god is a gamer ... review

  blogadda   book review

      GOD  IS  A  GAMER

   by    Ravi  Subramanian


the best part is the climax. the fbi and the cbi
sit together and tie the knots in the long
rope to hang tanya, with professional handouts
from her lover varun. the team  replays the full
story with cuts and pastes and highlights
on the corner incidents. when the audience ,
accepting the moral inevitability of tanya
paying for her sins  gets up to move out,
the screen lights up again.

and that is a beauty. the epilogue tells us how we
have all been taken for the ride by varun the real
villain. all the characters are called back and
re examined. their contracts with varun are re read.
when they march out taking their wages in bitcoins to
play the video game mafia don we are back in the dark
in the real world where varuns roam  scotfree and tanyas
go to the gallows to appease the authorities. it is a
logical entailment that if a crime is committed then
someone should be punished.

the one reason for this book probably getting into the
best seller list is the ingenuity of varun. i have a
feeling that it is varun who thought up the whole story
and forced the author to write this book.

coming to the other highlights of the book, it is malavika's
murder that stands out as the best sub plot. with lower  limbs
turning rigid due to the effects of hemlock seeds which kill
by progressively paralysing body parts starting from the limbs
as it did to socrates 2500 years ago malavika stumbles over
the low parapet and falls to her death. even forensics
confirm suicide as hemlock poison does not turn up in such
examinations unless it is specifically tested for.

in contrast senator gillian's death is a tardy plot. and the
atm heist which takes up a large portion of the book is rather
overblown. computers all over the world blowing up due to
excess heat generated by continuous bitcoin mining which they
are bugged over the internet to do is also an example of
imagination gone wild and out of context.

as the title suggests gaming is the soul of the book. the details
are vivid and the lure is difficult to ignore. yet i did not turn
a gamer becoz though god is a gamer, he probably plays dice more
often. and in the latest throw he has probably assigned bitcoins
to me. i have already opened a vallet with blockchain.info .
if any of you feel like transferring a few bits ( it is one
millionth of a bitcoin current value of which is around 24,000
indian rupees ) to my wallet to help me continue this madness,
here is the address
        1H5wmFNQmW477j96B1kLxPYLAwy5kBHS16

before signing off, a few bad words to ward off the curse of
the soothsayer. the language though english is typically indian
which many natives may mistake for greek if not spanish. and a
good word to smooth the itch. sex scenes are sober and a welcome
change.

the final word.  an enchanting thriller for the new generation.
may be this book will take you out of the  video game addiction.
not by disgracing the game. but by offering better entertainment.
much better and less addictive for sure.