Bunker 13

I'll make this short. Set your expectations right before reading this story, and you'll not regret it. What should your expectations be? 1. Second Person. Not many stories are written this way, but this one is. It may throw you off-balance at first if you're used to reading many books in a week, and all of them are narrated either in First, or Third person. 2. Cuss words. Learn to read them, or don't pick this one. It's not a story book written for your 6-year old. With an army (Indian) in the background of the story, you can't just leave them out. 3. Graphic details. Terror and Love. Both of them, in graphic details. Yes. 4. Some slow portions. This is the part which can bore you out. I found myself skimming around 20-25 pages quickly because I could not stand the conversations or the background narration by the author. Fortunately, these were limited to 20-25 pages in total. That's it. Minty Mehta is all yours to read!

This is the best thriller I have read in a long time. Picture Hunter S Thompson writing Catch 22, that's how funny and ferocious this book is. This book is about a dangerous game of double dealing and an anti-hero that layers identity on identity. MM is a defence journalist but has an agenda of his own, and with Spider Jerusalem-like vehemence he takes on everybody that stands in his way. Saying more about the story would be giving it away, go and read it for yourself, you wont be disappointed. Here are a few tasters though: free-falling while shooting heroin, spies and mobsters, rogue army units and nuclear arms-heists, stingers and mp5's, swastika shaped pubes and kinky sex, chemical torture and Jihad. Do I really have to go on?

Aniruddha Bahal's Bunker 13 moves at such a lightening quick pace that the reader rarely has time to think. Bunker 13 stars MM, an adrenaline junky of an investigative news reporter, ostensibly researching illicit weapons and drug deals in the Indian Army. MM spends much of the book stalking his nemesis, a Major Rodriguez, but nothing in Bunker 13 is exactly as it seems. The story takes off with MM going through paratrooper training in the Indian Special Forces, with a high octane narcotic chaser. From there, MM follows Rodriguez into Kashmir... and to go into any more detail would give away too many spoilers. This is not a book meant to make you think; its all action, well written and fast paced.If there's a major flaw in the book, its that at times the package is so fast, dark and smooth it doesn't feel particularly Indian. In that regard, Bunker 13 had a vaguely Bollywood feel to it... not only is it a twisted version of real life, on speed, but its an idealized Indian/Western version at that. Bahal uses the 2nd person while writing the book, and while at first annoying it eventually has its impact. In some ways, the second person perspective gives the book a slightly psychedelic feel, although in the beginning it felt derivative of something else, perhaps Complicity by Iain Banks.Despite any flaws, or lack of Indian flavor Bunker 13 is nothing but a literary version of a high end Hollywood action film. Thinking too much spoils the fun, and the plot twists at the end are so wild that nobody could anticipate them. Instead, the reader should sit down, pour a drink, and just enjoy the ride. Its dark, fast, fun and not easily forgotten!

Indian investigative journalist Bahal's fictional debut stars MM, an anti-hero investigative journalist who covers military affairs for a fledgling weekly magazine. The roller-coaster of a thriller starts off with MM on an undercover assignment with Indian army paratroopers in Kashmir. Before the reader knows it, the story is knee-deep in corruption, as he discovers an elite unit siphoning off captured weapons and drugs to sell on the international market. With this as the background for gripping set pieces of jungle patrol against the "Mossies" (Kashmiri guerillas), shooting heroin while parachuting, plus loads of recreational drug use and three exceedingly explicit sex scenes, the book rockets along at a furious pace.However, that's just the tip of the iceberg, as it is quickly revealed that the crusading journalist also works for Indian intelligence. Bahal works hard to keep the reader guessing as to MM's true motivation: is he really a righteous journalist who hates corruption, or is he an Indian James Bond looking to take down India's enemies, or is he a recklessly brilliant hedonist who's playing both sides against the middle, or is he all of these, or maybe none? The second-person perspective writing helps to blur matters, but careful readers will pick up on one clue early on that may provide the answer. The overall tone is very hard to describe. Loaded with military jargon, acronyms, weapon specifications, and machinations, the book reads at times like a subcontinental Tom Clancy. Yet the corruption angle and black humor is very reminiscent of Robert O'Connor's excellent novel Buffalo Soldiers, whose plotline also features military drug smuggling, or even the classic military satire Catch-22. However, there's also a wacky Elmore Leonardish feel to it as well, with loads of kooky memorable characters, scathing humor, and wild heist schemes. At the same time, each set piece is vivid and believable, from Mm's visit to the Russian mafia, to the office politics of his magazine, to a giant rave, to the spooky final battle scene in Kashmir.As the book rockets along and the stakes grow higher and higher with each fresh twist, it somehow gets rather exhausting. The second person voice grows old fast, and under Bahal's breakneck pace some of the satire is left behind and the book becomes more of a straightforward thriller. Crammed with action, the pace is relentless enough, however, to largely divert one's attention from the outlandishness of it all. It's a fun read, and a refreshing break from the tidal wave of measured highbrow fiction coming from India over the last decade. American readers may want to do a tiny bit of background reading on the Kashmiri conflict beforehand, as Bahal assumes readership familiarity with the main gist of it.

I had met the author on one of his visits to New York and he had mentioned about writing this book. I kept in touch with him, and actually got to go through an advanced copy of it too. The book starts out tight and only gets tighter page by page. Reads like your typical Tom Clancy thriller, with good action, descriptive but not boring .. enough of a pace to keep you hooked and glued ... but the real twist comes in the end. The end just leaves you gasping for air at the audacity of the whole plot. The story is contextual to India and Kashmir, so i would suggest getting a brief overview of the nationalistic rivalry in that part of the world (much like the happenings between the Serbs and Croats) to really and truly appreciate the wonderful insanity of this book. Also makes you question your perspectives on nationalism and what it means to be patriotic .. but then thats too deep a topic for this book. This is a true blue nail-biter of an action thriller.Overall, an awesome read that i just cant seem to get out of my mind ...