Angry Junglee Bosses-Cross

Book: Angry Junglee Bosses
Author: Cross
Publisher: Self Published

I was provided a media copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Have you experienced politics at workplace?

Hey You! Ever been cheated on, at work? Ever been promised one thing and given another, at work? Ever been back stabbed, at work? Ever been subjected to toxicity, at work? Ever had to work under ANGRY JUNGLEE BOSSES? If so, and even if not so, this book is for you to read and learn from!

The book is a wonderful satire on how a corporate structure works and how office politics can impact a person’s psyche. The book is written in a wonderful manner where the humans are extinct and animals have now taken over. The story takes place in an organisation called “We Feed Ya” based in India and having branches all over. Our protagonist Fox is a new joiner in the firm, along with Himalayan Bear and as the days go by, we get deeper into the working of this organisation as well as the life of the characters in this world. The storytelling is very powerful and you are very well immersed into the world as you read the book. Another thing that works in the book’s favour is the detailed oriented writing and the world building actually keeps you hooked till the end. I loved how the concepts of email, telephone, computers etc. have been adapted into this world, and infact improved upon. The concept of every being having employment is another one that I liked. The author has moulded celebrities, concepts and lifestyle using homonyms and there is a sense of familiarity when you read the book. The concept of office politics is the primary theme which runs across the book and how it impacts the people in the office environment. Cross has explored the various aspects of office interactions and the way each person views the other in a professional context. Another aspect that Cross explores is that of chair-warmers and how they impact the morale of the workforce. The climax of the book is extremely well written and shows what happens when an employee reaches their breaking point, specially when they have given the best and the recognition is not given to it.

The character development in the book is very nuanced and detailed. The author has used character traits and common traits attributed to them to put them in the story. My favourite of them was Sheep and while I had my doubts about why Sheep was put where he was, they were confirmed at the climax of the book. Another interesting character was that of Fox, and I liked how he was oblivious to what was happening around him. The other characters being Olympians was a nice touch.  

The one thing I really loved about the book was the dirty yellow shirt and how that was a recurring discussion throughout the book and how one small thing could play an important role in the storytelling.

The book highlights some very important aspects that have gone wrong in how we manage our workplaces and the way the relationship between an employer and employee have become transactional, sidelining the idea of passion and love for what you do. The book is a definite recommendation and gets a 4.88/5 from me.

Get a copy of the book on Amazon India.

The Scam that Shook a Nation: The Nagarwala Scandal-Prakash Patra and Rasheed Kidwai

Book: The Scam that Shook a Nation: The Nagarwala Scandal
Author: Prakash Patra and Rasheed Kidwai
Publisher: HarperCollins India

Have you heard of the Nagarwala Scandal?

On 24 May 1971, based on a telephone call purportedly from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her secretary P.N. Haksar, the chief cashier at the Parliament Street branch of the State Bank of India handed over Rs 60 lakh to a stranger posing as the PM's courier. The money was supposedly meant for secret operations in East Pakistan. When the chief cashier approached the PMO for a receipt, he was told that neither Haksar nor the PM had given any such instructions. He had been duped. Within a few hours, the Delhi Police recovered the cash and caught the man responsible for the heist, a former army captain-Rustom Sohrab Nagarwala. Subsequent events-which included a botched police investigation, bungling by the lower judiciary, mysterious deaths of the accused and the principal investigator, and Indira Gandhi's inexplicable silence-led to the rise of several conspiracy theories. Based on police records, press reports, depositions before the Justice Jaganmohan Reddy Commission and its report, The Scam That Shook a Nation is the first authoritative work on the scam, its investigation and its afterlife as a study in political corruption.

With the development of the country and passage of time, we have had people who have tried to outfox the system to make a quick buck. The book explores the events that took place as the scandal unfolded and how one phone call set in motion something that impacted more than just the 2 people directly involved in it. The book starts off by describing the events of the day from the eyes of Nagarwala and Malhotra and how the entire chain of events happened right from the call to the arrest. The book then moves on to the investigation and the authors then deep dive into the investigation conducted by the authorities. What stands out for me in the book comes after the first section. The chapters about the two primary players in the story are well researched and help you gain an understanding about the psyche of Malhotra and Nagarwala leading upto the events of that day. The section about the Reddy Commission is the part that brings out the questions that the reader has as you read about the scandal and there are some pertinent questions that come up with regards to how the case was handled and investigated. The authors then move on to the author’s analysis of the alternative theories that have come up and the findings and the key conclusions of the Reddy Commission.

The book is quite fast paced and devoid of any fluff to present the facts of the case as they are. The writing is quite neutral and the authors present the events from multiple perspectives to show the reader the multiple facets of what happened and what could have happened. The book is very well researched and keeps you engaged with the narrative and the storytelling.

A well written true-crime book, I really enjoyed reading the book. It scores a 4.5/5 for me.

Get a copy of the book on Amazon India or your nearest bookstore!

The Eyes of a Killer-Reecha Agarwal Goyal

Book: The Eyes of a Killer
Author: Reecha Agarwal Goyal
Publisher: Vishwakarma Publications

I was provided a media copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Do you believe one person’s justice can be another one’s injustice?

A case of serial killings rattles the city of Mumbai. The victims are men in the age group of sixty to seventy. The only clue (or rather, the message) left by the killer at the crime scenes is a picture of a goat inside a heart. The case leads a police inspector, Naina, into uncovering of the dark world of human trafficking and other mysteries. The case takes Naina to Nera, a town in Nepal, from where majority of the girls were trafficked in the city. There, she learns about the lives and plight of the trafficked women and vows to do something about them. There is a new revelation, new turn in the case every day, which renders all her postulations false and keeps Naina guessing. Naina’s world turns upside down when she finds that the real story behind everything is something else – something darker- something very unexpected and that it is she who is at the centre of all the mysteries. In the end, she is left grappling with two fundamental questions: who was the real murderer? Is one man’s justice another’s injustice?

A thriller about a serial killer is usually a journey where you are actively participating in the story and along with the investigative team, keep on solving the clues to unmask the identity of the killer before they do, atleast that is what I try to do to keep the thrill alive. What happens in Reecha’s book is you are proven wrong the moment you think that you’ve identified the culprit, and I think that is one of the best aspects of the story. The story is quite well plotted and the themes that Reecha explores in the book are quite interesting. I really liked how she connects the social evil of Human Trafficking and the killer on the run so smoothly. The book is quite fast paced and keeps you hooked right till the end. While the plotting and the storytelling is gripping, I felt that the writing could have been a bit crisper because there were moments where the story felt a bit dull and some aspects of the story such as the symbolism of the goat inside the heart could have been explored a bit more. Secondly, I would have liked to read a few chapters from the perpetrator’s perspective as well, so as to understand their psyche as well. The climax has been well planned and brings the story to a close nicely!

Coming to the characters, Reecha has created characters with a shade of grey and I think that worked quite a bit in the favour of the story. I liked how Naina as a character is powerful, yet she is powerless in front of her urges, but still manages to come out on the other side of it. Vikrant is another character who impressed me quite a lot, and specially in the middle section of the book where he swings between being a suspect, and not being a suspect at the same time.

Overall, the book is a good read if you are looking to pick up a pacy and gripping thriller. The book scores a 4.25/5 for me.

Grab a copy of the book on Amazon or your nearest bookstore!