I read books because I love to. Reading books means entertainment and it also acts as a stress-buster for me. But sometimes, putting up with a book can be a strenuous job! Still the thing is, you can’t put it down as you’ve to know the end. So it’s almost like a cul-de-sac where there is no other option but to proceed further knowing full well that the end is bereft of any hope.

However, I can’t blame anybody in this case as I chose to review this book of my own volition. The book blurb made me think it as a spine-chilling, paranormal thriller. Pretty good job is done here with the blurb. I generally don’t quote blurbs with my reviews considering it as a redundancy which doesn’t go well with a detailed review. But I want to let my readers read this interesting blurb making an exception this time.

“We are moving back to India” Leaving a highly successful corporate career, Zubien convinces his wife Mehak to move back to India where he could concentrate on his long awaited dream of becoming an author. They move to a town near Dehradun chosen for its serenity. However, the house they buy has a history of its own. A few days after moving in, Mehak hears some noise from the attic. And soon, they realize that the noise was only the first of their worries!
Zubien and Mehak meet Adeeb and in a chain of events, their anticipation of a tranquil life is shot to pieces! What makes Zubien resort to even shooting Adeeb, a person he has barely known for a few weeks? What secrets has Adeeb been holding with him? Is he the person he says he is? Or is there something more to him than meets the eye? Can one person be at two different places at the same time? Does déjà vu exist?

Quite intriguing, isn’t it? And so I started reading it with a high spirit. The mentioned couple, Zubein and Mehak, settle in a small peaceful place called Welham, 30kilometers from Dehradun. After discovering the existence of Adeeb in the attic, they feel curious about him and befriend him eventually. I don’t know how sane human beings can sleep, eat, make love and do other normal things casually even after knowing that someone else has access to their house! I mean is it that easy to believe strangers?

Adeeb is a strange person and the Auroras meet him at a point when he is trying to pull himself through the vicissitudes of his past life. There are long conversational phases between Adeeb and Mehak, which are bland and get you nowhere. Mehak, who appears to be a tough, grounded and rational woman in the first few chapters of the book, suddenly starts behaving sentimentally. The characters, none of them, is well portrayed and that makes the very structure of the book fragile.

The book, “A Three Faced Coin” by Bhalindra Singh is divided into three parts. Of them, the second part is particularly uninteresting. Drab piles of description about gambling, betting and Rambo’s Den have compelled me to turn a couple of pages without paying heed to the words written on them. The whole book is, in fact,  full of such monochromatic and monotonous description. There are so many loose knots in the story that it will be extremely tiresome to mention them. So I’m refraining myself from that.

The only thing that I find positive in this debut work of the author, is, it has successfully maintained a vibe of suspense though in a flattened possible way. You keep on reading anticipating that something must happen on the next page, but  your anticipation remains unsatiated. But that makes you turn the pages anyway. The plot has merit but as it covers many a thing at a time, everything goes awry. To add more, there is careless editing.

Finally, all these have been said because I sincerely think that the author has all the potential of a good writer and I hope his next publication will be much better. This review is not for the purpose of nitpicking nor I want to be pedantic. I think my readers deserve an honest review and the same is also helpful to the concerned author.

From my side, it’s 2.5/5

The book was received as part of Reviewers Programme on The Tales Pensieve.