Resonance, tough to write, easy to read

                              

Writer Ajay's debut book Resonance's success is no surprise because he makes the tough story so easy to understand and this is the foolproof reason behind the success of the book.

For any book, the most important thing is that when you start reading it, it should be able to develop and hold the reader's interest.

The best thing about Resonance is that once you start reading it, there's no way you're putting it down without finishing it in a heartbeat's time. And you leave no scope of missing anything out and if for a moment you feel you do, you go back to whatever you think you missed out on. Even lazy readers won't be able to hold that urge back.

The book is completely a work of fiction. Its story revolves around the Indo-Pak relationship, terrorism, ISI, bureaucracy, intelligence services, Jihad and Al-Qaeda, with a side story glazed by some romance and a little family bonding. It also shows some senior officials who can sell anything, from confidential information to their pride, just for a little money and honey.

The hardest of all is the plot of the story which is scientifically advanced and intelligent out of which Ajay has successfully created a solid story with strong characters. A story solid enough for you to be able to create or imagine each character as well as places, while reading the book.

To summarize, story's main protagonist is Imran Shah Malik, the retired chief of ISI Pakistan, who thinks that India is the reason behind Pakistan's partition into Bangladesh.

His dream is to divide India in two parts and also to create a big fuss regarding the Kashmir issue, implying that it should be decided upon by Kashmiris and not by the government of India.

But when his dream is about to come true, he gets killed, after which his son Aban enters the plot and wants to fulfill his father's dream which proves to be a hard task because a young IB officer Siddartha Rana gets appointed to solve this complicated case.

Siddartha is young, intelligent and sharp enough to come over all sorts of obstacles but this case is not easy because in order to solve it, he will have to catch his own officers and crack the code behind the plan of Al Qaeda and also the plan that Imran Shah Malik made, before his death, to destroy one of the biggest dams of India causing almost 30% of India to get washed away, which is a humongous job, but Malik had thought of a very dangerous and full proof plan, to stop the execution of which is next to impossible.

Ajay has used real names of places of different parts of the world and the way he has used actual Al Qaeda and ISI activities in detail is slightly scary, but bold of him and readers should salute him for writing fearlessly.

In Ajay's words, "This story that leaps across continents, gets to the heart of convoluted terrorist plot and attacks, and amazes you with its exposition of high-tech gadgetry and science. It is equally a story of breathtaking bravery, recounted at a mind-blowing pace. At its core, it is a story about the beauty of relationships, relationships that are beyond national boundaries and historic enmities."

To conclude, I just hope no institution really takes inspiration from this amazingly advanced book because if so happens, then may God help us.

Harish Sharma                                                                                                               by-Westland Rs.350