Nothing Lasts Forever by Vish Dhamija | Book Review

Author Vish Dhamija has attained success in the world of books with his well-received crime thrillers books that provide entertaining stories that sometimes reflect contemporary events. He provides easy to read, well-conceived plots in a thriller package where the reader keeps guessing about turns of events and characters as they read through to end. Below are some links to the reviews of the author’s books, published here at Thinkerviews:

• Deja Karma
• Nothing Else Matters
• Unlawful Justice

And recently, we added Nothing Lasts Forever – No Secret can Stay Buried to this list of books that we have enjoyed reading. Published in 2010, by Shrishti Publication, this is one of his earlier works, based in Mumbai in 1990s and early 2000s. The setting and characters of the book reflect some events that took place around that time leading to changes in the world of banking and finance. And here is our review of this book on behalf of Team ThinkerViews.

Book Cover:

Let us take a look at the cover page of this book, the gateway to the fictional story explored within.

As you can see in the image above, the book cover shows a door is about to be knocked. The word – Secret – is engraved so effectively that it reflects someone is knocking “secret” to show its face :). Definitely a thoughtful design that goes in sync with the book title.

A moderately attractive cover page, which will appeal to the readers of suspense thrillers.

Storyline:

Serena Kumar is woken up in a Singapore hotel with a phone call informing her of a mishap at home. She returns to Mumbai to find that her home has been destroyed in a fire and her husband Raaj Kumar died in it. Heartbroken and grief stricken Serena copes with the police investigation and mourning period with help of her friend Kim. Kim is a gorgeous model and police inspector D’Cunha finds a few clues pointing towards her. But, one of Kim’s influential friend manages to call off the inquiry against her.

Serena continues to work hard and we follow her career path as she completes a successful assignment in Dubai and then gets promoted at her bank in Mumbai. Eventually, she decides to move away from the city in order to find some peace in her life and hopefully a new man. She finds a job in London and here, one of her colleague Paul introduces her to a Greek millionaire called Nikos. Serena and Nikos like each other and in a few months, plan to get married.

In India, Michael D’Cunha‘s career has progressed and he ends up working as DSP in Delhi Police with a very sharp officer Kabir Singh. Kabir was Raaj and Serena’s classmate and friend in college and also loved Serena. When a CBI deputation leads the duo to Mumbai looking for counterfeit certificates, little do they know that they will be talking to Kim again.

And looking for Serena Kumar. For the conspiracy appears to be deeper than anyone could have thought of. Does the police duo unravel the mystery and find their answers and their culprits?

Views and Reviews:

As you can see from the storyline, the book revolves around a mysterious crime and the author does a good job of building anticipation throughout the first half. The book starts with the fire incident and then follows Serena’s life for another five years. All the while, the reader is aware of something going in the background and the sense of anticipation, until the end of first half when you feel that little note of discovery.

The second half then is more of a thriller, as the mystery of the crimes committed in past, is revealed step by step and the author shows us the chain of events that led to the characters behaving as they do now. The author also gives us a few red herrings and cleverly constructed scenes to tell us part of the event, while the second part is discussed in the later half.

Like Vish Dhamija‘s other books, the characters are simply sketched and could be someone you met in real life. Raaj, Serena and Kabir are good-looking, smart, well-educated and quite determined to succeed in life. They have all been lucky to have received all the tools at young age:

Nothing in later life can compensate for the lack of a good education. Do not be in a hurry and repent for the rest of your life.

And yet, they are not all happy with their lot in life. They are keen to make more money, have a good lifestyle, visit exotic vacation destinations, party with rich and trendy people and have tons of money. The motivator for all the crimes in this book is essentially greed. When clever people become greedy, they turn to bypassing the rules and may end up very rich very quickly, but in the end greed is never a good long-term companion:

Common sense tells me that rich people are happier than their poor counterparts.

Greed is inversely proportional to fear…when it becomes strong, people shut themselves off to the cost of risks but the risks don’t go away. Myopia binds them to the risks.

If you are clever and greedy and have access to money, then there are numerous ways to exploit the loopholes in the system, and through that the author shows us how any system can be used to get rich quick. But, sometimes an external factor can change the way a scam operates and then that financial crime can lead to even bigger crimes.

There are also other likeable characters in the book, especially Kim, who seem to end up at the wrong end of the suspect spectrum and has to make sacrifices to get out of police investigations. The author shows how being influential can sometimes be the only thing that can save you from hassles of criminals.

The book is written in an easy and light manner, making it a fast-paced entertaining read. The thrill of the chase is maintained all the way to the end and the author uses a small coincidence in the end to give us the final twist, until the mystery ends.

Summary:

In summary, an entertaining suspense thriller set in the world of financial scam of the 1990s that will provide you an interesting reading for a few hours…

ThinkerViews Rating:

Around 7.5 stars out of 10.

Quick Purchase Links:

• Buy - Nothing Lasts Forever by Vish Dhamija - Paperback - Amazon IN
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• Buy - Nothing Lasts Forever by Vish Dhamija - Audiobook - Amazon IN
• Buy - Nothing Lasts Forever by Vish Dhamija - Paperback - Amazon US
• Buy - Nothing Lasts Forever by Vish Dhamija - Kindle EBook - Amazon US
• Buy - Nothing Lasts Forever by Vish Dhamija - Audiobook - Amazon US

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