Haller, Richard and Rachael. The 13th Apostle. Harper Collins Publishers. India. 2007. ISBN: 978-0-00-726735-4

What begins as a conspiracy thriller ends quie unexpectedly as a universal message of hope and faith for mankind.

A diary is discovered - it sets off a trail of cybersleuthing. Gill Pearso and Sabbic Karaim decipher a scroll that the diary leads them to. The truth is set in a flashback and the story shuttles between the presetn and the past tracing Yeshua's (Jesus) death and resurrection. Myth and faith are closely interwoven and the faith takes one on the supreme yatra of discovery - the atman in the paramatman.

The message is of faith in goodness notwithstanding one's follies, foibles and frailities.

A stirring read.

Diehl, William. Reign in Hell. Ballantine Books. New York. 1997. ISBN 0-345-39506-9

The book is terrifying, not only because Aaron Stampler, a reminder of Hannibal Lector, Vail's nemesis is back, but because he is back with a religious bang...clothing terrorism in religion.

On the verge of retirement, Vail is caught up in the turmoil of American states being overpowered by religious outfits committing heinous crimes and killing hundreds of innocent citizens.

Witness protection programmes run awry...unacknoweldged soldiers of Nam assemble under a General's mentorship to take vengeance on the world that has not acknowledged them ... and the climax is totally unexpected...if one Aaron Stampler dies, there is always another to take his place.

The only good things happening are Vail surviving an attack and his getting married to Venable from the hospital bed...some consolation in the midst of chaos and hell risen from the depths of a dark and terrible world.

Absolutely chilling reading...strikes a chord with one from the modern times.

Trunk Music

Connelly,Michael.Trunk Music. St.Martin's Press:New York, 1998.

Crime thrillers that take their time to unwind may not be racy or gripping page turners...but they slowly grow one and even if they require days of reading, one keeps on because the unravelling of the mystery becomes as much of a necessity as the clearing of cobwebs in a stacked up garage. You like to see everything sparkling clean at the end of what seemed a chore.

Detective Harry Bosch returns to his job after a brief period of untouchability in his department. The file he is assigned investigates the death of a man found in the trunk of a car parked in the view of thousands of people gathered for a Philharmonic concert at the Bowl in Hollywood. It is a case of 'trunk music' - a 'wise guy saying outta Chicage...when they whack some poor slob'. The connection is not really hard to make and the curiosity begins there for the reader.

Bosch must solve this not just to regain his confidence as a detective, but also his self-esteem and dignity as a human being. He solves the crime with determined perseverance. What I liked about the book is that Bosch comes out as a detective with a heart, who finds in Eleanor Wish, another convicted cop, a woman of substance.

Connelly is brilliant at the tying up of knots of the hundreds of loose ends. Momens of dullness are interspresed with moments of brilliance.

That is one reason why I persisted with the novel.