Let the Game Begin

Title: Let the Game Begin

Author: Sandeep Sharma

Publisher: Inspire India Publishers, 2016 (First)

ISBN: 9789385783463

Pages: 174

This review is of a book sent to me courtesy the author, but I have tried to be objective as far as possible.

This book is meant as a popular thriller and it does its job extremely well. Those who admire Dan Brown get a foretaste of what one of his plots would look like, had it been planned unravel in India. The author, Sandeep Sharma, is just 22 years old, is a civil engineer by profession and is currently working on his startup venture named ‘Author Paradise’ that works for the benefit of authors to provide them well-organized online and offline publicity. He has been writing short stories for a personal blog since six years and has already authored another book titled ‘Hey Dad, Meet My Mom…’. The present book, ‘Let the Game Begin’ is actually a historical thriller that shows unmistakable signs of talent and promise on the part of the author. Strands of history, chess and current politics are seamlessly blended in the narrative as to guarantee a few delightful hours for the reader. Almost as an afterthought, elements of science fiction has also been incorporated into the narrative, in the form of a device that can intercept the electromagnetic signals emitted by the human body and wreak havoc on the victim by destructive interference with it.

All the great books of India and her philosophy are full of the idea of reincarnation as the mechanism by which the soul cycles through generations of karma before it finds deliverance by merging with the divine in moksha. The protagonists of the story first appears in the timeline 4000 years ago, in the two kingdoms of Chaturanga and Sarprakt, which are engaged in a battle unto death with each other. The only son, Devrat, of the just ruler Viratha of Chaturanga is killed treacherously in battle by the machinations of the Sarprakt king and his chief councilor by taking advantage of disloyal courtiers in the Chaturanga royal entourage. Unable to absorb the severe blow caused by the loss of his only son, Viratha retires from politics and invent the game of chess as an accessory to analyse how his son was overwhelmed in the battlefield. The story of the cruelest treachery made by his disciples and enemies in a concerted move was soon apparent to him. His thirst for revenge transforms into a curse that follows the main characters in their rebirths 4000 years later, coincident with the present.

Serial killings without any apparent motive shock the nation and its security establishment, since the prime minister’s life itself is threatened. The highest echelons of the information-gathering machinery in the country work overtime to assemble a taskforce to see through the strategy of the killer and to stop him in his tracks. The police are further confounded by the discovery of an archaically sculpted chess piece from the victim’s surroundings. The team comprising two chess players, a historian and security experts proceed in a series of thrilling adventures and exposes the motive of the crime. Aspects of chess, anticipation, love and history are all intertwined in the narrative. Sharma has cleverly included several scenes in the story which works best as part of a movie. In fact, the entire plot and the storyline befit a Bollywood blockbuster.

On the flip side, there is ample scope for improvement in the book. Even though the text is well structured and the author has a tight leash over his characters, the link sometimes appears tenuous. The difficulty associated with too many characters from the past is fairly obvious. The book mentions a scientific paper which describes about human DNA being repeated every 4000 years as a justification for the idea of reincarnation in an effort to ground it on a solid base of reason. This may confuse the readers into believing something which has no scientific basis whatsoever. The author could’ve cited chance and probability for the repeatability of the complicated DNA sequence by suggesting some plausible mechanism for the simultaneous repetition of the DNA of so many persons. The book ends with enough suspense and another part of the sequence is promised in the unmitigated curse still following the major actors.

The book is ideal for light reading and is quite a page turner. Being a small one, you can finish it even in one go. It fulfills the promise to its targeted audience of young readers sufficiently well. Sandeep Sharma shows great promise as a budding writer who has a prosperous future ahead with, of course, more detailed research and dedication.

The book is recommended.

Rating: 4 Star