The Times We Live In | Book Review | Criticspace

The thriller master has finally come with his second book and it is ready to excite you, thrill you and enchant you. The name Madhav Thapar is the one who has delivered one of the most successful thrillers in the market. Moreover, you can avail the same from Amazon, your own shop. People usually buy Crime, Thriller & Mystery novels from shops, read and then forget it within a few days. But it is not going to be the same for Madhav’s heroics stories which is action-packed with rescues, attacks, moves and almost every movement… I am sharing my experience of Madhav’s novel “The Times We Live In”. This is the second novel of the author, after a huge success of his debut book “A Friend Like Karna” so, most importantly, I would recommend every reader to read the first one “A Friend Like Karna” before the next as many of the characters are interlinked.

The Characters: There are n number of important characters that you will meet in the novel. And this list of characters will help many of us to guide (obviously if you are not one of those lazy bone readers) and to keep a note about every character you meet in the course of the novel. The main characters are the children of Girdhari Lal Mehta and Sarfaraz Khan. Om Prakash, Jai Prakash, Veena and the strikingly beautiful Sushma are the children of Mehta family, and Parvez is the son of Sarfraz Khan. We witness a sorrowful love story of Sushma and Parvez. Apart from these, there are more other important characters also; one such is Cobra, which is a hidden character in the novel and is the mastermind behind all terrorist activities.

The Plot: The plot is based on two major events in the world history – ‘The pain of India-Pakistan bloodiest partition ever’ and bloodiest 26/11 terrifying attack in Mumbai. The author is a proper blend of perfection and has properly connected these events with the perfect use of fiction and facts. He has honestly put how one event affects the other and he is brilliant this time. “Religion does not breed terrorism, hatred does.” This line itself described the whole plot of the novel which the author has selected as the first line of his prologue. The author has described the story of different generations of two families who have separated because of India-Pakistan partition. Another thing which keeps the novel moving is the research on RAW spy agents and the hunt for mastermind terrorist code-named COBRA. This character is a hidden one till the last part of the book.

The family of Mehta tries to reach India from Pakistan with the help of his friend Sarfaraz Khan. It was not that easy at that time since they were facing the bloodiest partition ever. The family got killed in between and only Sushma and Jai Prakash survives. 

The story moves forth and back many times; however, it never creates confusion and the author is successful to keep the suspense alive till the end. In this novel you can come through love, revenge, betrayal, sacrifice, patriotism and all those emotions which many of the families might have surely witnessed at the time of the actual event. Parvez, son of Sarfaraz, loves Sushma, daughter of Mehta, but what will be the end of this impossible love story? Will they survive together or they will have to pay for their love? How the mystery behind all terror activities will be solved? On a RAW mission, will Shashank be able to uncover Cobra? Who Cobra actually is? To find out all these answers, you will need to read this thrilling novel by Madhav Thapar. 

These days, I am surprised by the way how Indian authors are touching the international standards by delivering such amazing works. No doubt they are perfect at romance novels, but for the first time, I am extremely happy and cent-per-cent satisfied to read a suspense thriller work by an Indian author. Kudos to the author for his efforts and his research on true events! The novel is a complete page turner with full of action, emotion, and drama.

My Review: As I said, I am cent-per-cent satisfied with the novel, I will surely give 5/5 for this novel. Author Madhav has set the next level for the writers of this genre and I hope he will keep delivering the similar thrillers in future as well. The readers who want to spend some of their hours resolving a puzzle which is filled with too many past connections, terror activities and pain of Indo-Pak partition, let’s get your hands on the “The Times We Live In!” You won’t regret reading this thriller and would surely be waiting for the next one to come… Happy Reading!