Mukul Deva’s latest thriller comes at a time when the nation is up against the series of scams which have rocked us and the youth is disillusioned with the unabated corruption in almost all spheres of life.
Though the book is a work of fiction and the author has categorically mentioned that all references in the book have been fictitiously used, one can easily relate to a number of characters and/or events which the book takes us through.
The self-appointed guardians (who are all ex-para commandos), who form the protagonists, call themselves the K-Team, primarily because all their names start with K. So, we have Colonel Krishna Athawale, Major Karan Singh, Major Kevin David, Major Kashif Nadeem, Major Kamlesh Saikia and Major Kulwant Singh Bajwa who have taken upon themselves the responsibility of cleansing the system. Their modus operandi is to target and kill some of the corrupt ministers, judges, arms dealers, etc. They hope this will wake up the Government into taking some immediate and strong action benefiting the country as a result.
However, there are two sets of teams trying to stop the K-Team from achieving its mission. One is the official team led by Vinod Bedi, Special Director CBI and Nandakumar his deputy while the other is the unofficial team led by Raghav Bhagat, rogue para commando, who has been hired by the Home Minister to take down the K-Team. Needless to say, the Home Minister is equally involved and wanting to protect himself as much as the others.
Involved in this crossfire are some civilians such as Athawale’s young son Sachin (his wife Pooja has died under unforeseen circumstances) and Reena Bhagat (Raghav’s estranged wife) and their son Azaan.
The book details the killing of each of the targets in precise fashion and one can almost visualize the events as they unfold. Not wanting to reveal too much and spoil the surprise, the book covers events such as the IC-814 hijacking, the Bofors and 2G scams and the shoot-out of a lady in a bar. The characters mentioned in the book also appear quite familiar to the political scenario today including Madam, who runs the nation, and her son, who is being groomed to take over; ministers involved in land grab scams and arms dealers wanting to make a quick buck at the cost of the nation’s security.
The book has a Rang De Basanti like feel to it where, citizens frustrated with the malaise in the system, feel quite helpless and adopt unethical means to cleanse it.
The entire act from targeting a person to tracking his every move to actually standing in front of him and killing him without even his bodyguards getting to know anything is very well-written. The relationship scenes between Athawale and Reena, Athawale and his son, Athawale and other members of the K-Team and Athawale and his sister are also well drawn out.
My only point of irritation was the usage of profane language. Other than giving the book a bit of a casual approach, it also came across as being written only for the sake of it being there and not really forming a part of the story.
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