About the Book
A beautiful woman.
An anonymous stranger.
A spine-chilling nightmare that blurs the thin line between online bullying and a full-blown real-life ordeal.
Tashi Chotten is a woman from Arunachal Pradesh working and living a normal life in New Delhi. Her world turns upside down one night when she receives an anonymous email with a picture attached. Curious, she clicks on it to find that the photograph is her own – a semi-naked one she had clicked almost four years back when she was in a relationship with Akash.
Tashi’s breath catches in her throat: how could this be possible? How could an image of four years ago come back to haunt her now? Was Akash doing this to take revenge on her for dumping him? But why would he wait so long if revenge was his intention? She had so many questions she needed the answers to, but first of all, Tashi had the anonymous sender’s strange request to oblige: should she fight back or should she give him what he was demanding?
In a fast-paced, mind-numbing tale of misplaced trust and poor data security, blackmail and friendship, lust and a love that had gone cold years back, will Tashi be able to regain control over her life and win the fight against the man who seems to be one step ahead of her, no matter which direction she chooses to go?
About the Author
Anangsha Alammyan – the girl with the interesting name and the even more interesting stories who had taken Quora by storm a few years back. A two-time Quora Top Writer in 2016 and 2018, she is a civil engineer by profession who considers writing her first love. Her stories on Medium have been well-appreciated and helped her become the Top Writer in four topics.
All these years, you had read her poems online – now, you have her book in your hands. Quora Top Writer in 2016 and 2018, she is a civil engineer by profession who considers writing her first love. Her stories on Medium have been well-appreciated and helped her become the Top Writer in four topics.
All these years, you had read her poems online – now, you have her book in your hands.
Team KC Feels
With a stunning cover and title that in itself is mysterious, Author Anangsha Alammyan has managed to gather a reader’s attention from the word go. A plot that is literally a leaf from today’s real life is the backbone of this stellar novel which piques your interest from the first chapter itself.
After reading the blurb, one might feel that they know it all but this Whoddunit has all the elements of a thriller intact making it a perfect page turner. Written in a third person narrative, the protagonist of the story is Tashi Chotten, a woman from Bomdila, Arunachal Pradesh who is working in New Delhi. Her charactersketch is one that stays on your mind. She is strong, determined and capable. Amongst the many women characters one reads about in latest novels, Tashi with her unique abilities and sensibilities comes across as a breath of fresh air. (To know those unique sensibilities, you will have to read the book. NO SPOILERS HERE!) Interestingly, this story has some very strong and relatable supplementary characters like Manav Ahuja (her best friend from college), Akash (Tashi’s former lover and prime suspect in the blackmail case), Indrajit Bhowmick (Inspector, Delhi Police cybercrime cell) apart from the antagonist, Amish Grover, an IT professional working in Gurgaon.
Rather than shaming the woman for having her pictures splashed over revenge porn websites, people should extend their support and shame the criminal instead.
The narrative is taut and the language lucid, ensuring the reader is not only able to connect with the story but also enjoy the thrill ride, it promises to be. The descriptions used by the author to talk about the places, to recreate the tension in the mind of the protagonist, to convey the exact emotion and to be able to capture that moment in words is something that is mind boggling.
Having cyber crime as its core concept, Alammyan has beautifully woven across various themes of love, longing, despair and alienation beautifully in her work. Picking up threads of stalking, online bullying and harassment, she has tried to tie it all into a huge knot without any loose ends which results into a taut novella.
This book can be easily called the need of the hour! It is highly needed as a reminder, especially in today’s times when people have been sharing their lives online so much without worrying about security and threat. They have almost turned a blind eye to the risks that technology brings along with its comforts intact.
To all those who believe crime only happens in the movies:
What if its next target is you?
Long after reading the book, a reader is bound to be in a daze and start scrutinizing every online activity with doubt and fear. Anangsha has chosen an extremely relevant topic which needs to be spoken about more and women, need to realise that at the end of the day, it is not their fault. Trusting someone is not a mistake, misusing that trust is. This message is conveyed so well in this story.
Overall a wonderfully written thriller, exceptional characters and brilliant portrayal of human emotions. Strongly recommended for everyone who is looking for a short and quick enjoyable read. This one is unforgettable for the reality quotient it brings along!
Grab your copy NOW
Leave a Reply