Review: 03:02

03:02 by Mainak Dhar
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I picked up this book on an impulse after reading an excerpt. The story talked about almost everything coming to a standstill at 03:02 one morning. No electricity, no cars working, no mobile signal, ……

I was right with respect to the story – it was certainly interesting, and also different. Aaditya is doing well on a job and has just recently been promoted. In that sense life could not better. While growing up, being from a family where many have served the armed forces, he has a touch of fascination for it but settles for a well-paying desk job. The scenario was the result of a massive terror attack. While the main character – Aaditya, is based in Mumbai, India, this was a global attack with many nations impacted.

However, that morning changes everything. The world as people had known it has changed. A lot of the action is around Powai, Mumbai, an area I am very familiar with and it was nice to read how the places I frequent often figure in the story. Aadi motivates the local residents to resist and fight back. The local residents taking the fight to the terrorists is what this book is all about.

While the story is good, there are a number of other aspects of the book which are not quite appealing. A lot of the scenarios are far fetched and many of the characters acquire and display amazing tactical and fighting skills all of a sudden. So much so that the armed forces at a later stage look to Aadi and team for advice. There are a number of incidents which come across as being deliberately introduced for political correctness. A movie was a better format for this narrative. While, the fight the civilian population takes to the terrorists is appealing, there is too much of the same thing across the story.

Sadly, the narrative does not quite carry through the novelty of the story. And yet, for it’s different story, it is worth taking a look at.

My rating: 3.4 / 5.

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