Incognito: Mythos, Logos & an Enigma called Love

by Praveer

Destiny has landed Punya Saran in the middle of a quest. A quest which belonged to Vaidehi but Punya must accompany her in the journey to prove his innocence. It all started with the construction of a scientific marvel and a mysterious murder. They are confronted with a theory that has changed the way humanity looked at the world. To unveil the message which has earth shattering ramifications, they have to decipher the symbols and secrets hidden within historical monuments and ancient scriptures. They find themselves in a dilemma of deciding between mythology and logic. How do they do it?
And then there are moments with Drishti, a girl who carried a burden in her heart. She was a broken soul who had forgotten to live. Punya had found himself in bringing her back to life. He tried hard but he could not stop himself from loving her. It was an alliance of souls. But she is gone now. He is completely devastated. Will the memories weaken him further?
What happens when an eye-opening thriller meets a heartfelt love story? Who is bestowed upon with the divine vision? Does the secret reveal itself? Do they understand the enigma of love?
All we seek are right before our eyes but choose to remain incognito.

252 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 7, 2016

Reviews

[Om Chand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incognito is a story of love, desperation, and shattered hopes. The characters have been given thorough thought and their interactions are very engaging. I love the way elements of science, mythology, divine intervention are introduced in the story with an excellent balance. Punya Saran's character is very much like someone you know. The quest and the suspense kept me hooked to the book till the very end.

I would have loved even more if the author had included more on Drishti, but that did not come in the way of enjoying this story!

Without revealing the plot too much, Incognito is a fresh story in which the author has been able to create a new quest that a reader can't wait to get till the end.

[Bipin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really disappointed that this book wasn't a hit. Such an awesome concept. It's about the conflict between science and religion, with an underlying story of a conflict about the right way of religion. I was also really surprised that this was a debut.
The author tried to emulate Dan Brown with Indian mythology (that's the impression I got. All the major ingredients of Brown's book are present: a symbologist, a falsely accused main character, two age old institutions fighting each other etc.) and was halfway there.
I enjoyed reading the book, revisiting a few the mythological stories and even learning something new. I liked the thought process of the characters and certain deductions. The use of Punya's past events to nudge the main characters in the right direction was also good. That gave the author a chance to explore Punya's love story. The author did a very good job in both the love story and the current treasure hunt. Maybe 'hunt' was not the correct word as it was mostly brainstorming by the main characters and not action packed fights and chases (that's fine with me).
The love saga between Punya and Dhrishti was very good. Especially the chapter 27 (Punya's mail to Dhrishti) was my favorite and resonated a lot with my experience.

All those good points aside, this book got a very sloppy editor or none at all. There were so many spelling and grammatical errors that I had to make an effort to continue reading. Sometimes Punya was referred to as 'her' and Vaidehi as 'him'. (I don't blame the author for this because English is not the first language for us Indians, but it's the duty of the editor to get rid of errors.) I mentioned
There were places where connectivity was missing. Like how did the villain know what Punya and Vaidehi discussed?
The major issue was that villain didn't get enough time. He hardly appeared for two chapters but was supposedly a mastermind behind the whole plot. He lacked conviction which prevents the reader from connecting with him. A proper handling of this character would have boosted the plot a lot, especially since the bad guys and good guys fall in a morally gray area with a potential of both being right in their beliefs. Instead, the villain spouts some hateful dialogues and wants to destroy something for arbitrary reasons.
And the most annoying thing (for me) was the use of single quotes. The author had a lot of and very good quotable sentences. In fact, too many. And for some reason, he felt the need to point each and every one of them out by using single quotes. As a reader, I find that highly distracting. It's like you are watching a movie and the narrator is sitting beside you, talking to you in between about his insights into love, life, society and other bazillion things, sometimes rolling his (or her) eyes. It was like footnotes in a textbook but placed in between the text. No offense to anyone; they were good, deep and thoughtful.
Okay, it would've been fine if it was just that. But the author also used single quotes to tell the reader the thoughts of characters. Highly confusing. It's sometimes very difficult to understand whether it's the character thinking or the narrator talking to you.
And why did Mridul come in? What did his character accomplish?
In some places, the storytelling seemed a bit forced rather than a free flow. But I discount him that.
I'm not deriding the author. I can't write a book like this. I just mentioned these so that he (or anyone else) might learn from this about how readers think. Especially since the climax sort of indicates the possibility of a sequel. I'm just angry and sad that such a good concept wasn't utilized/appreciated properly. I'm giving 4 stars for his effort and thought, and I don't want to drag down the rating.
And I'm looking forward to reading his next book.