Book Review - Tikri's Fiasco: A Saga of Deceit and Valour in the Lands of Kasht by Rishav

My Rating - 3 out of 5 stars
Publisher - Blue Rose
Genre - Fiction
Publishing year - 2018
Language - English
ISBN - 978-93-87792-85-2
Pages - 131

My Review - 

Love does not decide your fate. If you fail once, just search for another.

Tikri's Fiasco is a debut book written by Rishav. It is based on an imaginary world where a country named Sindhustan faces a severe possibility of a nuclear attack. Their neighbouring countries, Alistan and Tikran, run terror groups, respectively, AeT and TeJ. Tikran strikes a deal with another powerful country, Uthe nited Seculars. They provide weapons in exchange for crypto-currencies. 

Seculars soon realize their mistakes, and to rectify them, they provide some valuable information to Pandit and Acharya, heads of SMI (Sindh Militia Agency). Sindhustan has a good connection with the Briewsel country. With the help of their bureau Qasad, they try to neutralize the threat. The agents were placed in Alistan and Tikran.

Raqsad, head of Qasad, gets an anonymous mail, and he sends his loyal spy Victor to meet a priest. Meanwhile, in Sindhustan, Pandit and Acharya have different opinions when it comes to an operation. This creates conflict in their relationship and also jeopardizes the lives of agents. 

Between all the blood baths and betrayals, another ghost agency named, Lubra deepens its roots. They came to rescue the mission and befriended Victor and Raqib (SMI agent), which changed the attack's course, and everything followed. Will terrorists execute their plan successfully, or they were just mere pawns in another plan?

As they say, spying is always an expensive method of acquiring information because it is done at the cost of human life. If an agent is compromised, it will be a dead-end for him/her. No one will be aware of their sacrifices. One such agent was Iqbal, an SMI spy. Rishav thoughtfully weaves the story around the secret agencies and how they worked. 

The personal life of agents and how it makes them vulnerable and strong, both at the same time, was finely penned. The countries' names have a resemblance to the real world, but for me, it creates confusion and makes it difficult to remember. 

The language is lucid, but a few punctuation mistakes are seen. The story is fast-paced, and the flow of writing keeps the readers hooked. The suspense element has to be paramount, but in some places, the story is simply anticipated. 

So I hope to read more suspense and action in the second book, where Victor's vengeance, epidemics, Acharya's mysterious exit, double-agent roles, and Lubra's identity will leave the readers in awe. Overall it's an entertaining book, and I recommend this book to newcomers. 

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