On the Bestseller Charts at WH Smith bookstore, New Delhi & Hyderabad airports.

"A spy falls in love but the nation comes first.' 

Number 5 bestseller at WH Smith bookstore. Get you copies at T3 terminal, New Delhi / Hyderabad airport / any leading bookstore for Rs 199 only.

Also available on Amazon --> http://amzn.to/2hkizgr

In New Indian Express, Bangalore.

In today's New Indian Express, Bangalore.
Have you read 'The Girl Who Loved a Pirate'?

‪#‎romantic‬ ‪#‎thriller‬ -> http://amzn.to/1NSf9gr

In The Hindu (with Padma Laxmi)

When you wake up to see Padma Laxmi inches away from you. My interview that appeared last week in other cities is in The Hindu today (Metro Plus Delhi).

Have you read 'The Girl Who Loved a Pirate'?
Buy #romantic #thriller here:  http://amzn.to/1NSf9gr

At the Kumaon Literary Festival

Moderated an interesting session at the Kumaon Literary Festival on Sun, 25 Oct at Te Aroha with big names like Surender Mohan Pathak, Manjiri Prabhu & Piyush Jha in the panel. 

Met few pirates. Had lots of wine & gourmet food. Thank you, ‪#‎KumaonLitFest‬ for creating a truly experiential literature festival of its kind and treating the writers with so much respect. Specially loved the way the volunteers worked with smile on their faces. Sharing a few pictures here. 

Book Launch # 5 by DIG (Retd) T.S. Balasubramanian & Usha Narayanan in Chennai

Chennai is a special place for me as I was born here. It was called Madras then. But names don't matter and therefore every time I arrive in Chennai, I feel at home. I love the food, can count from 1 - 20 in Tamil and love the smell of jasmine in the air. 

To my pleasant surprise, Chennai didn't disappoint. The book launch was attended by over 80 people. I was also overwhelmed by the hospitality and efficiency of the Odyssey bookstore at Adyar. 

   

Frederick Forsyth and Kulpreet Yadav on the same page.

When I saw my interview appear on the same page as Frederick Forsyth's, it was like a childhood dream come true. This has been one of the best moments in my writing career so far. Thank you, DNA.  

Here's the online LINK. 

Book Launch # 2 of 'The Girl Who Loved a Pirate' in Pune

Pune was fun. Here are the highlights:

• 'The Girl Who Loved a Pirate' was launched at Crossword, Aundh. It's a huge store with friendly & efficient staff. I had a splendid conversation with Salil Desai, a Pune based crime novelist before conducting a Creative Writing Workshop.
• Spoke to young IT engineers at Marvell Technology on 'Psychological Resilience in a Stressful Job.'
• Read from my novel at the Pune International Literature Festival. 

In conversation with Salil Desai

Posing with the greats behind us soon after the Creative Writing Workshop

All ears 

 The gorgeous girls and smart boys I met during the festival

After my motivational talk at Marvell Technology 

In Sakal Times, Pune

Book Reviews: Bhendi Bazaar by Vish Dhamija, Kill Switch by James Rollins, and Life or Death by Michael Robotham

'An intriguing prison-break, a manhunt set in Russia, South Africa and the US and a serial killer on the loose in Mumbai… Kulpreet Yadav gives the lowdown on three thrillers you should lay your hands on early this year, the perfect companion for a holiday or a long journey.'

Here's the online DNA link. 

Where to BUY

Reads(s) like a movie.
The Times of India

High-Octane Thriller.
The Asian Age

BUY bestselling novel 'Catching the Departed' -->
bit.ly/1vA1kZK (Amazon) / bit.ly/11EPSBF (Flipkart)

In SOCIETY Magazine (Apr 15)

I'm happy to be featured in the April issue of the Society magazine alongside prominent thriller writers.  

Book Review: Vanished by Joseph Finder

I enjoyed this thriller, my first by Joseph Finder. Set in DC this is the story of Nick Heller, an ex-soldier who has fought in Iraq and Bosnia, and now, as a security consultant, is tasked to find the disappearance of a plane and its cargo. At the same time, his brother, a finance expert, goes missing after a vicious attack. The abductors leave his brother’s wife, Lauren, behind though. The investigations take Nick back to his childhood when the two brothers, sons of a rich father at that time, who is now languishing in jail on charges of fraud, grew up differently in a household that was in the grip of corporate avarice. 

Replete with unexpected twists and turns, and micro plots dovetailed throughout, I enjoyed this book thoroughly and hope to read more of Nick Heller. 

Rating: 5 / 5. 

Book Review: Live Wire by Harlan Coben

I liked the narrative pace, the character of Myron Bolitar, and the mystery weaved throughout. Kept me guessing, and that is the real strength of a good thriller. The plot is interesting. Suzze T, a retired tennis star, who now runs a tennis academy, is eight months pregnant. Her husband, Lex, has chosen to dump her because he suspects the child is not his. Myron gets this job: to find who is behind this rumour and why has Lex run away.

The investigation turns out to be a nightmare for Myron as cracks begin to appear in his own life: the relationship with his brother Brad whom he has not met for 15 years, his brother's wife Kitty, who had once been the competitor of Suzze, and a recluse yesteryear’s rock star named Gabriel Wire who stays on an island, the mystery seems to connect all of them. As Myron dwells deeper his life comes under threat and one evening when someone he admires so dearly is killed due to a heroin overdose, all hell breaks loose.

Harlan, his usual, sharp, lots of twists and turns, and amazing amount of details about relationships that add a dash of reality to his book. 

Rating: 4 / 5. 

Book Review: Solo by William Boyd

Though appropriate to the story, I thought the title was clichéd. Solo by Rana Dasgupta, a brilliant literary novel that won the Commonwealth writer’s prize is still fresh in our minds, and if you go to a bookstore asking for Solo today, chances are you might be shown Rana’s. At least in the commonwealth nations. 

That said the language is effortless, with short sentences and to-the-point approach with a sense of urgency that is essential for thrillers. Though I found the first half tauter and more reader friendly, the rest of it, when Bond goes solo, seemed laboured with awkward twists. This led to a climax that was far from satisfying and the reader in me was left to deal with a rather lengthy conversation between Bond and a CIA agent called Felix through which the author chose to plug gaps in the plot as they finished a bottle of Gordon’s Gin in Zanzarim, the fictional African country where the book is set.

The plot is interesting, though the treatment is not. Set in the late 60s, Bond is deputed by M to Zanzarim to infiltrate a small region within that nation which is acting independently ever since oil has been found there. The area is being led by a local leader called Brigadier Solomon Adeka who belongs to the tribe which populates the region and believes the new found wealth truly belongs to them. Bond’s mission is to weaken the leader so that the country is taken over and the civil war is ended. But his arrival is not taken lightly by those who have vested interests in the new found wealth. Bond is shot and left dying as the handlers of the regime fly off minutes before the Zanzarim army takes over. Bond is lucky as he is discovered by a white journalist and recuperates in a military facility at Edinburgh which he is briskly moved. 

Once he has recovered, he wants revenge and it is only possible if he goes solo. Bond’s pursuit takes him to USA where vested interests of many organizations, both corporate and governmental, are unearthed. He ends up thinking that he has killed the man who had shot him, a Rhodesian white mercenary called Jacobus Breed. 

Bond’s going solo seems justified to a degree, but there is hardly any rebuke from M let alone a disciplinary action when it is all over. I thought that was a serious flaw. Second, the mystery surrounding Breed's death is kept alive, which looked far-fetched because of the time Bond had taken to kill and the brutality he had used. 

This book has fallen short on my expectations. A tighter narrative, more pragmatic events and plausible assumptions would have helped the plot better. 

Rating: 3 / 5.