Book Review: God is a gamer

Book: God is a Gamer

Author: Ravi Subhramanian

Publisher: Penguin Books India
Price: 299
Page: 324

Blurb:  Aditya is an entrepreneur, running his own gaming company. The arrival of a part-time drug dealer and full-time genius named Varun turns Aditya’s struggling company’s fortunes around. However, things are not as they seem. A banker slips from the rooftop of a high-rise building and falls to his death. A finance minister with his heart on his sleeve discovers that he has made some promises which will cost him far too much. An explosion in Washington D.C. leads the FBI to a chase in Mumbai. The investigators begin to plummet down a world where bitcoins are the only meaningful form of currency. Here, everything is governed by the Dark Net, a group of nefarious websites dealing with illegal transactions. In this world, God is a Gamer, martyrs are villains, the hunters become the hunted and the ancient Greeks teach the secrets of assassination. In this new novel, nothing is what it seems.

My Rating: 3/5

My Review: "God is a Gamer" is a crime thriller devised in the global platform. There are plenty of interesting characters in the book starting from investigation agencies of both India and US, political leaders and some banking professionals. 

In the beginning, it was a little boring to read about so many characters who were introduced in a new chapter which spanned over only 3-4 pages. The extra short chapters was quite a turn off for me. I couldn't find myself getting hooked to the book. I couldn't connect with any characters even after finishing the 324 pages book. However as the mystery starts building up, the story starts getting interesting.

There are plenty of twists and turns thrown in teh story at frequent intervals and so you need to be very attentive. But when I couldn't relate to any of the characters, it was slightly tough for me to read the 324 pages book. Another drawback of the book was the climax which was quite cliched. The dots don't connect smoothly and the zigsaw puzzles do not fall rightly in place.

On the positive side, the fresh new concept of bitcoin thriller was the USP of the book. Though we all have heard about the term "Bitcoin", we don't have much knowledge about it. The book definitely sheds light on bitcoins but not too much. It delves on the mystery. The mystery is well crafted making it an interesting read. However so many events happen parallely that it is quite normal for a reader to feel lost if he doesn't pay 100 % attention. Plenty and plenty of dots which gets connected in the end, in an uneven way. The language of the book is easy going and so people can read it at a go.

Overall the book is more of a gaming thriller rather than a bitcoin thriller. The bitcoin thing is mentioned in some parts but the story doesn't revolve totally around bitcoins.It is a good story, the mystery cleverly crafted but not something to be cherished for long.

Despite the murders for virtual money, catchy title and easy language, this book couldn't impress me much. I guess this is not my kind of book. But however people who love to read such type of thrillers would definitely find it interesting.

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