Dugoni, Robert. The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell: A Novel. Lake Union Publishing, USA, 2018. Read on Kindle Unlimited. 428 pages. (Monday 5–Thursday 8 October 2026).

Rating: 3/10

Kindle Unlimited is an Amazon library that allows you to borrow up to 20 titles at a time for less than two dollars a month. That is a brilliant concept. You don't like a book after reading the first few pages? You return it. Your money is not wasted. I have been a victim of this brilliant concept and have kept subscribing in the hope that I might eventually lay my hands on some good books.

Now, incredible as it may sound, this is one library where it is difficult, nearly impossible, to find a book you actually want to read. New books, famous books, bestsellers, books by known authors — they rarely appear. It is like switching on the entertainment screen during a twelve-hour flight and, despite going through all the options, failing to find a single watchable film.

Kindle Unlimited is one of those Amazon scams that attract victims and keep them hopeful.

Hopeful as I always am, I added ChatGPT to the equation this time. I prompted it to recommend a book from Kindle Unlimited India. Of course, ChatGPT knows everything about me. It recommended The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell, a novel by Robert Dugoni.

This is what ChatGPT said:

“The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell — Robert Dugoni

This is my No. 1 recommendation for you. Don't be put off by the title. It follows a boy born with ocular albinism through childhood and adulthood. It's about friendship, prejudice, family, faith, regret and how a life acquires meaning. Very different from Dugoni's crime fiction. It is repeatedly recommended by KU readers and listed as a KU title.”

My rating (3/10) should tell you that the experiment failed.

The book is easy to read, written in the first person by a red-eyed boy. You can make out that the author is in the habit of writing books. There is a certain flow to the narrative, and occasional wit.

There is also a sort of story, with an ultra-faithful Catholic mother, a villain, a platonic relationship that may not be exactly platonic, a black boy who turns into an athlete, and a pharmacy shop. People conveniently die, either in a car crash or in a double act of homicide-suicide. The characters and their destinies seem to exist largely for the convenience of the author.

I am giving away so many spoilers because I am not recommending that you read the book.

Verdict: First, Kindle Unlimited continues to be a scam. If this is the best book ChatGPT can recommend from its collection, it is probably better to unsubscribe.

Second, don't ask ChatGPT for advice on books.

Ravi 

Picoult, Jodi. Leaving Time, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 2015, paperback, pages 483.

Rating: 3/10

A convention dictates that scrupulous reviewers must warn their readers about “spoilers” in the review. Leaving time by Jodi Picoult is a scientific treatise on Elephants. Though debatable whether a “spoiler” warning is essential for a science textbook, it’s given here just in case you are an elephant fan, and would like to expand your knowledge of that pet subject.

Picoult, a prolific writer, has made her elephant dissertation a little spicy by adding a human fairytale to it. The fairytale starts with Jenna, a 13-year old girl making it her mission to find Alice, her mother, who has been missing for ten years. Thomas, the girl’s father is a madman in asylum, so he can’t help. Jenna contacts Serenity, a psychic, who has no psychic abilities any longer but manages to find Alice’s ten year old wallet on a tree and necklace in the ground. These things can happen in a fairytale.

After that the book has 100 pages describing  how elephants grieve and mourn the loss of stillborn calves. We understand how it takes an entire herd to raise an elephant calf. Readers are exposed to the word “allomothering”.

Jenna then recruits Virgil, a detective who is no longer a detective. He is unsure about his own name. He is a complete mess, disorganized, and as a result manages to find first a nail and later a tooth, both intact from ten years ago. These things do happen in a fairytale. Meanwhile, Serenity explains the difference between ghosts and spirits.

The next 100 pages tell us how elephants in zoos and circuses are unfortunate, how those in the sanctuaries are lucky. We learn about African and Asian elephants in America. We move from Botswana to New Hampshire.

By now the four key characters, Jenna, Alice, Serenity, and Virgil are all rendering lengthy monologues one after the other. Though everyone else thinks Alice is dead, the reader knows Alice is alive because she is telling her life story in first person.

The next 100 pages talk about the phenomenal elephant memory. They also contain a scientific discussion on whether selective parts of that memory can be erased permanently using drugs, and whether it’s possible to do the same for humans.

Meanwhile from the subplot, the fairytale, we know that Alice ceased to love her husband, Thomas, because he lost his marbles. She begins an affair with Gideon, a sanctuary employee. Because it is a fable, the 21^st century scientist Alice is unaware of contraception; pregnancy surprises her both times. Second time she is pregnant from Gideon. Following the affair, Gideon’s wife Grace commits suicide. Grace’s mother Nevvie is trampled over by an elephant, mutilated beyond recognition. Now comes the fairytale part. Ten years later, Jenna travels a thousand miles hiding in a bus and trucks and meets Gideon. Serenity and Virgil fly and in a dilapidated house meet Nevvie who is blind but alive, and waiting for Grace to come home. Grace may or may not be alive.  

Over the next 100 pages we read about Maura, a mother elephant, who was present at the crime scene, and probably trampled on one body and buried another. We wait for a first person narrative from Maura, but it doesn’t happen.

Now suddenly, the fairytale comes alive. We learn the protagonist,  who was talking to us all this time, died ten years ago. In this ‘whosalive’ mystery, we now realize a dead daughter was looking for a dead mother. But wait, the mother turns out to be alive. So, in fact, a dead daughter was looking for a living mother, with the help of a detective who is apparently long dead, but a psychic who for some reason is alive. Alice had an affair with Gideon, so his wife Grace committed suicide, so her mother Nevvie took revenge by killing Jenna, so Alice killed Nevvie in a dogfight. A very logical revenge cycle. Remember at the end of the book only Alice and Serenity are alive, everyone else is dead. The book is full of dead characters. Instead of the alive Jenna meeting her mother, dead or alive, the fairytale ends with the alive Alice meeting her dead daughter Jenna in a mirror. They express surprise about the mutual misunderstanding as to their living status.

The scientific thesis ends by reinforcing that poaching for ivory is evil, and that elephants may be more evolved than humans.

“Leaving time”, the enigmatic title, may refer to the author’s career plan. It’s also possible that the book was not written by Jodi Picoult at all – it might have been ghostwritten.

*****

Galbraith, Robert. (a.k.a. J.K Rowling). The Silkworm, Sphere, London, 2013. (Pages 456)

Rating: 5/10

I read this book immediately after the earlier Cormoran Strike adventure, the first book in this series, the Cuckoo's calling. I much preferred the Cuckoo's calling. My wife, though, read the Silkworm first followed by the Cuckoo's calling. She thought the Silkworm was better. My conclusion is that the series may not be as attractive and delightful as I had thought after reading the first book. Galbraith may go the same way as John Grisham, read one book, enjoy it, and the remaining are re-churning the same or similar.

While Galbraith (read: Rowling) maintains his (read: her) mastery over the language, displays great understanding of human psychology through subtle actions or dialogue, the Silkworm is much contrived and in places not credible. Readers, like theatre goers who accept the missing fourth wall,  are willing to suspend belief but not to any degree. I am tempted to give examples, but review ethics forbid me from playing a spoiler.

One thing I may mention, though. Many key characters in the Silkworm are related to the literary world, either authors or publishers. The author of Harry Potter appears to have drawn extensively from her experience with the publishing world. This industry appearing in a detective, murder mystery genre may be original, but for majority of the readers it is likely to be dull and tiresome.

Robert Galbraith is a refined, 21st century version of Agatha Christie. After the Cuckoo's calling, I excitedly took up the Silkworm. Now after completing it, I am not keen to read the Career of Evil, at least not for another year or so. I couldn't read Agatha Christie books one after the other either.

Verdict: Read the Cuckoo's calling instead. And if you have read that one recently, don't read the Silkworm for another year or so.

*****

Galbraith, Robert. (a.k.a. J.K Rowling). The Cuckoo's Calling, Sphere, London, 2013. (Pages 450)

Rating: 8/10

The Cuckoo's calling is a delightful book whether you know who Robert Galbraith is or not. It had sold only 1500 copies, before a publishing agent unethically and illegally leaked on twitter that Robert Galbraith was a literary transgender who had earlier written a series called Harry Potter. Once the news was leaked, the book began selling in millions. (ThisCNN report offers this and another story about the bizarre world of book publishing.)

If you keep aside this pseudonym tale and evaluate the book objectively, it's a real pleasure to read it. The book creates a strong new Private Detective, Cormoran Strike, not a superman but fairly human, someone who has lost part of his leg in the Afghan war. There is also Robin Venetia Ellacott, a 25 year old intelligent girl who assists him. The author is not shy to use 'f' language and other profanities. (Maybe that's why Rowling took a male pseudonym). This, I suppose, is inevitable for a book where events happen in 2010. Other than the swearing bit, the novel is a classical British detective- mystery-whodunit drama. A cocktail of Sherlock Holmes, Perry Mason and Agatha Christie.

The novel is written chronologically, in a straight-line, every new chapter begins where the earlier one ended. No parallel plots, no cross-cutting, no jump from one city to another. It's becoming difficult to find a modern novel so completely devoid of gimmicks. That I think is one of the major strengths of Cuckoo's calling.  

Superfluous to say the language is fluent, at times almost Wodehousian. Although not too often, you meet a few delightful metaphors. Characterization of the key characters is excellent.

I am deliberately not saying anything about the story. One should not reveal anything in a crime fiction book. (Unless the book is bad, in which case you may reveal everything so as to discourage anyone from reading it.)

It is obvious J.K. Rowling doesn't need to write for money. Her writing this series is an extraordinary example of what is meant by the 'writing urge.' She has gifted a new detective to the readers. May she produce more books with Cormoran Strike than she did with Harry Potter.

Verdict: If you are fan of crime fiction, a must read. If you like Cormoran Strike, potentially you will be able to read many more of his cases.

*****

Follett, Ken. Eye of the Needle,  Pan books, London, 2009. (pages 464) First published in 1978 by Futura Publications.

Rating: 7/10

With the literary retirement of Fredrick Forsyth, I have been looking for an author resembling him. The Century Trilogy by Ken Follett (3000 pages) at least partly put an end to that quest. Follett is British, his writing is normally based on true history, his books are easy and pacey to read, and most importantly, he has been super-prolific. I may need six months to read his published books. To start with, I decided to read the book that made him famous, a spy story from the second world war called "Eye of the Needle." (originally published as "Strong Island") Follett wrote this when he was twenty-seven. Since I read his century trilogy first (when Follett is in his mid-sixties), the writing in Eye of the Needle is understandably less mature, youngish, chaste. If James Hadley Chase were to write a historical novel, it would read something like this.

The year is 1944, a few weeks before D-Day. The allies are inflating their invasion plan with phoney armada of ships and planes. Their strategy would be ruined if the Germans were to find out. The top German spy, so highly respected, that Hitler relies on him, is travelling across England to learn and pass on the war secrets. This spy is far more ruthless than James Bond. Killing is as natural to him as sneezing to a man with cold. His weapon is the stiletto knife, his code name is "the needle." To take care of the "love" angle, there is a remarkable young woman he encounters on a storm battered island.

The concept of this novel based on true history is interesting, and the ending of the book very clever. Credibility of certain scenes is low probably the result of the very young author.

Verdict: If you wish to read Ken Follett in total, this book is a useful starting point.

*****

Follett, Ken. Century Trilogy (total pages 2900)

Fall of giants, Penguin books, New York, September 2010. (Paperback, pages 1070)

Winter of the World, Macmillan, London, 2012 (Paperback, pages 820)

Edge of eternity, Pan books, London, 2014 (Paperback, pages 1010)

Rating: 9/10

Ken Follett's Century Trilogy, with nearly 3000 pages and more than a million words, is one of the longest books I have read. (To my mind only Ayn Rand and Tolstoy's War and Peace come close to it.) At its end, I felt what a marathon runner feels when crossing the finish line. Writing a 3000-page historical novel, extremely faithful to the real history, and making it a bestseller in the 21st century is a monumental accomplishment.

In War and Peace, Tolstoy covers a very short period (1805-1812), while Follett in his trilogy covers almost the entire 20th century. Fall of giants, the first part is devoted to the First World War, Winter of the World to the Second World War and the final Edge of Eternity to the cold war. In that sense, the novel may be called "War and War".

Like in Tolstoy's book, the Century Trilogy also covers the lives of five families, though Follett's canvas is truly global. His families come from England (Fitzherbert) , Germany (Von Ulrich/Franck), Russia (Peshkov/ Dvorkin), America (Dewar, Peshkov) and Wales (Leckwith-Williams), and their lives are cleverly intertwined. We read the lives of at least three generations, with the teenagers in the first novel becoming eighty-plus (or dying) by the third novel. The Welsh family is a tribute to the author's origins. Wales doesn't belong to the same league as America, England, Germany and Russia.

If you wish to learn the history of the 20th century without getting bored, this trilogy is ideal. It is an extremely readable novelization of history. The historical references are well-researched and authentic. Just to give a single example, the character of Maria Summers, the black intern working in the White House, seduced by John Kennedy is based on Mimi Alford. Alford published a book in 2012 (Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy and its Aftermath) wherein she gave details of her affair with President Kennedy. Follett uses that book and his interview with Mimi Alford to make Maria Summers and events surrounding her true to history.  Using a novelist's privilege, he makes Maria black, while Mimi was white.

I had the fortune of visiting most of the places in the book (with the exception  of Cuba and Vietnam). I lived in the Soviet Union/ Russia for fifteen years. I visited Berlin and East Germany before and after the fall of the Berlin wall. I can vouch for the authenticity of the descriptions and portrayal of the national psyche of the Russians and East Germans.

By the way, the conflict and confrontation between the white and black races in the USA features throughout the three books. Though technically not classified as a war, we witness the battle between the races. We read about the long fight culminating into the voting rights for Blacks in 1965. Certain readers have questioned the appearance of Barack Obama in the epilogue. I think it is apt. The USA electing a black president was as remarkable as the fall of the Berlin Wall. Both denote an end of a cold war in different senses.

Sex is a major element of the trilogy. I suppose the author considers sex essential to make the reader keep reading. With a similar frequency and regularity with which romantic songs appear in Bollywood films, every few pages you read about oral sex, breasts, pubic parts, undressing, masturbation, erections and passionate kissing. Like Bollywood songs, these passages have little to do with the story, but serve the function of titillating the readers who wish to be titillated. Another similarity with the old Bollywood films is that the female characters in the books regularly shock their male lovers by saying: "I am pregnant." (In the first two books this can be excused, but in the third contraceptives were widely available).

When reading the trilogy, the reader will need to accept the author's biases. Unlike Fredrick Forsyth, whose writing is mostly neutral and journalistic, Follett doesn't hide his strong prejudices. Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan are absolute villains, while Gorbachev is an angel. White people are racist, while blacks can do little wrong. No Russians can be trusted, whereas Welsh people are amongst the most sympathetic.

None of this, though, diminishes the joy of reading this series. It is vivid, lively and no doubt will be converted into an epic serial on television. Storytelling is more important to the author than language or style. I felt the language improved considerably in the third book, which has many metaphors, and at times even quotable sentences. But this book will never win a Booker prize. The century trilogy will, instead, continue to be on the bestsellers' list and will please readers rather than literary critics.

Verdict: Keep aside a month, to read the three books in their chronological order to learn the history of the 20th century in a highly readable form.

*****  

Kissinger, Henry. World Order, Penguin Press, New York, 2014. (Hardcover, pages 420)

Rating: 6.5/10

As a man in his nineties, with diplomacy as his favorite sport, a Nobel peace prize winner, someone who has hobnobbed with most presidents and prime ministers of his time, a rare politician who excelled in academics and is the author of more than twenty books, Henry Kissinger is well qualified to give the readers a history lesson with a different perspective - the history of the World Order.

Kissinger says there has never been a true "world order." China constructed a global cultural hierarchy with the Chinese emperor at its pinnacle. After the fragmentation of Rome, Europeans refined the concept of Sovereign States. Islam considered itself the sole legitimate political unit, aiming to bring the entire world to adopt its religious principles. The USA was born with the conviction about the universal applicability of the principles of democracy and freedom.

Just like people, nations rarely change. If countries like England, France, Germany, China or Russia were personified; from Henry Kissinger's book it becomes evident that in the last five hundred years or so, each of these personae has retained its core values and behavior. England, for example, waited behind the channel for Napoleon and a century and a half later for Hitler, to make a mistake that would enable it to reappear on the continent militarily. In World War II, Britain was also waiting for the United States to enter the lists. (Page 46) Germany, Kissinger says, has for much of history been either too weak or too strong for the peace of Europe. (Page 64)  Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 may appear shocking, but in 1783, the Russian empire had annexed it, and fought a major Crimean War between 1853 and 1856.

But such insights are few. World Order is essentially a history book that could have been written by any historian. The reader will get impressed in inverse proportion to his knowledge of the world history. What is more disappointing is how rarely Kissinger tells us his personal experiences or anecdotes. I could count not more than ten, and most of them were superficial. For those readers who value personal experiences from such author, I offer the page numbers. pages 170/ 222/223/224/ 281/289/304-5/ 313/ 324-25/ 334. This will save you time in case that is all that you wish to read.

The book has some excellent quotations:

Page 14) Holy Roman empire was neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an empire. - Voltaire

27) We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow. - 19th century British Statesman Lord Palmerston.

54) Russia: European discipline supporting the tyranny of Asia. - Marquis de Custine.

253) Speak softly and carry a big stick. - Theodore Roosevelt

270) The only way to have a friend is to be one.- Emerson

279) America has Universal principles, while other countries merely has national interests. - every US president.

307) You pay the same price for doing something halfway as for doing it completely. So you might as well as do it completely. - Richard Nixon.

A chapter on technology (Technology, Equilibrium and Human Consciousness) is a surprise. It may seem out of place in this book. But Henry Kissinger attempts to look at the future world order and the role of technology in it. He describes how technology weakens the distinction between information, knowledge and wisdom. From this book, the reader gains much information and knowledge but little wisdom.

What is even more disappointing, I should say frustrating or infuriating, is Kissinger's hypocrisy in the chapter on Saudi Arabia.  (Pages 134-141)

On page 324, Kissinger proudly talks of his supporting the decision to undertake the regime change in Iraq. One reason offered is that no political opposition was permitted in Iraq by the ruling Baath party. Kissinger then adds: In the long run, stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty.

The same author, when talking about Saudi Arabia, though is almost apologetic. He comes across as defending the Saudi state. Saudi Arabia's conservatism and practices border on evil if not downright evil, it doesn't allow any opposition party either, it prohibits women from working. Why does stability matter so much and liberty so less when Kissinger talks about Saudi Arabia? If at the age of 92, he can't talk his mind openly, when does he plan to do so? This hypocrisy is the biggest blemish on this otherwise good book by one of the most seasoned politicians in the world.

Verdict:  If you haven't read many books that blend history and politics, World Order is an interesting book.  Henry Kissinger, the academician rather than diplomat, has written it. Kissinger, the diplomat, has simply ensured the loss of objectivity in some places.