Night of the Krait

by Shashi Warrier

Terrorists from the Free Kashmir Front hijack a coach on the Shatabdi Express with forty people, just outside Madras. A nephew of the defence minister is among the passengers. Within the first five minutes they have killed a railway guard and caused the authorities to panic. The Special Operations Force, a team of crack commandos from the Army, is called in to deal with the crisis.Heading the operation is Lieutenant Colonel Rajan Menon—Raja—who is soon convinced that these are not ordinary terrorists. They have the backing of a highly intelligent but crooked head. He dubs the ruthless genius the Krait. Raja leads his men in a brilliant rescue operation in Madras, but he knows this is only the opening gambit in a sinister plan devised by the terrorist mastermind; the Krait will strike again. And he realizes with dismay that the enemy might be one of them . . .

Genres: Thriller, Fiction

330 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1996

Reviews

[Arun Divakar · Rating 1 out of 5]

Almost everything in this tale comes along in such a way that the word Cliche pales in comparison. Nuff said !

[Biju James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raja Menon is an officer in a commando unit. After a series of incidents, he suspects that there is a mastermind behind all this. A person he dubs The Krait.
The book has thrilling moments and the research shows. Though the ending might be predictable, its still an engrossing read.

[Sajal]

Re-read the book for the umpteenth time and still managed to like it. It is probably one of the best thrillers ever written in India by an Indian. Shashi Warrier is excellent at etching out characters and in progressing the story through the thoughts of the protagonist rather than the dialogues. That is what would make it really difficult to convert it into a script - I wish someone like Kabir Kaushik could do it. For those who do not know Kabir Kaushik should see "seher" and "chamku".

[Divyaroop Bhatnagar · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked 'Sniper' by the same author more than 'Krait' The book is full of cliches and the unconnected episodes fail to grip. The final attack on the Krait's HQ makes him look like a bumbling amateur. A disappointing read.

[Srikant Durugamahanthi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot has lot of clichés, given that the premise was good, but it seemed author wanted stuff lot of sub-plots together. Also, in some cases there was no coherence. The climax at the end was too simple and melodramatic

[Deepa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably my first thriller set in India by an Indian author. Enjoyed reading it. The story moves along in a nice pace.