nuances of some fairly well known paintings from Indian mythology.

The pick of the collection for me were from the not so popular paintings of Shiva with moustache, Ganesh with his two wives and a lovely rendition of Saraswati. Enjoy a sneak-peak of the collection in the next picture

Rating : (Unrated)

This particular collection was available at the Laxmi Vilas Palace at Baroda and are prints of the Palace Collection. I'm not sure if it is available anywhere other than at this location. However, there are a few other books on this painter that can be easily bought and there are some links below.

Brajesh's Review : One Hundred Days. Her Quest, My Cure

"One Hundred Days. Her Quest, My Cure" by Shweta Modgil is a novel of self-discovery. A story of believing in oneself. A story of pursuing ones dream against societal pressures and disapproval.

The story is simple and the cast is relatable, The narrative is where the book begins to fall apart. Simplicity is both the strength and weakness of this book. This is Shweta’s first book and I am sure the author will only grow further in strength from here.

Set against the modern urban madness, the protagonist finds the inspirations during her various escapes from the cityscape. Either on a trip to the hills or in a conversation with a brother settled US.

For me the resolution of conflict was quite predictable but the situations were constructed in a sweet and simple manner.

Rating : 2.5 / 5