"Genius is a curse. Some think that the brilliant comprehend the universe in a way the rest of us can't. No. They see the world how it truly is—and that reality is so horrible they lose their minds.

Clarity leads to insanity."

-Harlan Coben

Caught

"So basically that whole theory is blown to hell," said Myron.
"Not basically", Win corrected. "Entirely."

Book Review. Gone for Good by Harlan Coben.

Just when you think that there can no longer be books that can really really keep you awake at nights, you stumble upon a masterpiece like 'Gone for Good'. What amazingness!

It's primarily a story of two brothers. All Coben books start like that and then within no time, there are a series of characters introduced making it difficult to single out one main hero (or villain).

Will looks up to his elder brother Ken for everything..he looks up to Ken as his protector. And one day, Ken is accused of raping and murdering Julie, their neighbor and Will's ex-girlfriend. Ken disappears and is never to be seen. He is gone for good - so everybody assumes because it's been eleven long years since that incident. And then, after all these years, their mother, while on the death bed, whispers to Will, "Your brother is alive".

And Will's seemingly uninteresting world takes a 360 degree turn. Because surprisingly, the next day, the love of Will's life, Sheila, disappears without a trace.

Believe it or not - none of what I said counts as spoilers. Because all of this happens in the first ten pages of the book! Now you tell me, how can one put down a book like this?! I finished the book in two straight days..I had to cut down on sleep because it eluded me. The twists and turns are by the page. All the characters are equally important though they may not seem so on the outside. The ending is amazing. All the loose ends are so wonderfully covered up. Now unless, you really want to just find mistakes with the story, you can go ahead and do that, but Coben has mesmerized me with his imagination.

It is engrossing. The characters are well-sketched - Ken, Will, Sunny (their mother), Squares (Will's best friend and personally my favorite), Sheila and the Ghost (again, my favorite). The relationships are wonderfully defined. You actually feel for the characters, the ones who have disappeared, the ones who have spent a good time of their life threatening and murdering others, and the ones who have been betrayed.

Coben's favorite, Hester Crimstein makes a brief appearance in the book. She is such a delight!

Harlan Coben never disappoints! Mark this as one of the must-reads before you die!

Delusions of Life

What happened is sad. 25 years is not an age to die, and it is certainly not an age to end your own  life willingly. Life can get tough, everybody's is. Not just her; look around and you see almost every person struggling with their lives - be it in love or career or family.

Mothers have problems dealing with their teenage children, some women have problem conceiving altogether, fathers are struggling for that better job, that better pay because they have to support their family, kids are having a hard time performing well in all areas be it academic or play.

I am not a cold and cruel person to judge Jiah Khan's problems. I am not saying her problems are very trivial and not a big deal. Her problems must be really troubling. But so troubling that you took your own life? So troubling that you got free by killing yourself and leaving your loving mother to deal with the consequences? So troubling that you hold a fellow that you are supposedly in love with, responsible for your life-ending action?

Am no fan of this Suraj Pancholi. Hell, I hadn't even heard his name till now. So, I am not supporting him. But what was his fault? That he spoke to her rudely? That he maybe fell in love with her? That he maybe advanced his relationship with her under the false pretext of marriage? That he maybe even had an affair with another girl while dating Jiah also?

I agree all of the above deeds are morally wrong. No guy or girl should do this to another. It is the wrongest thing to do and raises fingers on his character and upbringing. But that doesn't mean he is a murderer! He can be the biggest scum on the face of earth. But not a killer.

He was 22 years old. He didn't know better. I don't think, people know what is right and what is wrong even when they reach a mature age. Who's to say that 50 year-old married men with two children do not indulge in infidelity every now and then?

My point is not to support Suraj or to simply accept infidelity as a way of life. My point is that girls need to be stronger. I say, we need to stop showcasing ourselves as the 'poor fragile lot'. That anybody will say a bad word to us and we will jump off the balcony.

After the Jiah Khan debacle, I am sure boys will be scared to commit to girls, fearing what the girl might do, God forbid, something went wrong.

We cannot live all our lives fantasizing about that perfect man and that perfect love story. It happens only in movies. Reality is way different. You cannot step into a relationship (not just love but even friendship) without considering the tiniest possibility that if not now but maybe after a decade, it just might not work.

Now tomorrow, if someone kills himself, saying that his employer chose someone else over him, or because he is troubling him at work, does that mean that the employer should be arrested? Well, if that's the case, then all the directors and producers in Bollywood should be arrested because Jiah also stated her failing career as a reason for her depression.

Who hasn't had a heartbreak? Who hasn't been given false promises? Or wait, who hasn't given another person a heartbreak? We all have been on the giving and receiving side of victimization.

Romance is delusional. A dangerous delusion. In fact, everything is a delusion when compared to the only reality looking at us in the eye - LIFE. Life is too precious to be sacrificed over things such as love and money.

There's a lot more to your being.

Book Review. Miracle Cure by Harlan Coben.

I want to read all of Harlan Coben books...aiming to be like the biggest fan ever ! Because seriously, his books are simply amazing. They take me to a totally different world, a world of lies and deception - with justification! Coben's characters never deceive without reason, they always have an excellent reason for lying...for deceiving..for disappearing...and even for murdering!

'Miracle Cure' is Coben's second book after 'Play Dead' but it is my 8th or something...and to be fair, I have read this after books like 'Tell No One' and 'Gone For Good' so my review for the book may be a little biased. Nonetheless, it is an amazing book dealing with an excellent topic. This book is about a subject that was hot in its times, 1990s..it is a story about AIDS.

The basic plot - There's a group of doctors who are striving hard towards the treatment of AIDS, and now they are this close to finding the cure. What they need is funds towards this cause. The biggies and politicians are unwilling to direct money towards AIDS for reasons well-explained. There's a couple involved - a journalist and a basketball player - and now people are getting killed one after the other.

Controversies...lies...deception..murders..they just follow as the pages keep turning. What I really liked in the book besides the plot of course, are the dialogues that the two sides exchange. The group that wants to cure AIDS explains very nicely why it is necessary to remove this evil from the society. On the other hand, the politicians who look down upon AIDS and the people who suffer from them provide an excellent counter argument. I do not agree with the argument, but I definitely appreciate Coben's writing style which makes the reader empathize with both parties.

Amidst all my work, I finished this book in three days. To be honest, I would give this book 4/5 stars and not a complete 5 because I have read other Harlan Coben books and they are far far better. But for someone who has no other Coben book for comparison, he will enjoy this book for sure!