DANIEL, THE FIRST DETECTIVE

Jesus once said” Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town.” Similarly, no book has value if its been in your house for ages. It is a sad but true fact that every Christian household has a Bible, yet not every Christian has read it.

The Holy Bible is often thought of as a dry  book filled with advices and praises of God. Yet that is far from the truth. The Bible is a mixture of stories, parables and proverbs. Some stories even contain mature content.

Today I would like to introduce you to Daniel or Detective Daniel as we may call him. The book of Daniel can be called as the first detective story ever published.

1.Susanna

In this story, a Jewish woman is accused of adultery. The witnesses are none 

other than two prominent judges of the land. Are the judges lying? If so, why? Will Daniel, who is just a boy, be able to prove Susanna’s innocence before it is too late?

To find out read Daniel Chapter 13 Verses 1-63.

2.The Idol Of Bel

Babylonians believe that Bel is the only supreme God. They offer food to his idol daily and overnight the food vanishes. The temple is closed and the door sealed, yet the same thing happens. What is the mystery of the food devouring idol? Would Daniel be able to solve the riddle or would he be punished for blasphemy against Bel?

To find out read Daniel Chapter 14 Verses 1-22.

P.S: The Book of Daniel is the 34^th book in The Old Testament   

GREAT AUTHORS , BAD BOOKS – 1

Every family has a black sheep and every author has a bad book. In a world where one buys a book by looking at the author, it is important that one knows these black sheep beforehand. Otherwise one would end up losing one’s money and time.

Listed below are three such books from three famous authors. Frankly speaking, none of them is truly bad. They are average, readable books. Yet they do not do justice to 

their author’s name nor to the expectations of the reader.

    1.     Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

Angels & Demons is by far the best work of Dan Brown. Though Da Vinci Code is more popular, Angels & Demons has more twists, better suspense and less inaccuracies. Compared to these works, the Digital Fortress is a fish out of water. Dan Brown should have stuck with symbols and secret codes.

When a person reads a book, his/her mind becomes one with the protagonist’s. A master storyteller ensures that this bond continues till the end of the book. In the Digital Fortress, the identity of the antagonist becomes clear to the reader soon after the halfway mark. Yet the protagonist is blind to the facts till the very end. This is the most frustrating part of the novel.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

    2.     A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie is best known for her two characters namely Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple.Two detectives with very different approaches to a case. One a thorough professional and the other an amateur.

Yet ( as far as I have read )  Hercule Poirot is the more enjoyable. Mainly because he uses his ‘grey cells’. The major flaw with Miss Marple is that she doesn’t play an active role in the case until the climax.

In A Caribbean Mystery, this drawback is badly exposed. Miss Marple’s role is more a cameo than that of a protagonist. When your leading character’s soul is missing, you find yourself lost and confused.

     

     3.     The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho is a much acclaimed author and his Alchemist is one of a kind. Simple and yet profound, this book is a treat. Therefore it was with great expectations that I began to read The Witch of Portobello.

But my enthusiasm was short lived, as I could not sustain any interest after the first few pages. Many times have I tried to read this one, but I have failed to get any connection with the book. Truly a forgettable book, it still remains unread. All I remember is that the novel is a collection of memories of different people about the ‘Witch’.    

                                   

P.S: These are the opinions of the author only. So feel free to correct him.                                                                                                                                                                                              

BOOK REVIEW : AND THEN THERE WERE NONE

In popular booklore, the name Agatha Christie is synonymous with ‘Suspense Thriller’. Do you like novels that keep you at the edge of your seats? A who-dun-it where the suspense is well kept and the murder is innovative? Then Agatha Christie is your perfect getaway.

Known as the ‘Queen of Crime’, her books have kept generations of readers on tenterhooks. She has been outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. What makes her sell? Simple. A racy narration. Interesting murder theories. A double climax. And in the end , a killer with a sensible motive and a near perfect plan.

'And Then There Were None’(Ten  Little Indians) is widely regarded as Agatha Christie’s masterpiece.

Ten people are invited to a party in an isolated island by one Mr. Owen. But when they arrive, it is not Mr. Owen who is waiting for them but Death itself. Each one of them is charged with murder and served a death sentence by a mysterious voice.

Though they first take it as a joke, things get serious when they begin to get killed one by one as per the nursery rhyme written on the wall. A thorough search of the island ensues but the bodies keep piling and one thing becomes clear. The murderer is one among them.

The tension keeps building as they begin to suspect each other. Each has a reasonable chance of killing others. But none fit the role of a psychic serial killer. Slowly old skeletons fall out of the cupboards and murky pasts are revealed.

Will anyone survive the “writing on the wall”? Or will the killer have the last laugh? To find out read Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None.

P.S: There are two different endings to this suspense thriller. So keep your fingers crossed. 

You can order this book from : Amazon.in , Flipkart.com