Book Review: The Hunt For Kohinoor

The Hunt For Kohinoor is the second book in the thriller series featuring Mehrunisa Khosa written by Manreet Sodhi Someshwar. The book's blurb reads: "A spine-chilling ninety-six hour hunt through the world's most dangerous terrain where history collides with gunfire - will Mehrunisa get out of this one alive?

One morning on her way to work, Mehrunisa gets a call that will change her life forever. The truth about her missing father is at her fingertips - but it will take her on the most desperate chase of her lifetime.

A chase that will pit her against hardened jihadis plotting the deadliest terror attack on India, that will test her mettle against history's deep secrets, that will teach her that the price of love can mean bloodied hands ...

The Hunt For Kohinoor hurtles from icy Kashmir to snow-clad Hindukush, from the sinister corridors of a military hospital to the warrens of Peshawar, even as the clock counts down to the impending catastrophe."

The book is a historical thriller popularized by the likes of Dan Brown and Ashwin Sanghi. The book brings together an art curator, the Indian military, RAW agents and jihadis in a mission intended to create panic amongst the Indian population. Mehrunisa, an art curator, is summoned asked to go to Pakistan to find out a secret. And she has 96 hours to finish this life-threatening mission.

How she goes about it, whose help does she elicit, is she finally successful and at what price form the rest of the book.

The author's style of writing is evocative especially when she describes the various landscapes her protagonist travels in search of the secret. And she has done a lot of homework when it comes to narrating the history of a particular place or incident or event mentioned in the book. So, it is not just a passing mention but a detailed description that accompanies it.

And though we know what the ending will be, the book turned out to be a page turner.

On the downside, I personally felt the book had a lot of characters so it became difficult to keep track of them individually. And each of them had a background story leading up to where they were currently. That led to some confusion for me while reading the book.

On the whole, the book is an enjoyable read. I would rate it 3 on 5.

Disclaimer: I was given a review copy of the book by Westland.