You Are Not Alone In This:Friends Forever By Vikrant Shukla

Title – You Are Not Alone In This : Friends Forever

Publisher – Penguin Randon House

Genre – Fiction

Though officially we have closed giving reviews but we couldn’t say No When we received a copy of this novel. This novel was already seen in the BESTSELLERS on many shelves and we were equally curious to read.

First impression of the book is WOW! Cover page, print quality and presentation speak for itself. Penguin is known for the perfection and this book is no exception. Though there is not much of imagination put in if we talk about the cover design but it somewhere strikes the chord and magnetize the viewer.

Story revolves around Daksh, who is a successful author. He has a loving wife, money, status – everything except a child. So when he meets his childhood friend Mahesh, he is overjoyed. But his happiness is short-lived. He learns that Mahesh’s follies have thrown his family apart. Daksh wants to help his friend, more so for the sake of his little daughter. However, soon they are sucked into a racket of cheating, lies and deceit. And things are not as easy to sort out as they first thought. This is the story of the true test of friendship.

Story-line is gripping and it captures the reader more into the character and plot with every page read. It is a decent read of 256 pages and there are so many twists in the book that it really becomes impossible to gauge to what will happen next. Reader is guaranteed to be entertained from start till the end.

Though we never give any hints in our reviews to kill the excitement of any book however we can’t stop ourselves from disclosing here the harsh facts revealed in this book which is a tight slap on the faces of people who cheats people on the name of quick money via work from home and on the name of multi level marketing. We have been in one of the sessions of MLM and we could correlate to the scenes where Mahesh was trapped by a few of the characters who were into MLM trap business. Not disclosing anything further, we leave it up to the readers to experience it themselves. An eye opener!!!

This book is unique with concept and with the way treatment is given to every character where enough detailing is given to help readers visualize the scenes.

A worthy read.

Link to buy the book at 25% discount (Paperback/Kindle) –

http://www.amazon.in/You-are-Not-Alone-This/dp/0143417460/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1460217509&sr=1-1&keywords=you+are+not+alone+in+this

In Conversation With Vikrant Shukla

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BFB - So we are meeting again, we are very happy and excited.

Author - Thanks a lot. I am equally excited and very happy to see you again. You guys have been a great support since day one of my writing journey.

BFB - Tell us something about your book “Lord of Darkness” first.

Author - Sure, I will rather share the synopsis of the book first.

Arpita, a studious, grade seeking student from Pune university, finds it really hard to get a replacement for her old hard disk under a thousand bucks. But, when she finally finds a second-hand disk through the help of her friend, Shipra, she couldn't help but notice that things in her life are no more as they used to be-  the horrifying death of Anwar, the one who installed the disk, the presence of a mysterious, password protected folder in that disk, named ‘Billycan hill’, and a presentation that vaguely mentions a location where one can travel through past and future. After numerous efforts, they finally locate this bizarre spot and decide to visit Moghal Empire to sell a few electronic items to these ancient people to make some money. But, Dobler, an ardent follower of Satan, bullies them to change their plans at the last moment. Finally, Arpita and her chaps end up in the Satanic era near the ‘Church of Satan’ in the pursuit  of the mighty  Ring of Beelzebub, and this is where the deadly game of lust and power begins.

This book took the final shape after I met a lot of black magic practitioners. It is not just a book; it is a life I have lived. 

BFB - Sounds interesting! If you were so influenced with the art of Black Magic, why you decided to write about Krishna?

Author - Where there is good, there must be something to compare with to complete the cycle of antonyms and that’s when we say bad also exist. If there is no darkness, no one will wait for the sunrise. Both are equally powerful components and after darkness what better than writing about Krishna?

BFB - What is the storyline of your fifth novel, “In Krishna’s courtroom: After Death?”

Author - This is your story, my story and story of any other common man.

Kama is a young man – a professional who does not believe in God, and on the contrary – he tills towards Satanic rituals and because they provide him immediate relief and satisfaction. One fine day, he is bewildered to find himself in an unusual place, it is Judgement Day for him. He is wondering if he will be sentenced to Heaven or Hell. However matters takes an unusual turn and he finds himself in the Courtroom of Lord Krishna, with whom his case rests.

The Lord is in a quandary because he does not know how to administer justice in this case.

What follows in this book is a dialogue between Lord Krishna, the sages and Kama. 

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BFB - You wrote about Krishna and you spoke about bringing light after darkness, but you are talking about death and life after death in your Krishna’s book. How can it be full of light if the baseline of the book is Death itself?

Author - Don’t be judgmental. Your blog have reviewed the book before this interview is taken. I know it was done by a different person but this is what my point is. Till the time someone will not read the book he will not understand the beauty of “Life after Death”. Here is a copy of my Krishna’s book, please go through it and we will meet again.

BFB - What is your next project about?

Author - My next project is about you and me. I mean to say, it will be a complex story of a middle class couple and their share of happiness and distress. For the first time I have tried to write about relationships and the hick ups. This book will deal with the thirst of a middle man, thirst for money and power.

BFB - Any other projects under progress...?

Author - I am working on many projects. One of them is about magical realism “Mystic Child”. One under writing is “A virtual shit called Love”. One project in Hindi will be completed soon.

BFB - Who will be the publisher for your upcoming titles?

Author - My next project is scheduled to be published by Penguin Random House. For other projects, I am still undergoing discussion with different publishers. 

BFB - Mehta Publishing House gave you the first break and they published two of your novels but we did not see any other collaborated project again. Any reason in specific?

Author - Nothing like that, I seriously want to work with them again. The only fact is that we have not finalized on any other project yet, but for sure they are one of my favorite publishers. 

BFB - We wish you all the best and hope to meet again.

Author - Thanks and wish you the same. I hope to see you again, soon!

In Lord Krishna's Court After Death by Vikrant Shukla

It doesn't happen very frequently that we get to read different genres from a single author. There are a lot of authors and almost all of them specialize in a genre - love, romance, horror, social moods etc. When we get novels from Ravinder Singh or Durjoy, we already have the idea of the story line in our mind, that the story will revolve around a boy, a girl, family, issues, infatuation and all that common mellow drama. But with this author, we get a new flavor every time we put our hands on his books.

We have read all books of this author, Call Centre – An Inside Story, The Wrong Chase, Sukoon (Hindi), Lord of Darkness and now “In Lord Krishna’s Courtroom : After Death.”

We have got a different flavor every time. All the mentioned novels are unique with concepts and the story line nowhere matches the other. This is the reason that we have never seen any reader of Vikrant Shukla speaking negative about any of his novels.

This book is an epic! I say that not only because it talks about Lord Krishna but also because for the first time someone really making an effort to create a dialogue between the God and a Human Being. 

This book should not be confused with a religious literature at all, it talks about what everyone of us goes through, this is not just about the God, the book is about the contrast between Good and Bad. 

This book talks about so many things which no one of us is clear about and opens a third eye which gives us a push to think beyond the limits.

This book, no doubt, is a masterpiece and every page gives a clear idea of how much research is done by the author to build the magical story line.

Readers should not be confused with the cover page where Lord Krishna is depicted. It is not just about Hindu religion and for Hindu readers. This is a social reveller and will make every reader think. Even after the book is kept aside, the characters, the plot and the narration will keep on boggling your mind.

This book is not just an entertainer, it is an eye opener. It gives the reader a roller-coaster ride of what exactly happens between life and death.

There is nowhere mentioned in the book that it is a work of fiction and it is also claimed by the author that the narration of the  book is based on the “Out of body experiences”, hard to believe for the minds ruled by science however the detailed description mentioned in the book can’t be just imagination. The readers are for sure going to be bowled with the detailed narrative as if someone is looking at something and narrating the scenes.

I was amazed with the way Krishna was awed by the questions one young professional puts up and also the way those questions were answered. A wonderful story to experience.

I wasn't aware of Lord Vishnu’s tenth incarnation as Lord Kalki in the coming future till I read the story in this book. The complete and detailed story of Kalki incarnation is one of the major USPs of this book.

Talking about the quality of the print and the paper. After a long time we saw a book where the feel of the book is rich. It is nowhere behind any of the finest books available in India.

A hardcover would have done wonders for this book. This is a collectible and I would like to keep a copy of this book in hardcover in my collection. I hope the publisher will give a conscious call to this feedback and request.

The only thing missed was in the section “About the Author”, it talks about author’s knowledge and interest in fields related to Satanism which was the description and the story line of his last work, “Lord of Darkness.” Though it doesn't affect the story line or anything but it could have been avoided to ensure no religious sentiments are hurt. 

Kudos to the author for managing to blow the minds of his readers with back to back entertainment with different flavors.

Have heard a lot about Vikrant’s next book “Life – A Sucking Trap”, hope to soon have hands on the first copy to review. 

A must read for all.

Lord of Darkness by Vikrant Shukla

After a long wait, finally I received a copy of Lord of Darkness.

It is a decent read of 267 pages and magic, limits of imagination and an interesting story plot made me sit back, relax and finish the book in two sittings.

Story goes like –

Arpita, a studious, grade seeking student from Pune university, finds it really hard to get a replacement for her old hard disk under a thousand bucks. But, when she finally finds a second-hand disk through the help of her friend, Shipra, she couldn't help but notice that things in her life are no more as they used to be-  the horrifying death of Anwar, the one who installed the disk, the presence of a mysterious, password protected folder in that disk, named ‘Billycan hill’, and a presentation that vaguely mentions a location where one can travel through past and future. After numerous efforts, they finally locate this bizarre spot and decide to visit Moghal Empire to sell a few electronic items to these ancient people to make some money. But, Dobler, an ardent follower of Satan, bullies them to change their plans at the last moment. Finally, Arpita and her chaps end up in the Satanic era near the ‘Church of Satan’ in the pursuit  of the mighty  Ring of Beelzebub, and this is where the deadly game of lust and power begins.

Starting with the cover, it is completely in sync with the story line and gives an expression of chilling the spine. Paper quality is above average and book is quite heavy to carry.

Forward section in this book is worth looking at; many reader, followers and celebrities have written rave reviews about the book. Reading the foreword is like creating a mood for the magical read.

There are several plots running in the story-line at the same time, the readers will be shocked to see the connection of the running plots. Once someone will pick up the book, the characters will not let the reader keep the book down till the end. The grey characters, villains, magic spells and other detailing of the occult science makes this book an outshining star in this genre. I have not seen too many Indian authors writing on off beat subjects and I am glad that the author of Lord of Darkness and Sukoon is doing an outstanding job here.

While reading the book, readers will understand the research that the author must have done before penning down the book. After the last release of the author (Sukoon – In Hindi), this books is an extension of black magic literature.

Briefly, Billycan hill proves to be a perfect blend of "Mekkana's gold, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit". It has strong marketing capabilities to become a National bestseller.

The only flaw in the book is the missed spacing between some of the words however it doesn't create any hurdle for the reader however if it is a miss, it’s a miss. That’s why proof reading should be done with sincere efforts.

Best Fiction Books highly recommend this book to the readers. 

सुकून – विक्रांत शुक्ला

पुस्तक समीक्षा – “सुकून”

लेखक – विक्रांत शुक्ला

“बेस्ट फिक्शन बुक्स” पहली बार किसी हिंदी पुस्तक की समीक्षा प्रकाशित कर रहा है. जैसे ही इस पुस्तक के प्रकाशक के जरिये यह पुस्तक प्राप्त हुई, हमारे साथ जुड़े हुए समीक्षकों में इस पुस्तक को पढने की जैसे होड़ सी लग गई. सभी विक्रांत शुक्ला की पहली हिंदी पुस्तक पढने के लिए बेहद उत्साहित थे. इस पुस्तक की समीक्षा करने की जिम्मेदारी “हुसैन मालिक” ने उठाई है.

समीक्षा –

पुस्तक का कवर पृष्ठ बेहद आकर्षक और ध्यान खींचने वाला है. पुस्तक को हाथ में लेते ही एक अजीब सा एहसास होता है. पुस्तक का छापा उत्तम दर्जे का है और साफ ज़ाहिर होता है की प्रकाशक ने पूरे दिल से इस पुस्तक के प्रकाशन पर काम किया है.

इस पुस्तक को देख कर ही दहशत का एहसास होता है और जैसे जैसे एक के बाद एक पन्ने पढ़ते जाते हैं, यह साफ़ होता जाता है की यह पुस्तक कमज़ोर दिलवालों के लिए नहीं है. बड़ी ही सफाई से एक-एक पात्र का आगमन होता है और वो कहानी का अभिन्न हिस्सा बनता जाता है. किसी भी लेखक के लिए यह बहुत ज़रूरी है की वो अपने पाठक से आगे का सोचे और विक्रांत शुक्ला ने अपने अंग्रेजी उपन्यासों से पहले ही वो पहचान बना ली है की जब तक पाठक उनकी पुस्तक का आखिरी पन्ना नहीं पढ़ ले, उसके मन में यही चलता रहता की आगे क्या होने वाला है. यही विक्रांत शुक्ला ने इस पुस्तक में किया है, जब भी लगता है की कड़ी हाथ आ गई है, उसी पल कुछ ऐसा होता है की पाठक चकरा सा जाता है, और उलझता चला जाता है. लेखक अपनी इस कला के लिए बधाई के पात्र हैं. कुछ लेखकों को ऊपरवाले का आशीर्वाद मिला होता है और विक्रांत शुक्ला उन्ही लेखकों में से एक हैं जो आखिरी पन्ने तक अपने पाठकों को बांधे रख सकते हैं.

कहानी में डर है, दहशत है, कुछ ऐसा माहौल बनाया गया है की अगर पाठक किसी अकेले घर में या किसी सूनसान जगह पर इस पुस्तक को पढ़ेगा तो हर आहट पर उसका चौंकना लाजिमी है. कहानी के पात्र कब सच्चाई बन कर दिलों-दिमाग पर छाने लगते हैं, इस बात का एहसास तक नहीं होता और किसी बुरे सपने को तरह इसके पात्र सपनों में दिखने भी लगते हैं.

कहानी घूमती है दो मित्रों के चारों तरफ, एक मित्र लाचार है और बस आत्महत्या करने ही वाला है की उसके मित्र को उसकी ज़रुरत पड़ती है. देव् नाम का पात्र अपने मित्र महेश को मदद के लिए बुलाता है क्यूंकि उसके घर में अजीबों-गरीब घटनाएं हो रहीं हैं. बस उसी के साथ शुरू होता है डर और दहशत का वो सफ़र जो पाठकों का सुकून हराम करने के लिए काफी है. हॉरर और सस्पेंस इस पुस्तक के हर पन्ने में समाया हुआ है. जल्दी ही अगर इस कहानी पर कोई फिल्म भी बन जाए तो मुझे बिलकुल भी आश्चर्य नहीं होगा.

पुस्तक में कहीं भी अश्लील भाषा का प्रयोग नहीं किया गया है. बड़ी ही साफ़-सुधरी भाषा में सब कुछ लिखा गया है. भाषा सरल और रोचक है और पुस्तक पढ़ते ही एहसास होने लगता है की शब्द किसी शब्दों के जादूगर की कलम से निकल रहे हैं.

पाठकों को सलाह दी जाती है की इस पुस्तक को रात में या अकेले में न पढ़ें. हॉरर के शौक़ीन लोगों के लिए यह पुस्तक एक तोहफे की तरह है.

इस पुस्तक का अंग्रेजी अनुवाद पढना खासा रोमांचक अनुभव होगा.

हॉरर के शौक़ीन इस पुस्तक को ज़रूर पढ़ें. 

The Paperback Badshah by Abhay Nagarajan

When you read, “The comical Journey”, you expect humor and objects to laugh, I was expecting moments of fun. The book did have some fun elements however not as much as I expected or anyone else would expect after reading the tagline on the book. Not talking in general, it didn’t work out very well for me as a reader. It may work for some, not making a generic comment here!

It was not a boring read; I was entertained at some parts. The book can be read to kill some leisure time.

A guy who is sick and tired of his job, he is from an upper middle class family and can afford to take a break to write his manuscript. The book written was “The Paperback Badshah”. People made fun of him, his friends laughed when they came to know that he is writing a love story as he had never been in love. And it finally happened!

One think I don’t like with some of the books is about authors mixing language, with this book I found usage of a lot of Hindi words. Either you write in Hindi or English or some other language, why to mix and make a mixed language soup which not everyone is able to digest?

I think the publisher was well aware in advance about the quality of content in this book and that is why they didn't invest much in designing the cover or in giving a better quality print.

I don’t want to be too harsh here however being a reviewer I have to be! The book was not a humor book for me as most of the jokes failed to make me laugh. Now days publishing business is getting a professional structure however with this book I don’t know why Shrishti wanted to take a chance. I don’t know if this is what the author can write as I have not read any of his other books however what went wrong with this book is beyond what I can think of. If it was just a marketing strategy, it failed!

The book lost track at so many places and lacked proper editing. To be honest, I kept the book down so many times and always picked it again with a hope of getting something in coming pages, disappointed.

I repeat it was not a boring read; I was entertained at some parts. The book can be read to kill some leisure time. And to add, to kill leisure time only!

Complete/Convenient by Ketan Bhagat

A famous writer’s younger sibling getting into the same profession, ‘nothing to be shocked about’, was my first expression. The famous author getting published by Rupa and the sibling from Shrisht …. I better stop here and speak about the book! (Is it not natural to think this way? It will happen for sure as people will compare in their sub conscious mind at least)

I read the book and I went slowly, I was delighted to see that Ketan did a good job indeed. The book has a plot, characters and narrative is also satisfying. Writing style is also good however lacked innovation, there are emotions, family drama, description etc. but still it went good. At times, going overboard with emotions grabs your head and you started to feel that the spice of emotional flavours are added considering Indian readers.

People might be entertained but at certain points I clear felt it was too much. Too much detailing at places and I think editors of the books were overruled with this aspect at least.

The title of the book didn't quite match with the story. The quality of the print was very nice however design of the cover is not attractive.

I liked the simple writing style; it is easy to connect with the plot. The story is good and looked like an autobiography however flows like a typical Karan Johar movie.

Author indeed left an impression and it will a good read for people who like emotions in detail. 

English Bites! by Manish Gupta

This book is not a novel and it was very clear when I held the complementary copy of the book in my hands for the first time.

This book is about Manish’s journey in mastering the English language. Readers should not take this book something to replace the requirement of the basics of English knowledge; you need to have Basic English knowledge to understand and making use of the tips shared in the book. I think it is the first book written where someone has shared his journey of understanding and mastering a language.

I don’t know how easy it was for the author to sell this idea to the publisher as looking at the way publishing industry is going, most of them are manipulated and governed by some of the so called editors who run the show with some agents. Whatever the case is, I am glad this book is published. It is worth a read!

The book is filled with details and appealing flow about topics and narrations and all are about improving the vocabulary. This is a very effective and non-traditional way to learn the language. Initially I found it boring and wasn't able to understand to what is happening but soon I started realizing that this book is written differently for people like me who can try to master the language and can also realize at the same time – there is more to learn every day.

The book covers topics, words and also tips/tricks to help us understand the words and their meanings. Go slow, is the mantra to read this book which I soon realized and with that started enjoying the read. The details given in the book are mind boggling and will help anyone for sure who are willing to give a conscious effort to improve their skills and get better in the language. What I really liked about the book is the way it progresses; the transition is smooth and makes it a pleasure to read this book.

The cover page of the book gives an insight of the book and it grabs immediate attention.

I would like to congratulate and thank the author for writing this book, an honest effort! 

When Strangers Meet by K Hari Kumar

Interesting title, nice cover, good quality print and a gripping synopsis – this is enough for a reader to pick up the books from the shelf. It feels good to hold the book, credit goes to the publisher!

This book is another example of a quick read. I liked the narration of the book; it’s simple yet grips the reader and leaves an impression. I was expecting to find sections in the story line and I was right! Although overall the book sails smooth however at some places I felt the story was dragged, was it really required or writer was trying to increase some pages to his novel? Anyways, I liked the way the story ended, a bit of surprise and shocking. I liked it!

The writing is simple and the book is easy to read especially for the people who want to read some English fiction with not a difficult to understand narration.

The publisher is known to throw books at reasonable rates and this book is no exception.

Editing is not at par, I was a bit disappointed. I do not want to spoil the review with pointing errors here 

however there was a lot of scope to remove some of the evident errors in the book.

The climax of the story is not very new, but is good and narrated well. The book could have been a much better read with more work on the language.

The author was successful to leave an impression. 

Taken Already by Yaagneshwaran G

The title is not original and unique; there was a book by the same title written by Love N. Lee. Authors should give a second thought and work on finding a title that makes their work unique, a lot of people are dependent on search engines to find details of anything and everything; books are no exception.

I am reading this author for the second time, his first book “The group of fools” didn't strike any chord in me and I was looking forward to read this book as I really wanted to see if the writer evolved or not. I was taken aback when I saw that the book is published under a self publishing unit…..But, I was wrong. My assumptions were stumped when I started reading the book.

I liked the fact that this book is a quick read, just 130 pages and you are through with a story with some twists and interesting turns.

The character of Sam Chacko is the most interesting while the climax is been ended with a hope that there can be a sequel following to this book, I will not be shocked and to be honest, I will be waiting.

Talking about the language and the editing part of the book, Author is improving! I read his first book and I was switched off as the book had so many errors however with this book, if I have to compare with his debut book, this is far better as a final product. Though the language is still not very crisp which is really required. The narration of the story is simple, if it was to be complicated, there would have been some added pages in the book.

The cover page is nice and attractive, the quality of the print is above average and it can do average business however the availability of the book can be a challenge. I have no idea if the publisher is doing something to market the book or not however as per my experience self publication units cannot give a structured marketing to any book for which they are charging to publish in advance; it makes no business craving for them to spend some extra thousand bucks.

I liked the book and I wish the author good luck for his future ventures.