Wordless Wednesday

The Short Drop : ****

Finally, I gave in and got myself the Kindle Unlimited membership, which is 10$ per month (even though it says $9.99…. I hated those .99 numbers anyways and would rather round it off to the nearest number). And the first book I started was ‘The Short Drop‘ by Matthew FitzSimmons.

It is a Mystery Thriller, which is my most favorite genre, so there wasn’t any other choice. I was going through some Linda Howard’s novels before picking this up. When I have less time to spend for my reading, but read I do every day irrespective of whatever the pressure is, I always choose romance or romantic suspense which is easy on my mind. But I have to read a thriller for every two romance I read. And trust me, this one kept me on the edge of my seat almost close to falling down from my sofa.

No spoiler alert, so you can rest easy. Instead of me trying to write a blurb for that story, let me copy paste the one from Goodreads, for purpose of making it easy on every one.

A decade ago, fourteen-year-old Suzanne Lombard, the daughter of Benjamin Lombard—then a senator, now a powerful vice president running for the presidency—disappeared in the most sensational missing-person case in the nation’s history. Still unsolved, the mystery remains a national obsession.

For legendary hacker and marine Gibson Vaughn, the case is personal—Suzanne Lombard had been like a sister to him. On the tenth anniversary of her disappearance, the former head of Benjamin Lombard’s security asks for Gibson’s help in a covert investigation of the case, with new evidence in hand.

Haunted by tragic memories, he jumps at the chance to uncover what happened all those years ago. Using his military and technical prowess, he soon discovers multiple conspiracies surrounding the Lombard family—and he encounters powerful, ruthless political players who will do anything to silence him and his team. With new information surfacing that could threaten Lombard’s bid for the presidency, Gibson must stay one step ahead as he navigates a dangerous web to get to the truth.

I gave this one 4 stars, why ? because I almost guessed the culprit in the second part. But that doesn’t mean, the one I suspected was the actual culprit, even though in part that person sure was. Its a little complicated than that. I am not a big fan of political drama. Politics bores me in any form, be it news, fiction….doesn’t matter. But I did find this one to be gripping and wanted to uncover the truth just as much as Gibson Vaughn did. It was not about getting justice but it was about finding the truth aboout the missing girl and why. Like they say in the book,

“Never leave accounts unsettled.”
― Matthew FitzSimmons, The Short Drop

Madras – Old Theme New Approach

After a long time watched a Tamil movie. Madras, a movie featuring my favorite actor Karthi. Again, after quite a few flops I am glad to see him in this movie, portraying a serious character. I saw in one of his interviews regarding this movie, that he was asked to do a movie where he doesn’t do his trademark smile (/smirk). Even though I do like his smile, I should say that it was definitely a change watching him perform and not go through a scene just with his smile.

Madras, the capital of Tamil Nadu is currently called as Chennai. But still a lot of people refer to it as Madras. And like a lot of movies, it shows the south Chennai and  the various political happenings that happen in a very small part of it. It all starts and ends with a wall. How a simple thing as a wall becomes the symbol of power and how the two parties who want to capture it play with the lives of the people around it and how it affects everyone, especially our protagonist and his close friend and how their lives change for ever is what the story is all about. I am not going into the story as such (Wikipedia tells it in much more detail), but I should say that it was definitely a slightly fresh take on a very old theme. Even though there is the usual romance, here and there and in bits and pieces, and songs , which for some reason didn’t put me off, and the age old backstabbing, which actually I figured out at the exact minute,  the overall effect of it on the movie was in such a way that it wasn’t boring in the least. Credit to the screenplay for that. There is one scene which I really liked. The one where the shadow of the hero Karthi grows slowly in the wall in such a way that it sort of envelops the whole wall. I really liked the way they used the lights and shadows to convey a strong message. And to mention the message at the end of the movie which says how social education if promoted right from child hood may prevent these kind of happenings using the same wall as the background is a good one.

Also in the fight sequence almost at the end, they showed the similarities between the fight and the football. I wasn’t sure how to interpret that 🙂 Is football that dangerous ? Is it a substitute for the primal fighting urge ? Or if you know football you can win a fight, just imagine the other person’s head as a football ? Song’s weren’t that impressive but didn’t put me off either. I am not sure if I will listen to them again, that is all. Is that a good thing that it sort of gelled well with the story and didn’t feel like a separate part of it ? Or is it that average ? Honestly, as far as this movie is concerned I don’t care about songs. Its a drama so I would prefer it went well with the story and am happy that it didn’t feel like a sore spot. Overall, it was a good movie and I enjoyed it.