Book Review : The Jeera Packer by Prashant Yadav

Book: The Jeera Packer

Author: Prashant Yadav

Genre: Fiction (Thriller)

Publisher: Fingerprint! Publishing

Pages: 344

Price: 295 INR

Blurb:

I once changed the history of this Uttar Pradesh with a gun and a finger. One shot, one man. Right man, wrong man. But that was thirty years ago. I shot people through their heads then. I pack Jeera in a basement now.

This is me and here is my story.

He was the best sharpshooter in the state. A true bullet artist. But he gave it all up to lead a happy, normal, stable life . . . with his loving wife and dear son.

And that proved to be his undoing.

Resonant and deeply affecting, The Jeera Packer is the gripping tale of a man who after three decades of playing the happy family man returns to his profession of old for one final work—to shoot the chief minister. Convinced that this is his raison d'etre, will he manage to pull off this one last act, as his concluding hat tip to the man he could have been? Will he be able to brush away the Jeera dust and rediscover himself? Or has the middle-aged family man already throttled the sharpshooter in him?

Review:

The Jeera Packer is action-packed from the very first page. The book tells the story of a man who is on an exciting journey to rise from his ashes and satisfy his male ego in the long run. Is it an exaggeration to call the main protagonist a male chauvinist? I was in a dilemma about it. Every person needs a kick in his life but the way things came out made me call the Jeera Packer an egoistic.

The story starts with a great difference between two friends that comes as a sharp hit straight on the face of The Jeera Packer. His indifference towards everything thereafter is well told by the author at every start and end of a single page. It was very tricky. At first I didn’t think about the lead this way but as I progressed in the book this feeling was coming back again and again.

The lead character “The Jeera Packer“ and I am calling his this every time because there is when the things actually start. The book wouldn’t be what it is without this adjective that glued so strongly with the main character. He was very interesting, very hard to know. He had qualities of both a protagonist and an antagonist. This is what made the things extra nice, extra pumped up. If I talk about others then I simply loved Lal Mani, why I don’t know. He has that charm in him, that secrecy. 

The way his younger days were told, I fell for him. I think I have a thing for underdogs who score it a big time.

Apart from these two characters Madhurima and Jaya were good. But they were like those Bollywood actress who are a part of the story just for the sake of some glamour and sex quotient. I didn’t find them extra appealing but I loved Madhurima for her boldness and her stature in between so many goons. But Jaya well she is off my radar. Dada was also good but he was an obvious pimp so he didn’t attract me much.

I loved the name of the book, it is as spicy as the book, the cover is pretty, it is clean and it is not revealing anything while saying the obvious things. It is really eye-catching because it is unique. I would also like to give special mentions to the editor for being so good with her/his work. It was a treat to read a well-crafted book.

The author penned the book with precision, keeping in mind the subject he was talking about. There were abuses but were they helping any bit, no. I believe there is no need of abuses until and unless you are seeing your book as a future movie adaptation. The author was so good with the characterization that it was very easy that this person is habitual of abusing just like breathing. Such were the images created about the characters. And in a literary work I don’t think there is a need of extra embellishments until your content is not good.

The starting of the book is very interesting. The middle portion was a little boring from the side of “The Jeera Packer”. It was really making me grumpy to read about his journey in finding something he needs. But the usage of other characters in the same setting is quite good. Most of the characters came in lime-light due to this section only. So it was not the fault of the story it was the fall of the character. As I already mentioned that I was not at all in awe of the main character.

But the main realization hit at the end of the book. The Jeera Packer was highly used just to make some realizations at the end. Then why he was decorated way beyond the requirement, well that’s how the thriller works. I was not very impressed by the end, rather I was amused.

All in all the book was a great read with twists and turns of high order. It is a well-executed and planned book.

Eye-Catchers:

• “If you don’t have the power, you get what others throw at you out of generosity.”
• “If you create small heroes, you got to be tiny.”
• “Ownership was invented by the scared man. It is impossible and destructive.”

Recommendation:

It is a great thriller and is worth your time.

About the author:

A little boy who never grew up. A wise man who didn’t need to. A smartass who didn’t bother.
Revolution on my secret agenda. World domination plan B. Need ten hands. Or a cult. Conscription on. Apply.
Love breathing road dust on two wheels. Love playing with a three year old. And love Bachchan.
Went to IIT Kharagpur, IIM Ahmedabad and Stockholm School of Economics. Run own company. Advise start-ups. Practice karate.

Buy the book:

Amazon.in