The Terrorist

by Juggi Bhasin

When you are trained to endure the harshest of climates, the most hostile of situations, to survive where no ordinary man can - there's little difference between you and the terrorist you are trying to kill. Little, except which side you are on. Suvir and Murad - both victims of circumstance, both numb with the pain of haivng lost their loved ones - choose to do things differently. While one becomes the most feared of terrorist, the other joins the Special forces. Their face-off is a flight to death as one is out to carry out a major terrorist operation in Delhi and the other has been specially called in to foil the attack... Moving breathlessly, through rugged terrain, this edgy thriller will not let you rest till the very last page!

Genres: Thriller

505 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2012

About the author

"Who am I?" asked Spiderman in the hit movie and believe me however old we might be, many of us still struggle with that question. I am, however, very clear about who I am not. I am not a person with a straight line career like a doctor or a chartered accountant. I am a person who has dabbled in many things, whether by accident or design, but surely with some degree of success.
My detractors would say that "he has a rolling stone career" but those who appreciate me would say that he is a 'self actualized person'. After all how many people you know have been a television reporter and anchor, stage actor, marketing services entrepreneur and event manager and not to forget a mental health counselor, good husband, sensible father – all roles carried out with a high degree of success.

But my biggest test is yet to come as I stand at the cusp of fulfilling a lifelong ambition: to become a writer of serious note. And my first work of fiction called 'The Terrorist', a Military Thriller, is published by Penguin Publications. This is the first step towards my journey of fulfilling my ambition.

Career choice number - is it four or five- would probably be the most challenging to date. So folks you can take your pick and decide whether I am indeed a rolling stone or a seriously evolved individual. And hey I forget my current interest in poetry, but relax that is not a career option, well not as yet anyway!

Additional details about Juggi Bhasin can be found here

Reviews

[Athul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where do I begin? Reckon will start with the things I didn't like about this book. For starters the cover of the book looks like a bollywood movie poster designer being "inspired" by hollywood. The cover is something like Amish's immortals of meluha. Hmmmm... What other negatives are there? Oh yeah, for some godforsaken reason penguin decides to publish this book under their metro reads banner.

Now the good bits... Remember the time when Farhan akthar made DCH? I am sure you do. You didn't care that it was made by a first director. And you wouldn't care that this is juggi bhasin's first novel. Lovely story structure. Strong well defined character's. Furtive pace. And I am not even going to venture to describe the grand, stylized visuals. The epic proportions of plain and pure unadulterated, unhinged story telling. The story and the author is what Indian publishing was long waiting for. Maybe Oswald Periera who wrote newsroom mafia may take a note or two from juggi. Actually every single writer who is writing or wants to write may take a page or the whole 505 from juggi. The best thing I loved and appreciated the most about the author is the fact that he didn't write it for a videshi audience. It was and is meant purely for the Indian reader. So no unwanted explanation of what Delhi is like during summers or how Kashmir is like during winters. No word fillers of place depiction. Pure action and character driven. I mean this book is so utterly magnificent that I am actually feeling depressed about the fact that nothing I will ever write will ever be this bloody brilliant. Juggi Bhasin! You magnificent beast. Thank you.

I am unsure if I should take away a star for the horrid cover OR should I keep it just the fact that he so humorously laced real life characters, their traits and incidents into this fictionalized saga. That is what this is! An epic saga. And by god! Penguin! THIS IS NOT A METRO READ. The story consumes you. I think I will give it full 5 stars since none of the bad things are to be credited to the author. Once again, Thank YOU!

[Amit · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are 2 reviews for this book. One is short, while the other is long.
Here's the short one:
GO BUY THIS BOOK NOW!!! ITS THAT GOOD!!!
For those of you who want a Rs. 50 Discount on the cover price of Rs. 250 can buy it from Flipkart

Now for the long review:
Every Indian and every asshole politician (if you don't believe politicians are assholes, you will after reading this book) must read this book. Juggi couldn't have painted a more accurate picture of the current state of affairs in India.
Some important features that I liked in this book are:
Brilliant character development especially those of Suvir, Murad, Kalpana and Waghale.
Indepth and touching stories of each of the main characters, Suvir and Murad.
Fast paced action that made me want to turn pages faster than I could read them.
And finally, a mind boggling but predictable finale between Suvir 'Prithvi' Suri and Murad 'Ghazvani' Hussain.

A MUST READ!!!

[Manikanta Avinash · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty good for a debut novel. If you can read a 500 page novel in two sittings, it means the author is definitely not bad! His pace was pretty good and the plot doesn't slacken anywhere but some dialogues looked outright dumb or maybe I missed the point. Cannot be called a thriller..more of a drama book.
Do not read if you are planning to take something from the book. Any book that is banking on drama needs good dialogues and that is where this book fails. The book looks more like a screenplay of a movie. However, overall I am not disappointed in reading it. I may not buy another book from this author though...

[Jyoti Dahiya · Rating 3 out of 5]

A review from Aug 2014

I've decided to read more thrillers by Indian authors. This is one of them. Mixed response!

Thrillers by Indians, for Indians and of Indians

There are a lot of thrillers being written in English in India these days. This is good news. We can read about outlandish capers set in our own localities instead of in places we are unlikely to see in our lifetimes.

The Terrorist is set mostly in Delhi, though frankly, I barely recognise the places. I really didn't know that Karnataka Bhawan was a den of iniquity. I always thought of it as the place to go to eat delicious thali food at ludicrously low prices.

Anyhow, there is a young engineer who falls in love and then gets kicked out of his job and loses the love of his life, just because he happens to be Muslim. His evil employer gets him framed in a terrorist case, and the radicals around him further embroil him in terrorism. Finally, being brutalised by the police during 'interrogation' turns him into a hard-core terrorist, yet, withal, one who only kills police and army people.

In the meantime, there is a young Army officer who is trained in counter-terrorism in a remote place in the North East. His rich mother has driven his Army father to suicide, and he has cut off all ties with her in revenge. His soul's shell is breached by his best friend, an Army buddy who is just as good a soldier as him, but has a heart. He falls in love with a woman his mother 'arranges' for him to meet, but because of his mother, the two are sundered and he also falls out with his best friend.

He gets posted to J&K where he is seconded to the local police. There, he slowly wins over the police team assigned to him. One day, his teammate's niece is gang-raped by powerful politicians and the police. Her sister records the evidence, and his teammate is now trying to save her and her family.

The book opens with the battle of our hero to rescue the girl and her family. He is court-martialled for it, and emerges vindicated. The Prime Minister (thinly disguised Manmohan Singh), in the meantime, imports an Indian-origin American to run an anti-terrorist cell.

Now, the main action takes place, with the terrorist, known as Ghaznavi, taking on the anti-terrorist Prithvi (named for the nuke, not the planet), and vice versa. Ghaznavi is teamed with a lethal young woman, whose mother was brutalised in one of the communal riots that are the cauldrons for creating radicals in India. She disappeared when her mother was killed and their terrorist cell destroyed (and Ghaznavi was radicalised), but clearly, she went over to Pakistan and turned against her country.

The two work with a set of other cells to attack a leader of the main opposition party, one who is gaining traction by having overseen a communal riot in Gujarat (no prizes for guessing who this person is thinly disguised as). Police and the anti-terrorist cell race to uncover them and foil their evil plans. Two plans are foiled, two are not.

Finally, we have the much-awaited face-off between Ghaznavi and Prithvi, and a finale with enough explosions to satisfy any die-hard thriller buff.

I pendulumed between liking Juggi Bhasin's plot and writing and being appalled by it. Casual cynicism wars with some truly well-fleshed out passages. I had more sympathy with the antagonist than the protagonist, for most of the book. All in all, a fast but shallow read, and the characters could do with more fleshing out. As it is, it's written for Bollywood. You can expect to see a movie on it, if Bhasin's agent does a good job of the negotiation. I can just about imagine Neil Nitin Mukesh and Vivek Oberoi in the movie!

[Vikram]

Adrenaline rush with packed up action, emotion, drama and range. Every bit of minor detail pumps up your imagination to another level. Though the author claims the story is entirely his own imagination and it does not depict reality, every action scene serves your eyes, a visual treat that appears so close to reality. Some people might find the book hurting their respective religious sentiments, but there have been no remarks or declarations have been subjected towards anyone, as the story lies balanced between the hero and the villain. In my point of view, one thing to criticize is, during the last 100-150 pages, the character built for the hero and villain seems to dry up and the rest of the characters are given importance. Since the author mentioned that the story is mainly a battle between Suhir(army official) and Murad ( a terrorist), I sense there is a lack of dramatic build up for their encounter in the end. Otherwise, the story is filled with sizzling action and beautiful romance that will make you feel happy, sad, anxious and emotional. I suggest everyone, no matter if you are a rookie or a book addict, this masterpiece by Mr.Juggi Basin is a must-read book for every human with e

[Mani Gobind · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad.

Gets a little filmy in the last part, but Indian authors and melodrama can never be separated.

[Omkar Malvade · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome, great read!! good detailing and a clear way to the point..
thoroughly enjoyed!!

[Amit Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Terrorist by Juggi Bhasin is a fast-paced, adrenaline pumping ride which stays just a bit longer than you would have ideally liked it to be, but till it stays it is worth every word. It moves at the rate of knots, not giving you many moments to think about and finishes with a thrilling climax which is sad and destructive in equal proportions.

The Terrorist tells the tale of Suvir and Murad, both numb with the pain of having lost their loved ones, choose their different paths. Both are victims of circumstances, both numb with the pain of having lost their loved ones and choose to do things differently. While one crosses the border and becomes the most dreaded of terrorists, the other joins the Special Forces. Their face-off is a fight to death as one is out to carry out a major terrorist operation in Delhi and the other has been specially called in to foil the attack.

The research and descriptions of all the places - be it Srinagar, Dehradun or Delhi is etched out with near perfection. I particularly enjoyed the passages of the narrative taking place in Old Delhi and its various by lanes. They are done with minimum fuss and takes you right in the center of the action.

With a Ghajini style cover, the novel does not shy away in going the details of the inhuman treatment met out to the religious group or even showing the sexual exploitation of the same. No doubt it is written with an intention of turning into a Bollywood film, it is only because the settings and situations are complex and written with deft hand, the author comes out with flying colours and give us a novel worth reading.

The complete terrorist plan of having a 1993-Mumbai blast kind of scenario replicated in various parts of Delhi is exciting and terrifying at the same time. Considering how easily these terrorists fit into our society before carrying out the barbaric act even though not new, but is quite fascinating to read specially with those elaborate set-up scenes and detailing of their planning activities.

There are few stereotypes here, for example: The conversion of a unemployed, ill-treated and sexually abused Muslim man had to become terrorist. What else, some would say. Some of the other supporting characters are not developed fully and too many instances of 'power' talk does get monotonous by the end of the novel.

But you tend to overlook these small niggles in the brisk pace of the novel. So considering it is nearly 500 pages long, you do stay in for the final act to actually see how it will all unfold. I am going with 4/5 for Juggi Bhasin's 'The Terrorist'. A first book in the trilogy, there is promise of more blood and gore, all in the best form of the word. Don't miss it!

[Tarun Mehrishi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the second of his books that I read, and as it happens, I thought it was much better than 'Those Who Wait'.

Here's what's great about it:
1. the characters are people like us, transformed into strength and pain through their experiences, which in themselves are things that could happen to any of us. Their journeys from hope to despair to denial to anger to determination are beautifully narrated through a sequence of events that affects each of their lives to build believable and strong characters.
2. The threats that they are creating and defending against pick up on things we read in the papers and see on television each day, which make them instantly identifiable. The scenes in which each of the terrorist and the armed forces officer are doing their best to achieve their respective objectives are amazingly well done and would make for fantastic content if Mr. Bhasin decides to head in that direction.
3. The descriptions of each of the locations that the novel travels through are also absolutely fantastic as well and likely mean that the author is intimately familiar with each of the locales. His way with words places you in each of these locations and leaves you feeling like you were actually there.

What I did not like:
1. Some of the dialogues don't ring true to me. I can understand how tempting it must be to insert some that sound cool or maybe form part of a Bollywood script, but in the context of another wise 'real' story, they stand out as untrue.
2. The scene about the attack on the headquarters of the political organization also came across as a little weak to me. Given the stature of the speaker, I imagine security would have done a far better job of sanitzation and it would not have been as easy as it was to choreograph the attack. Likewise, for one of the characters to discover a conscience at that point of time seemed to me to be the easy route out of a difficult place in the novel.

All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable read.
My rating: 4.4/5

[Aurobindo Nayak · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a first time writer Juggi Bhasin does a wonderful job in making the characters come alive. The characterization of the 2 main protagonists is done in every detail possible with emphasis to the environment they are in. Suvir a.k.a the good guy is the hero and the one with dark pasts who is trained in a 'shoot-to-kill' style. He can't forget his past which keeps coming back to haunt him and hence he joins the special forces which acts as a way of letting his frustration go out for him. Murad a.k.a the bad guy is the person who has been wrongly humiliated and forced by the society to accept his minority status and he joins the terrorist group in the hope that seeking vengenance against those who wronged him would bring him peace. The story is about how these two finally find their peace.

There are some side actors like Sana, Wagle, Kalpana who come in and out of the story, but whose characters are not given much importance, but there was a chance to make them more interwined in the storyline.

The Special Forces training described in the beginning of the book seems a bit repetative and ameaturish at best. Other than that Delhi and the bureaucracy of the Indian government is shown at what it really is. Corruption, apathy and racist attitude of some people is potrayed which shows how the system has deteriorated over time.

The question this book try to answer is; why someone becomes a terrorist? why does someone go up in arms against his/her own government. A nice fast paced thriller which keeps you turning pages even when the story lags a bit. As a first time writer , Mr Bhasin has done a marvellous job.

[Vikas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Juggi Bhasin could very well be called the Fredrick Forsyth or Robert Ludlum of India.. But why should he? His writing has 'Juggi Bhasin' written all over. And Hats off to a first time author for pulling out a masterpiece.

While the backdrop had the Mumbai 26/11 attack but positioned in Delhi.. The human aspect was bought out were well. Juggi has not resorted to unnecessary plots and kept situations to a bare minimum intricately woven. I wont be surprised that this gets converted into a Bollywood movie - but with the hope that they do justice to the elements that Juggi has sowed so beautifully.

Can wait for his next.

P.S - Would like to read 'The Taj Conspiracy' and see if there is any resemblance. Any help?

[Behram Ardeshir]

An interesting book. Well written and very much a current topic and concern for everybody. It's essentially a story of two men and how their respective destinies make their paths cross. Two men who are very similar yet totally different. Two men who could have been friends but were destined to be enemies! It's like two separate stories intertwined into one. One is of a man who fights terrorism and his own demons, sometimes unable to distinguish between the two. The other is of a terrorist who cannot shake of his own demons.Written in a nice natural style. It keeps the reader interested right through the book. The background is very true to life and the author obviously knows Delhi well and has set the book against a backdrop of social and communal inequality that exists in India.

[Kodali · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although the author tries to weave a suspense thriller around a terrorist plot, the plot lacks the necessary suspense and excitement to make you turn pages.

the training details are rather patchy and the writer conveniently skips the narration where he is not good. the story sometimes gets slow due to protagonist personal affairs and this is a bit boring part.

although a good attempt, it makes only one time read as it lacks the excitement to turn the pages, lack of any good prose and dull narration style

[Pooja Anand · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazingly in-depth written book especially for the audience who love reading books on terrorism. The book absorbs you and you end up relating with the characters, even the negative streaks in them. You can relate to the political and military scenarios.

Though the story and the end isn't something of a thriller but then the pace, the well researched scenarios, and easy-to-relate story keeps you gripped.

A Must Read!!!!

[Partha Konwar · Rating 3 out of 5]

started of on a good note... characterization of both leading characters was beautifully done. However as the plot progressed the author in an attempt to cover various characters seems to have lost hold on his main leads... an engrossing read nonetheless... an insight into the indian army was enlightening!

[Vivek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book because I know the author but eventually glad that I did. Part fast paced interesting thriller, which made easy and enjoyable reading. Would happily recommend it to anyone who enjoys thriller fiction, you won't be disappointed.

The cover does not do justice to the book and one might be put off by it. The content more than makes up for this singular flaw.

[Pooja · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing book written especially for the Indian audience. The book absorbs you and you end up relating with the characters, even the negative streaks in them. That's what I loved about it. Go grab a copy now!
Juggi Bhasin, the next time around a better cover would be appreciated.

[Siddhartha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very filmy plot, but still a page-turner. The modus operandi of the terrorists operations could have been more slick. Juggi Bhasin like Mukul Deva (author of Salim Must Die, Lashkar, Tazneem) has given Indian thriller readers their own military novels, so a big thumbs up to them!

[Vineet Jain · Rating 5 out of 5]

a great story, very fast paced and detailed making the entire situation seem almost life-like... and yes some events send a chill down the spine... which is a big compliment for the story telling abilities of a first timer. I can't wait for the next instalment from him... way to go juggi!!!

[Nagarjuna Reddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well written and good read, if you are interested in fiction. A good work of fiction in Indian context. however I felt that towards the end of the book, the author was not able to make justice to the characters he built at the beginning of the book.

[Angshuman Chatterjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast paced, well written book. The characters and situations have been built well. The ending of the whole drama I felt was a bit contrived...but may be the author did not want to drag beyond an already sizable 500 pages.

I liked the book and would recommend a read!

[Siva shankar gantayath · Rating 3 out of 5]

gud book...a must read

[Abhishek Saha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing narration. Beautiful moments in between, especially the Governor scene. Though a little predictable ending, it makes for a good read.

[Aruna Kumar Gadepalli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though initially I felt the story is dragging me, later I got hooked to the book. Good one those who want to read thriller stuff. With lots of twists I enjoyed the book.

[Prem Rao · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed Juggi Bhasin's story. Very gruesome and gripping. Had all that was needed to be a thriller.

[Abhishek Parija · Rating 4 out of 5]

2 words .. Must Read!

[Advait · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read book for everyone!