Sniper

by Shashi Warrier

He looked at everything with a sniper's eye. The world was one large target and he was alone in it, in his own dark little womb, depending for survival on his sniper's Colonel Eswaran, a highly decorated Special Forces officer in the Indian army, is in the jungles of Nagaland trying to hunt a sniper, Gul Mohammed, who has a vendetta against him. Meanwhile, in Kochi, his sixteen-year-old daughter is kidnapped, raped, beaten and burnt to death by a sadist known only as the 'grey man'. Faced by an apathetic police force Eswaran sets out to hunt his daughter's murderer. Will his training as an ace sniper payoff or will he fail at defeating the now combined forces of the powerful grey man and Gul?By the best-selling author of Night of the Krait, Sniper is a superbly paced, thrilling story of a man of honour who turns vigilante.

348 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 27, 2008

Reviews

[Preetham Meenaakshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book jumps right into the plot. There is are male lead Eshwaran who belongs to the Para Special forces regiment. He is separated from his wife and has a daughter. His daughter the sole pillar of support for him is raped and murdered gruesomely. Being a loner and losing his only support how does the soldier make things right in an extremely corrupt environment is the crux of the story.
Things I loved about this book
1. The accurate description by the author about the emotional state of a Para Sf soldier and Gurkha and family members of a soldier.
2. Given the year this book was written, there was ample research done and describes how well planned a para sf soldier operates.
3. It was a realistic tale.
Not for the lighter hearts. The opening of the story is dark and as the tale goes it gets darker.
Anyone who loves army and action will love this book.
I would give this on the whole a 4.5

[Omkar Patki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the Night of the Krait.

There are some things that you can find in Mr. Warrier's novels. Good as well as bad. His heroes are usually lonely army officers who get into the action because of some traumatic event. Also, they are estranged or detached from their spouses. His sniper Easwaran is a hero in the same mould and after a while, the suspense becomes predictable. And that, I believe is a dampener in a thriller. The author should have kept either the main antagonist unknown till the very end or then the way the protagonist reaches him unknown. Here, both become known after some time and that's a problem. Also, the author hasn't taken particular care in depicting his side characters.
Action scenes are well composed and the research on weaponry of the snipers clearly shows.

[Divyaroop Bhatnagar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had read Sniper earlier but I reread it recently as I got interested in reading Indian spy and murder mysteries - of which there seems to be a sudden rash. Sniper is one of the better ones of this genre. The author's research is commendable and the menacing atmosphere is created very well. The hero fractured homelife seems to be a feature of almost all of these books. It appears that you can't be a successful spook and a husband at the same time. But he is a 'good' man and the harsh exterior conceals a beating heart.

The plot is interesting and gripping though the pace flags in places. This is a better book than 'Krait' which I also read recently.

[Anandh Sundar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up the book thinking it would be an Indian version of Mack Bolan(the fictional character-decorated army sniper who goes on a crusade against the mafia because they wiped out his family). The book had a good start but fizzled out towards the end much like Bollywood films nowadays. Still worth a one time read.

[Vaishnavi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very compelling action packed thriller from am Indian author! I was impressed when I was done but it sounded so very fit for a Bollywood movie. :) worth giving a read though.

[Ratnesh Neema · Rating 4 out of 5]

Horiffic and thrilling tale of the quest for the grey man, and Eswaran's resolve to avenge the death of his daughter. a reall nice book. Guessed the main bad guy but not his sub!