Fear of God-Vadhan

Book: Fear of God

Author: Vadhan

Publisher: Treeshade Books

Do you think Vigilantes can change the society? Do you believe a mortal can instill a Fear of God in the people indulging in corruption?

Fear of God by Vadhan opens with a brutal murder of a Member of Parliament in the capital, the reason of which is mind-boggling. This was one of the series of bodies that start cropping up across the country, each with a different modus operandi, but they had one thing in common. The videos of the slaughter of these corrupt politicians start going viral on social media. A vigilante is on the loose and he declares his next target as a war hero and a top constitutional lawyer of the country. Jagan Jigyasi and his team of the Special Crimes Division of the CID are assigned the task of finding the vigilante and bringing him to justice. The cat-and-mouse game of chasing the killer begins. Who will be the last man standing in this faceoff is the story of Fear of God.

Fear of God is a wonderful crime thriller. The plot of the book is wonderfully crafted with the story taking many twists and turns. The theme of vigilantism in the book has been dealt with quite deftly. The suspense part of the book is maintained till the last page and that is what makes this book an unputdownable read. The author has chosen each of the victims in detail and the back story of each of them is narrated so that the reader gets to connect with the protagonist easily. The description of the crimes is in detail and at times, is quite gruesome. The legalities in the book are quite nicely done which adds to the beauty of the storytelling. The chase of the vigilante and the smokescreens are amazingly done and put at strategic locations to keep the tempo up. The climax of the book is quite unexpected, and the last part of the book just blew my mind away.

Talking about characters, being a suspense thriller, the character buildup of each of the characters was very crucial. The protagonist, FOG, has been created as an enigma initially, a person to be feared, a ruthless vigilante. As the story progresses, and things start getting clearer, we get the character arc of FOG and I loved the way it was unraveled till the last page. The character buildup of Jagan Jigyasi was interesting as we saw multiple shades of him. I specially loved the character build up and the back story of ACP Vel as his development was a surprise element. The other characters are developed in quite detail as well and they add their own flavor to the plot.

Overall, Fear of God, was a wonderful journey through the mind of a Vigilante and how society can change the personality and the mindset of a person.

The book scores a 4.5/5 for me.

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