Sonal Singh On Sonal's Table

As the name would suggest, this is a book about happiness, the kind that only touches the life of a few lucky people. However, it is also a book about loss and finding your way out of your grief. The funny thing about grief is that even though it hurts, we grieve loss by finding a sense of comfort in the emotion. We wrap it around ourselves and refuse to let go because within its confines we still find the presence of our loved ones.

The characterization in the book is strong, as strong as the strong-willed protagonists that Neil has created. His protagonists are not lily-livered children with over-active, fertile imaginations. They are decisive thinkers and planners. They carry the weight of the stories on their puny shoulders.

‘Eighty hours to save Karen’ is a book with such a vein of thrill in its body. The 69 page volume is the author’s first commendable attempt at writing a thriller. The storyline, sans any superfluous language, is straightforward and takes you straight into the mind of the protagonist Air Commodore Mathew Williams. The story explores the lengths to which a devoted grandfather would go to ensure the safety and well-being of his only grandchild, entrusted to his care.