Line of Control

by Mainak Dhar

It is 2012, and the world is a more dangerous place than ever before. Revolutions have swept aside one Middle Eastern regime after another. A regime allied to Al Qaeda has swept to power in Saudi Arabia, and uses its oil wealth and modern arsenal to further spread Jihad around the world. Yet another military coup brings a fundamentalist regime to power in Pakistan, which initiates an audacious plan to strike the first blow in this new global Jihad. As unprecedented terror attacks stun India, the stage is set for a conflict that brings the Indian subcontinent to the brink of a nuclear apocalypse.

With a broad cast of characters that puts the reader into the thick of the unfolding crisis, a fast-paced storyline ripped from today's headlines, and explosive action, Line of Control is a thriller uniquely suited to the times we live in.

BONUS Free sample of the science fiction thriller 'Vimana' by Mainak Dhar

Praise for the Indian paperback

"An outstanding book. Better than Tom Clancy any day. I wish I had/could have written such a book." - Air Commodore Jasjeet Singh (Retd.) Director, Institute for Air Power Studies

"Captures very well the cut and thrust of combat. A thrilling read."
- General V.N Sharma (Retd.) Former Chief of Army Staff, India

"Dhar brings us a scenario that seems possible yet apocalyptic."
- The Hindustan Times

"Other than being a great plot, the author seems know how weapons work, which is a great relief to the readers and spices up the novel." - Frontier India

"The characters seem real, with abundant mention of various historical characters and national heroes. Dhar has done equal justice to characters from both sides of the border. By placing readers in the thick of action, similar to the circumstances that we find ourselves in today, Dhar has actually managed to find a connect that cannot be missed easily." - HT City

"A page-turner right the word 'go', Line of... is also very timely. With utter chaos all around and many internal battles fought in the name of religion, Line of ... couldn't have been timed better. This racy war-thriller is exciting, to say the least, as the reader is drawn deep into the action of war. Mainak Dhar's characterization deserves a special mention too, as each character, be it the Pakistani or Indian, is sketched in detail, complete with their eccentricities and ordinariness." - Deccan Herald

"The spine-chilling war scenario entertains, by all means, with skilful plot, well-drawn variety of characters, thrilling action, a high degree of intrigue, suspense and tension, grim humour...There is no gainsaying the fact that in the wake of recent Mumbai terror strikes, "the war thriller", delineating serious and topical concerns -- fundamentalism fuelling terrorism, burgeoning instability in Pakistan, reaction of other countries to the chronic and mounting tension between India and Pakistan -- will attract much wider readership." - The Tribune

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Amazon

345 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

After finishing his schooling at Modern School, Barakhamba Road and his under-graduation at Hindu College, Delhi, Mainak Dhar graduated from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He has spent two decades in the corporate sector — starting with Procter & Gamble in India. He spent eighteen years with P&G, fifteen of them outside India across the Asia Pacific region. In 2014, he moved back to India as the CEO of the India operations of a major consumer products multinational.
A self-described cubicle dweller by day and writer by night, Mainak is also the author of over a dozen books, some of which have been bestsellers in India and abroad. These books have been translated into Turkish, Vietnamese, Japanese, French, German and Portuguese. He lives in Mumbai with his wife, Puja, and their son, Aaditya. When not at work or with his family, he can usually be found working on, or thinking about his next book. Learn more about him and contact him at www.facebook.com/AuthorMainakDhar.

Reviews

[Bharath · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book of Mainak Dhar that I have read, after 03:02. As with 03:02, this has a captivating story as well.

A despot in the middle east eggs on the Pakistani ruler to take some bold steps against India. An assassination attempt of India's Prime Minister and terror attacks at multiple places happen, setting the stage for a communal flareup. This is followed by a large scale influx of terrorists into Kashmir backed by the Pakistan army with an intent to capture and hold territory. Very soon, the conflict widens with the threat of nuclear weapons lurking in the background.

The story is sadly fairly plausible, bringing out the dangers of Pakistan pursuing support to terror groups as a state policy. The pace is very good and the book is engrossing. The drawback though is that a lot of space is devoted to elaborate descriptions of warfare, with very minimal character building.

[Ajayshankar11 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always loved reading books from this Author, he has set a standard for himself. Reading the book when news about "Isis starting a new province in Kashmir" so could relate easily. Plot is interesting and gripping till the end, finished in one go. As the title reads all action is at the Line of control (India and Pakistan) and activities related to it.
Author has worked hard to build the characters and situations for the story. He has done justice to all characters and situations. He is successful in narrating the story by running parallell sub stories as there is so much to explain, happening at same time. Though somethings you might not agree with the plot/author but it is not completely impossible scenario.
There is no one hero, no good side, bad side, only few fanatic bad power hungry people, how dangerous it would be if power is given to bad religiously inclined people. To know more read the book.

Pros:
I liked all the Quotes at start of each chapter.

Would recommend it to all readers who love reading fiction and thrillers.

[Al Swanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the great things about reading on the Kindle is also one of it's biggest shortcomings: cost of the books. If you want to read the latest from Clancy, you'll pay as much or more for the Kindle edition as you'd pay for the hardcover. If you want to read the latest from Mainak Dhar, you might pay 99 cents. In fact, there is another great thing about books on Kindle - some you can't get in print. I'm not sure that this is one, but there's a large and growing number of authors popping out titles that will sell well on Kindle that might not sell at all in print. No publisher is going to print a book and intend to sell it for 99 cents. Kindle allows that. Whether the title has a limited audience or the author is an unknown, Kindle allows writers to get books out to readers that otherwise might only exist on the author's harddrive.

Dhar's story of a war brewing in hotbed of Pakistan, from a local point of view, might not have a large audience in the US. That alone would probably be the death knell for a publisher. Since he's also not a well-known author, that puts the nail in the coffin. And that would be a shame because it's a pretty decent book! Kindle allows authors - and publishers - the opportunity to take a chance and write books for smaller audiences and still make money.

Dhar's style is a bit uneven. He's not yet Clancy or Brown or Bond. Still, Clancy wasn't Clancy till he got started. Dhar's novel is a unique point of view and a good, fast, fun read. I'll be waiting for his next title.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

All in all, this was a solid story. Dhar deviates from convention at times, switching between different characters' POVs in the same scene, telling instead of showing, etc. I touched upon some of the other shortcomings in my "mid-read" commentary.

However, his underlying premise regarding what sparks the armed conflict between India and Pakistan seemed pretty realistic to me, and he obviously did quite a bit of research regarding the weapons systems used by both sides as well as the two countries' respective war strategies. The story flowed nicely once I got into it, and the romance that develops between two of the characters adds an interesting dimension to the story.

If you'd like to explore a political/military thriller involving a different conflict from those which are typically featured in the genre today (e.g. America vs. Islamic terrorists, America vs. China, America vs. a resurgent, crypto-communist Russia, etc.) - and if you're more interested in military action than grammatical niceties and standard literary conventions - you might be pleasantly surprised by Line of Control.

[Sunil Seetharaman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last line

The closest to Tom Clancy I've read, and I mean that as a compliment. Fantastic stuff, fast moving storyline, good character building. Look forward to reading more of this. And yes, the last line in the novel.

[Dhawal Joshi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seeing the blurb, cover and the praises in the description I was honestly pretty excited to read the book. In past such type of books have been really good for ex, Nation At War Series which is one of my fav by Varun Tejwani. You can check out reviews for the same on my website.

Apart from that, the book honestly felt like a cross hybrid between a military weapons encyclopedia and your typical 90's bollywood classic. That's the best I can describe without much revelation of the plot. I am a reader of political thrillers but here the story didn't grab my attention at all. Surely, it was a fast paced and the descriptions along with some gore were quite to the point but it didn't connect at all.

It felt maybe too fast to get in sync with the plot or maybe it was boring, I really can't say. I somehow managed to finish it as it was quite predictable. The author truly states that it is indeed a reflection of the world we are living in right now. It felt like someone just edited real life news too much and just mixed it up really good with a lot of conspiracy theories that are always roaming around in the political realm.

In a gist if you love your typical and very predictable bollywood 'war' thriller you'd love this new flavour but there's nothing much to it unless you are extremely into knowing about new weapons and tactics.

[Folioscent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review by folioscent

💠Book Name :- Line of Control- A Thriller on the Coming War in Asia
💠Author Name :- Mainak Dhar
💠Genre :- Thriller, Crime, Friction.
💠Title :- The title of the book is creatively chosen and conveys some kinda message in it.
💠Cover :- the cover of the book is unique and I really liked it.
💠 Pages :- 260
💠My point of view :-
🔺This book contains sensitive topics such as India vs. Pakistan where the actions related to line of Control is explained throughout the book.
🔺The story from beginning to end keeps you engaging.
The narrative part of the book is good and explains all sub stories descriptively.
🔺The hard work of the author can be analysed while reading the book as it's well researched and takes guts to write books on hot topics.
🔺The author as done true justice to the characters based on each and every situation.
🔺The story is entertaining and addictive. Recommendable book.
💠Rating :- ☀️☀️☀️☀️

[Agastya Maitra · Rating 4 out of 5]

To begin with, this is the first time I ventured into this genre since it is available on kindle unlimited and the reviews are very good. It is all of 280 pages long and I raced through it within a couple of days of night reading.

The plot is setup in the first few pages of the book and it never wavers or slows down throughout. The storyline is simple but the author puts it in an interesting way and gives interesting anecdotes on the capabilities of different weapon systems and that makes it engaging till the very end. The military jargon and excessive and casual usage of the term "nukes" is somewhat off putting for me.

Since I haven't read books of this genre before, I am not sure how it fares with the likes of Tom Clancy and others but it will be an interesting read never the less.

[Prashant Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first book of Mainak Dhar. Dhar has proved to be excellent in creating the war scenes so vivid and real that you feel like you are witnessing it in real. I loved the book. It is an excellent piece of fiction based on the tensions between India and Pakistan. Dhar has portrayed what will happen when religious fanatics start controlling the government. It will lead to the end of humanity. The best part I loved about this piece of fiction is the climax. The climax was not in the last chapter or last para, instead, it was in the last line of the book. I was dumbstruck. I loved the book. I loved the quotes in the book by the great soldiers the world has seen. One of my favourites is: I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do. I recommend this book to all the fiction lovers especially war fictions.

[Digvijay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually, 3.5 stars.

About the book,

1. While the narration concerned with the Armed forces is highly stereotypical and tepid, the plot and the striking audacity of attacks is something everyone should be concerned about. The way it's all glued together seems to be simplistic but the open similarities with the reality is what makes it engaging.
2. The author has hit the 'dukhti rag' of our democracy by involving the delicate social thread of communal rivalry.
3. The author has a reasonably good understanding of how Armed Forces use their weapons and equipment which is rare among Non-Fauji writers.
4. The whole book seems to be a silent cry for advice on how countries could be better if they buy more AWACS. It's very very important according to the author.
5. The brazen Love story between the reticent colonel and the flashy media girl is very stereotypical but manages to keep the humane angle alive.
6. The Arif angle is one thing I did not see coming, the story ended on an interesting note summarising the intricacies of problems in Indo-Pak relationship.

Summing up it was a Engaging read and Recommended.

[Aravind · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story of a can-happen-anytime war between India and Pakistan is a good, fast-paced read which I would rate as a 3.5 starrer. The author seems to have researched well enough to make the war terminology sound authentic. The negatives about this novel are some unrealistic sequences, a predictable romance and, most irritatingly, a shoddy editing that has let slip a lot of grammatical errors through.

[Pratyasha Priyadarshini · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the attention to detail in every scene, both technically as well as emotionally. We don't just get a closer picture of the geo-politics of South Asia and for that matter the world, also the subtle way the author has given a peek into each character's psyche. You don't just root for a country or one religion to win. We get to see what each side of the battle is going through and how the blind power lust of few causes the suffering of millions of innocent people.

[Venkatesh Chetlur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Your regular potboiler....sort of like a Bollywood thriller - expect someone to make this into a movie. Has all the ingredients... patritic fervor, unscrupulous enemy, villain in the shadows... the works...

Good thing is that the pace does not let up and the writing is ok.

Overall, a decent one time read - maybe on a flight.

[Amlanjyoti Saikia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unexpectedly good

Didn't have a ton of expectations when I came to this book. But, it turned out to be a pretty well rounded fictional version of the sub-continent's political realities, and the cracks in India's armour. A cautionary tale with a happy ending that we Indians absolutely adore (Bollywood spoiled us).

[B. Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

In short, the author has found success in portraying an Indian-subcontinent based espionage thriller (fiction) in ‘Tom Clancy’ way. The only two drawbacks are 1) Certain events time-line are not matching. 2) The suspense at the climax is actually deducible (especially for those who are well familiarized with such novels).

[Saurabh Mahajan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Realism mixed with engaging writing!

This book covers all real possibilities of political holdings in South and West Asia and it's impact on the Indian subcontinent and the world, potential use of nuclear warheads, religious fanaticism and it's repercussions and kind of stuff! Must read for all interested in geopolitical activities of Indian subcontinent.

[Abhijeet Panwar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story is interesting like indian masala movie. With right combination of action, romance, humor and good suspense... Author has really good knowledge of all the 3 defence systems (army, airforce, navy) of India. It's quite interesting to know about different fighters, warships, tanks, missiles and many such things India possesses. Overall a nice and interesting read.

[Ashwini · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved reading this page turner. it brilliantly captures the nuances and strategies of a war. the story is compelling and binds you to find out what is going to happen next. the characters are well sketched. a few grammatical mistakes in the book but these can be overlooked.

[Ankit Mund · Rating 5 out of 5]

An awesome war novel !

It's the best war novel that I've ever read. It keeps the reader on the edge with its portrayal of war events. What makes it more exciting is the India-Pakistan duel.

[Jatin Mehta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read but lot of typos

Very interesting plot making it a good read, but a lot of typos and a few gaffes - e.g. in one paragraph, the author mentions a completely different character than actually intended. A lot of minor typos in the book, though, making it irksome.

[Parikshit Lale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant though predictable

Just couldn't keep this down, a pretty fast read. Even though plot was more or less predictable with one unexpected twist, really enjoyed detailing of weapon systems and pace of the story.

[Sandeep Dey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book.

Loved the way the story unfolds. Also Mainak had given equal opportunities to both India And Pakistan and it is the core truth common people on both sides does not want war.

[Likhita Nagamalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick one time read that puts you in a real war field. The author gave his best with the terminology and the sequences. The author made sure he caught the nerve of a reader with his plot and story line.

[Vipul Chemburkar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gripping

A fast paced thriller. Based on realpolitik, the situations outlined seem actually plausible in real life. Brings out the risks of fundamentalism and nuclear war ver clearly.

[Priyadarshic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absorbing, Thrilling War novel

Realistic scenarios developed with detailed depiction of air and land battles with tactics explained. A war novel and spy thriller combined. Geo politically, the scabrous are quite realistic and military strategists should read this one definitely.

[capt K Gopakumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thriller

An excellent read. The author had brought out the details of action/ operations as close to real action as far as possible. Breathtaking, one doesn't want any break after start reading

[Hemant · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a long time I have read a good fiction which introduced war as vivid with lot of weapons and warheads. If you like reading about India/Pak stuff, it would be a good read.

[VISWANADHAM NAMBURI · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good gripping book till the end.

[Suparnkumar Sathe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice book, painting India- Pak war scenario, though many of the things were shown too optimistic. Still a good read.

[Ajitabh Pandey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very fast pace action packed page turner. And if the plot is India-Pakistan conflict, then its a bonus. Only a few chapters were little slow and drama type of situation.