BOOKS WE RECOMMEND THIS WEEK
Compiled by: Chirdeep Malhotra
1) “Murdrum: The Probe Begins” by Dr. Sohil Makwana
(Crime Thriller | Format: Paperback/Kindle | MRP: 230 INR)
BLURB: A horrifying decapitated head. A CBI intern on an assignment finds mysterious 'Two Dots' from a cold case. Human DNA is extracted from a mosquito's stomach. "Why had Harold Shipman killed 250 women?" A question of criminal psychology enters the picture. Against the corrupt system, a CBI intern leaves no stone unturned to dig the rort of a cold-blooded serial killer. Several incredible, high-tech forensic investigations are stacked against a tech-savvy killer who knows his job inside-out. And, the sexual sadist killer releases another cipher with a rise of body count. Forensic advancement has brought out a digital face from DNA. Will she able to get the killer's DNA? How has he become a monster out of a man? Are these efforts enough to catch the killer? Or is there something special in the store?
2) “Murdrum 2: Double Trouble” by Dr. Sohil Makwana
(Crime Thriller | Format: Paperback/Kindle | MRP: 230 INR)
BLURB: The probe began in Murdrum 1 continues. The total murder count reaches 26. CBI inspector Komal Rathod applies several incredible, high-tech forensic investigation techniques, but still, she is unable to decode the mysterious Two Blue Dots - the hallmark signature of the killer. And the sexual sadist killer releases another cipher ‘SAW NOTHING’. Scientists have launched DNA Phenotyping technology by which they can generate a digital face of anyone from one’s DNA. Will she be able to get the killer's DNA for Phenotyping? What’s the hidden message inside ‘SAW NOTHING’? Is it a sinful act of a single serial killer or a killer gang? Will Komal understand the modus operandi? Will she be able to save the next victim?
3) “Liberalism and its Discontents” by Francis Fukuyama
(Politics & Current Affairs | Format: Hardcover/Kindle | MRP: 367 INR)
BLURB: A defence of liberalism by the renowned political philosopher. Liberalism - the comparatively mild-mannered sibling to the more ardent camps of nationalism and socialism - has never been so divisive as today. From Putin's populism, the Trump administration and autocratic rulers in democracies the world over, it has both thrived and failed under identity politics, authoritarianism, social media and a weakened free press the world over.
Since its inception following the post-Reformation wars, liberalism has come under attack from conservatives and progressives alike, and today is dismissed by many as an 'obsolete doctrine'. In this brilliant and concise exposition, Francis Fukuyama sets out the cases for and against its classical premises: observing the rule of law, independence of judges, means over ends, and most of all, tolerance. Pithy, to the point, and ever pertinent, this is political dissection at its very best.
4) “Russia: Revolution and Civil War 1917-1921” by Antony Beevor
(History | Format: Hardcover/Kindle | MRP: 1091 INR)
BLURB: Between 1917 and 1921 a devastating struggle took place in Russia following the collapse of the Tsarist empire. Many regard this savage civil war as the most influential event of the modern era. An incompatible White alliance of moderate socialists and reactionary monarchists stood little chance against Trotsky's Red Army and Lenin's single-minded Communist dictatorship. Terror begat terror, which in turn led to even greater cruelty with man's inhumanity to man, woman and child. The struggle became a world war by proxy as Churchill deployed weaponry and troops from the British empire, while armed forces from the United States, France, Italy, Japan, Poland and Czechoslovakia played rival parts.
Using the most up to date scholarship and archival research, Antony Beevor, author of the acclaimed international bestseller Stalingrad, assembles the complete picture in a gripping narrative that conveys the conflict through the eyes of everyone from the worker on the streets of Petrograd to the cavalry officer on the battlefield and the woman doctor in an improvised hospital.