The Tales Pensieve

I changed my job recently and was sent on training to a location where so far I have not been able to locate a single bookstore that sells English novels; the only ones me and a colleague could hunt for are a couple of stores that sell Kannada novels! Left with no paperback options I retorted to an option I have resisted for long – Amazon Kindle App. In the mood to read thrillers and lost in the world of a million choices on Amazon I remembered an interesting thriller I read recently – Bhendi Bazaar by Vish Dhamija. It was a refreshing read and I was pleasantly surprised at such a good work in thrillers by an Indian author. I looked up Vish Dhamija on Amazon and zeroed in on buying one of his works before Bhendi Bazaar, his first novel – Nothing Lasts Forever. So, this book also happens to be my first eBook. 🙂

Nothing Lasts Forever to start with is the story of a Financial Consultant Raaj Kumar’s death in an accidental fire, which takes place in his apartment at Worli, Mumbai and how his wife Serena copes up with the tragedy and tries to move on in life. Though the investigative office is convinced that it is not an accidental fire, he for lack of evidence is not able to prove anything and has to give a clean chit to all involved. The story moves ahead with Serena moving on in life, with the able support of her model friend Kim. She flies high professionally as a retail banker and moves on personally too when she finds love in a blue-eyed Greek businessman – Marcos. All is well and rosy.

In the background, away from Serena and Marcos, the investigative officer of Raaj’s death is transferred to Delhi from Mumbai and assigned a tough boss and a tougher case. Someone has taken some financial planning handicapped people on a ride while buying stocks for them. Someone has given them forged share certificates while making a few millions for themselves. And that someone is elusive. To top it the tough boss had a past connection with Raaj and Serena, Serena is adamant to not introduce Marcos to anyone close to her past life not even Kim, Marcos and Serena get married in a ceremony that no one from her current job is able to attend and most importantly they are not where they said they will be!

Nothing Lasts Forever is a well researched, well-plotted, well narrated, and as a result a well written thriller. But the interest factor is not persistent in the book. It is very interesting till you reach 50% of the book. By then you know the culprits. The second half of the book is dedicated to the chase – whether the police can reach the culprits. This part for a thriller lover goes static because you know the who and the how isn’t as interesting as the who. Not to me atleast. They have to come out simultaneously; that’s the thrill.

You have to hand it the author – the character build-up is amazing. Even when you know the culprits, you do not 100% want the law to catch up with them. The reader is divided between his/ her likability towards the characters and the right/ wrong. Though the characters of Serena, Kim, and others are well developed, the character of Raaj is enigmatic and to some extent under developed which makes the reader feel nothing for him. And this gives a bland taste to this thriller, which was otherwise a treat.

Vish Dhamija has created amazing characters. An unbeatable law enforcer and a super shrewd criminal but the final battle didn’t have the heat that would take the reader’s breath away. A decent read but Nothing Lasts Forever misses that killer effect!

Title: Nothing Lasts Forever
Author: Vish Dhamija
Publisher/ Imprint: 
Pages: 264
Genre/ Sub-Genre: Fiction/ Thriller
Rating: 2.75 of 5
Reviewed for: Personal Copy

Browse through the full list of book reviews in the depths of the Pensieve.