Book Review: THE KRISHNA KEY

THE STORY from www.ashwinsanghi.com

Five thousand years ago, there came to earth a magical being called Krishna, who brought about innumerable miracles for the good of mankind. Humanity despaired of its fate if the Blue God were to die but was reassured that he would return in a fresh avatar when needed in the eventual Dark Age, the Kaliyug.

In modern times, a poor little rich boy grows up believing that he is that final avatar. Only, he is a serial killer. In this heart-stopping tale, the arrival of a murderer who executes his gruesome and brilliantly thought-out schemes in the name of God is the first clue to a sinister conspiracy to expose an ancient secret, Krishna’s priceless legacy to mankind.

Historian Ravi Mohan Saini must breathlessly dash from the submerged remains of Dwarka and the mysterious lingam of Somnath to the icy heights of Mount Kailash, in a quest to discover the cryptic location of Krishna's most prized possession. From the sand-washed ruins of Kalibangan to a Vrindavan temple destroyed by Aurangzeb, Saini must also delve into antiquity to prevent a gross miscarriage of justice.

MY PERCEPTION

A humongous amount of research has gone into this book. So much so, that the way it’s been presented makes the reader wonder whether the book is a work of fiction at all. It so reminded me of the novel ‘Prizes’ by Erich Segal. Prizes was like reading a physics text book. The author had obviously done a lot of research and was using his knowledge. That’s fair to him. But what about the one who is looking forward to reading a work of fiction? And then finding so much knowledge crammed down one’s throat. I am sure there is a subtle way of doing this. In fact, I have garnered a lot of my knowledge through reading fiction. The presentation counts, doesn’t it?

There is a point at which Professor Ravi Mohan Saini’s student Priya tells him to stop his boring lectures. She could not be more right. He does go on and on about history and mythology. I love both the subjects, but definitely not the way they have been packaged in this book.

How could the professor come up with his answer in a jiffy, every time? He guesses most of them. While they are based on his knowledge, it’s still strange the way he keeps going by hunches and the reader is given the impression that he comes up trumps each time. Everything is happening in Ravi Mohan Saini’s head. Difficult to swallow!

I have read Ashwin Sanghi’s (as Shawn Haigins) The Rozabal Line. Well researched, fast paced, logical, fascinating and beautifully written. It’s difficult to accept that the same author has come up with The Krishna Key.

I was so looking forward to reading the book and was terribly disappointed. Well, the book has its moments when I came across different religious symbols and stuff that are common globally. I was glad to read about those and could also relate to them.

The brief snippets surrounding Lord Krishna’s life in the first person were not too bad. But I could not make the connection between those and the present day scenario.

The end was worse. Everything is based on conjecture and the reader is left hanging in the air wondering about the purpose of the gruesome murders. It did make me question the reason for the book at all.