Book Review: 'Curse of the Blood River' by Vineet Bajpai

When it comes to history, we always love to know what happened in the past and draw inspirations positively to live the present. Sometimes, we also say history repeats itself. It does, but we get to know the technique to deal with it in a better way from the example of the past.

Vineet Bajpai crafts his story in a very interesting and dear historical setting atleast to me, the setting is of great importance and liking as I have learnt of it in my history classes. But the title is what disturbed me and I couldn’t but start reading.

The story is marked by umpteen surprises. The suspense is created all through making one get glued to the storyline. The story takes you from Delhi to Harappa to Paris to Banaras.

The author wonderfully describes different places. The one description that I could visualize perfectly was that of the city of Varanasi. Vineet makes you have feel of yesteryear civilizations and ghats of Banaras, and not excluding the heritage of Varanasi.

The storyline suggests Vidyut’s dying ancestor summoning him to Banaras. The old Brahmin chieftain of the Dev-Raakshasa Matth, or the God-Demon Clan, bears a chilling secret. Their bloodline carries an ancient curse that will plague mankind - towards its own violent extinction. And the rest of the plots are intertwined in this whether it be Harappa, Paris or Rome.

What is pathetically unforgiving is the colloquially written dialogues which could have been edited and polished to enhance the standard of the historical thriller. The poor dialogues did hamper the fast pacing and gripping story.

But if these are avoided just because the author is trying his hand in this genre for the first time, then the book is commendable. Above all, the research done by the author needs a special mention and to know more, go purchase your copy and travel through Harappa - Curse of the Blood River.