Nikhil Sampath (Author of Shadowbound)

Nikhil Sampath rated a book it was amazing Tides Of Being \| A tapestry of 100 verses to take you to introspective journey by Tanvi Agarwal (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This was my first poetry book and it made me introspect myself in a lot of pages. The questions that the author raise are relevant to each one of us and the more you read, the more questions you ask yourself. Some questions make you find the answers ...more
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Nikhil Sampath liked Apoorva Mathur's review of Shadowbound: An Indian Superhero Thriller: ""Shadowbound" is a gripping tale that blends mythology, suspense, and adventure. Set in a small Tamil village, the story follows Kadhir, a shy engineering student who gains strange superpowers after a night in a temple. As the people of the village s" Read more of this review »
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Nikhil Sampath liked Mini's review of Shadowbound: An Indian Superhero Thriller: "I recently finished Shadowbound — and what a book! 🤌 This isn’t just your regular superhero story, and that’s what makes it stand out. The story takes you to Kattur, a village in Tamil Nadu, and beautifully blends South Indian mythology with a suspens" Read more of this review »
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Nikhil Sampath and 2 other people liked Gayathiri Rajendran's review of Shadowbound: An Indian Superhero Thriller: "Shadowbound by Nikhil Sampath is a superhero story set in our very own backyard,if I may say. The theme felt quite nostalgic to me because if you grew up in Tamil Nadu,you’d have definitely heard one or two tales or themes referenced in this book. It" Read more of this review »
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Nikhil Sampath rated a book it was amazing Deadly Clues: Detective Victor Rises \| A Gripping Crime Thriller by Amritendu Mukherjee	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Nikhil Sampath rated a book liked it The Lost World (Jurassic Park, #2) by Michael Crichton	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Nikhil Sampath rated a book it was amazing Uncle Fred in the Springtime by P.G. Wodehouse	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
PG Wodehouse shows us why he is the master of comedy in this excellent situational comedy. I was laughing out loud literally throughout the book and the confusion and the mess PG Wodehouse creates is unmatched! When you actually think no one can crea ...more
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Nikhil Sampath rated a book it was amazing

Tides Of Being | A tapestry of 100 verses to take you to intr... by Tanvi Agarwal

Tides Of Being | A tapestry of 100 verses to take you to introspective journey
by Tanvi Agarwal (Goodreads Author)

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1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

This was my first poetry book and it made me introspect myself in a lot of pages. The questions that the author raise are relevant to each one of us and the more you read, the more questions you ask yourself. Some questions make you find the answers ...more

Nikhil Sampath liked Apoorva Mathur's review of Shadowbound: An Indian Superhero Thriller:

""Shadowbound" is a gripping tale that blends mythology, suspense, and adventure. Set in a small Tamil village, the story follows Kadhir, a shy engineering student who gains strange superpowers after a night in a temple. As the people of the village s" Read more of this review »

Nikhil Sampath liked Mini's review of Shadowbound: An Indian Superhero Thriller:

"I recently finished Shadowbound — and what a book! 🤌

This isn’t just your regular superhero story, and that’s what makes it stand out. The story takes you to Kattur, a village in Tamil Nadu, and beautifully blends South Indian mythology with a suspens" Read more of this review »

Nikhil Sampath is now following Gayathiri Rajendran's reviews

Nikhil Sampath and 2 other people liked Gayathiri Rajendran's review of Shadowbound: An Indian Superhero Thriller:

"Shadowbound by Nikhil Sampath is a superhero story set in our very own backyard,if I may say. The theme felt quite nostalgic to me because if you grew up in Tamil Nadu,you’d have definitely heard one or two tales or themes referenced in this book. It" Read more of this review »

Nikhil Sampath rated a book it was amazing

Deadly Clues: Detective Victor Rises | A Gripping Crime Thriller
by Amritendu Mukherjee

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A Brilliant New Voice in Indian Detective Fiction — Meet Vik Chatterjee

I devoured this book overnight and came away grinning like a lifelong mystery fan who’s just found a new favourite sleuth. After Byomkesh, Vik feels like our detective — smart, ch A Brilliant New Voice in Indian Detective Fiction — Meet Vik Chatterjee

I devoured this book overnight and came away grinning like a lifelong mystery fan who’s just found a new favourite sleuth. After Byomkesh, Vik feels like our detective — smart, charismatic, and distinctively Indian, yet never a copy of Sherlock Holmes or Poirot. Amritendu’s writing gives Vik a personality so strong that you stop comparing and simply see Vik.

I especially loved Rik, the slightly bewildered companion who often feels like a stand-in for the reader. I missed him in the stories where he wasn’t present! The narrative choice to present cases from different stages of Vik’s life — instead of a simple, chronological case-by-case structure — keeps things fresh and inventive.

Another strength is characterisation. Even with a large supporting cast, no two people sound alike; you can often tell who’s speaking just by their dialogue. The action scenes are also surprisingly easy to follow — I usually skim fictional fights, but here they’re vivid and cinematic without being confusing.

The mysteries themselves are clever and layered. As a longtime murder-mystery reader, I cracked the “whodunit” in only two of the cases — but the why and how still surprised me every time. That balance between fair-play clues and unexpected solutions is the mark of a skilled mystery writer. My favourite case was “One Eye, One Shot” (even though it’s technically not a murder!). And the final story’s locked-room twist felt refreshingly original.

If I had one tiny nitpick, it’s that the “aha” reveal in the last case was a bit dense — I had to reread to fully grasp the solution, so the impact softened a little. But the emotional final note (“thank you”) was beautiful and more than made up for it.

Overall, Deadly Clues is a five-star read for me — smart yet highly readable, with simple, clear prose that lets you focus on the puzzle instead of wading through ornate language. I’d love to see Vik star in a full-length novel someday, and I sincerely hope this series gets the wider recognition it deserves.

If you enjoy clever mysteries, complex yet fair puzzles, and a fresh Indian detective you can truly root for, this book is a must-read. ...more

Nikhil Sampath has read

Shadowbound: An Indian Superhero Thriller
by Nikhil Sampath (Goodreads Author)

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Nikhil Sampath rated a book liked it

The Lost World (Jurassic Park, #2)
by Michael Crichton

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Michael Crichton’s The Lost World is a strange kind of sequel. On the surface, it promises more of what made Jurassic Park so compelling—dinosaurs running free, science brushing up against hubris, people struggling to survive in a world where they no Michael Crichton’s The Lost World is a strange kind of sequel. On the surface, it promises more of what made Jurassic Park so compelling—dinosaurs running free, science brushing up against hubris, people struggling to survive in a world where they no longer sit at the top of the food chain. But the further you read, the more it becomes clear that this book doesn’t capture the same spark.

The setup is actually great: Richard Levine, a paleontologist obsessed with finding proof of living dinosaurs, vanishes on Isla Sorna, and a rescue team goes after him. That’s already a solid survival story. You don’t need anything else. Unfortunately, Crichton decides to pile on contrivances. Two kids somehow stow away inside a trailer, fly undetected from the U.S. to Costa Rica, and pop up on the island like it’s no big deal. Once there, they’re improbably useful, solving problems that the adults can’t. It feels more like a narrative shortcut than anything that makes sense.

Bringing Ian Malcolm back also hurts the story. He was supposed to be dead at the end of Jurassic Park, but here he’s resurrected with a quick hand-wave explanation. And then, once he’s mauled by a T. rex, he spends most of the book injured, giving lectures on chaos theory instead of driving the story forward. Malcolm works as a voice of philosophy, but as a protagonist, he’s dead weight.

The real misstep, though, is Lewis Dodgson. In Jurassic Park, the tension came from pure survival: once the systems failed, nobody was safe, and every encounter with a dinosaur felt like a coin toss between life and death. In The Lost World, Crichton adds Dodgson and his goons, who come to steal dinosaur eggs. But Dodgson isn’t scary or even interesting—he’s a stock villain, and his fate is obvious from the start. By introducing him, Crichton replaces that raw man-versus-nature terror with a predictable man-versus-man subplot that just doesn’t belong.

That said, the book isn’t without its strengths. Crichton’s grounding in real science—evolution, extinction, predator-prey dynamics—still gives the story a sense of plausibility, even when the plot itself gets wobbly. The dinosaurs themselves are a genuine highlight: we get to see new species like the head-butting Pachycephalosaurus and the camouflaging Carnotaurus, which make the island feel alive in ways the first book only hinted at. Sarah Harding is another bright spot: short-haired, no-nonsense, and competent in the field. She feels like someone who could genuinely survive in that environment, even if the story doesn’t give her as much space as it should.

All in all, The Lost World feels like a novel written because Jurassic Park was too big to leave standing alone. It has flashes of what made Crichton great—his love of science, his ability to make abstract ideas thrilling—but it also has kids who are too smart, a villain who’s too flat, and a protagonist who doesn’t really belong. It’s worth reading if you’re curious to see Crichton playing with these ideas again, and the dinosaurs themselves are still a thrill. But it’s nowhere near as tight, terrifying, or memorable as Jurassic Park. ...more

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Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park, #1)
by Michael Crichton

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Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton — A Masterpiece of Science, Horror, and Awe

It is literally one of the best books I have ever read in my life.

As someone who has always held Jurassic Park (the movie) close to my heart — rewatching it countless times Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton — A Masterpiece of Science, Horror, and Awe

It is literally one of the best books I have ever read in my life.

As someone who has always held Jurassic Park (the movie) close to my heart — rewatching it countless times with the same awe — I didn’t think anything could top it. But Crichton’s novel didn’t just match it. It eclipsed it.

This book takes everything I loved about the movie — the dinosaurs, the tension, the sheer spectacle — and grounds it in dread, science, and realism. It trades cinematic wonder for psychological and biological terror, and somehow, that makes the whole experience even more compelling.

Take the iconic T. rex breakout scene. In Spielberg's version, the tension is expertly built with rippling water and trembling glass. But in the book? Tim dons the night-vision goggles and sees the T. rex pull down the fence and come for them, eyes locked. No buildup — just raw, immediate horror. We’re not just witnessing it anymore; we’re seeing it through a child’s terrified eyes. The dread is visceral.

Crichton’s masterstroke lies in how he weaves real science — chaos theory, genetics, complex systems — into the narrative. Ian Malcolm isn’t just a quirky mathematician here; he’s the voice of doom, and every prediction he makes unfolds with uncanny precision. The park’s descent into chaos isn’t just thrilling — it’s inevitable.

And then there are the dinosaurs themselves. If you thought the movie leaned into spectacle, the book takes a different route: it respects these animals, but it doesn’t romanticize them. These aren't just movie monsters; they are real, unpredictable, often horrifying creatures. Especially the Velociraptors — they are truly the villains of the book. Intelligent, savage, even cannibalistic — their scenes are some of the most thrilling and terrifying I’ve ever read.

Of course, I do have a few nitpicks. Timmy, the elder of the two children, comes off as far too competent — borderline superheroic — while Lex, the younger sibling, is often reduced to a whiny, panicky distraction. I understand they’re children, but the contrast between them felt exaggerated and unfair.

Also, while the T. rex is positioned as the central threat for most of the book, it often feels like it's just following Alan and the kids across the park — almost too conveniently. I would’ve preferred if it had its own agenda rather than being a roaming plot device. Still, once the raptors take center stage, the tension skyrockets, and the final third is an absolute page-turner.

In the end, if given the choice between re-reading this book or re-watching the movie, I’d pick the book — without hesitation. Spielberg gave us awe. Crichton reminded us why we should be afraid. ...more

Nikhil Sampath rated a book it was amazing

Uncle Fred in the Springtime
by P.G. Wodehouse

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PG Wodehouse shows us why he is the master of comedy in this excellent situational comedy. I was laughing out loud literally throughout the book and the confusion and the mess PG Wodehouse creates is unmatched! When you actually think no one can crea ...more

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