Wednesday, August 7, 2013

The Imperative Subterfuge by Rickie Khosla - A Review

(Another of my friends - this time from the blogging world - has self-published a short novella on amazon. The book link is
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3Z8SGQ

The author's blog is

In the event that you do not have a Kindle you can download apps for reading Kindle books on PCs, laptops and Smartphones from this link

This must serve as an upfront disclaimer before you read the review )

Historical fiction has always fascinated me. The genre ranges from tales that brought to life the more dramatic events with imagination filling in for what is not known to speculations about possibilities in some historical mysteries to alternative histories of what could have been. Rickie Khosla's 'The Imperative Subterfuge' is set in  the Germany of Adolph Hitler and speculates about the relationship between Hitler and Eva Braun and adds a twist to the theories surrounding the apparent suicide of the Hitler.

The author has written a very readable novella and, for me, it is a pleasure to read good English - though it was no surprise since I already knew of his ability with the language from his blog. He has also avoided the normal pitfall of a newbie author - of making characters seem flat. He paints his characters very well and brings their relationships to life. The central speculation is intriguing and, so, the climax certainly does not disappoint. Overall, the book reads very well and does not slack in pace.

The one area that I felt needed to be better was the manner in which the political happenings of the day were written. In a novel length book, such happenings do tend to be written entirely by narrative. Since the author's book is a short novella, I felt it would have been better if he had also brought them out in the interactions of the characters. This, of course, is more a question of personal opinion since even these background passages do not obstruct the pace of the read. The other thing is that I really did feel that the idea had the scope to be a novel.

Overall, Rickie's book is interesting and is a very pacy read.

24 comments:

  1. Many of my blogging friends are authors but I haven't read their books. However the subject in this debut novella is intriguing and the prose is eloquent. As you say Suresh, it holds great potential to be a full fledged novel.

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    1. Including yours truly, Alka, in a small way with one short story published in a collection and I daresay you have not read that either :) Yes, Rickie's story is intriguing.

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    2. I haven't read it Suresh. Can you please send the link? Or do I have to buy it?

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    3. It's a paperback, Alka, "Uff Ye emotions" in which Priyanka Dey also has a story.

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  2. Thank you so much! Suresh, the cheque's in the mail! :D
    Alka, yes, I will possibly do a full length version of this novella at some point. I think it does offer a lot of possibilities to be expanded.

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    1. Cheque drawn on the Bank of NeverNeverLand? :)

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  3. Yep, Rickie handled it quite well. I have done two reviews and can't possibly add anything more :). I felt the absence of an epilogue thought. I somehow like to read something from the author about his baby.

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  4. That sounded like a 'nice, plump, juicy, and positive' review... hope the author gets a fat advance for his next attempt.

    Arvind Passey
    www.passey.info

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    1. Nice juicy story it was, Arvind - so the review had to befit :)

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  5. Suresh..whats the cheque amount ? The book sure sounds interesting..but what better if Rickie would be kind enuf to donate sme money too...

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    1. Better ask Rickie! His comment was the first I heard of any cheque :)

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  6. Sounds promising. I too would be picking this up soon, Suresh.

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  7. I have been longing to read his novella, but delaying it for sake of downloading the software. I hope I would do it soon.

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    1. Diwakar, please do!
      It's a simple free download of the Kindle app (player) on your PC, smartphone or tablet.
      Then, when you get your copy from Amazon, it will show up automatically on the Kindle player.

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    2. Endorse the request, Diwa :)

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  8. The book sounds interesting. I should take a quick shot at it. Thanks for the recommendation.

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  9. I go to kindle and it says 'This title is not available in your region' Actually speaking I have not done much reading (any to be frank) on kindle and the way it works is a little alien to me. Anyways I tried this one and it says the title not available in Asia Pac(Singapore) . So for now reading all reviews including yours.

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