CHARACTERS: 3.5/5
WRITING STYLE: 2.5/5
CLIMAX: 3/5
ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 2.5/5
Few Musings
Thrillers often excite me. The mystery and dread associated with a thriller are often hard to come by in any other genre.
The year 2017 saw me reading an increasing amount of thrillers and I am pretty confident that this trend will only increase in the coming year.
What is the story about?
“Across the Silent Sands” essentially revolves around a couple of mysteries and murders which are given to the CBI to solve.
Akshaya Balakrishnan is an expert detective and her logical and deduction skills are to be envied. It is she who spearheads the various cases and closes each of them successfully.
CBI Inspector Akshaya stole the show
Of all the characters, the young and talented CBI Inspector Akshaya Balakrishnan clearly steals the show.
She is definitely one woman whom all the readers will fall in love with. She is smart, bold, intelligent and daredevil courageous.
Serial Killer “Artist” and the 1962 China War
I liked the way Karthik Sreeram has managed to include quite a number of cases in just under 150 pages. Though there were moments when I felt that adequate time wasn’t given to each case, overall the outcome was decent.
Of particular interest was the case that included the murder of an army soldier in the 1962 War against China.
The case which featured the serial killer “Artist” was also quite an interesting one to read.
I liked how Karthik was able to create multiplicity in so few pages.
Climax! Was it good?
The climax isn’t technically a climax as there were many investigations which were concluded way before the climax of the book.
The two main cases which I have also listed previously were solved in the last pages and that maybe be termed as the climax.
Overall, the climax was fitting.
Entertaining, eh?
“Across the Silent Sands” would have been a first-rate entertainer if not for the abundant editing mistakes that were evident throughout the book.
There were just too many of them overlook and that in the end made the book a not-so-good read.
The book has considerable potential but in the end, it was all blemished by the lack of proper editing.
The difference between a great book and an average book is often these minute things.
What I did not like.
The worst thing in “Across the Silent Sands” is its poor editing.
Another thing which I found lacking was sufficient development of the various plots and subplots. In this case, the plots were the various cases that the CBI team handled – I found that the cases were introduced and concluded hastily.
Pick it up
- If you enjoy short reads.
- If you enjoy fast-paced, action-oriented detective mysteries.
Skip it
- If you are a reader with no tolerance for editing mistakes.
Can’t wait to read it? Buy your copy from the links below.
