That's what we felt as we leafed through the pages of this 'unputdownable' thriller, with sweaty palms and parched throat

That's what we felt as we leafed through the pages of this 'unputdownable' thriller, with sweaty palms and parched throat

I got 'Johnny Gone Down' as a birthday present. One look at the cover and I dismissed it as another airport novel. Belonging to a generation that mostly judges a book by its cover, I was skeptical about the book. But once I convinced myself to start reading it, I was hooked. Genres be damned, this book is simply unputdownable.

A story of an MIT graduate ecstatic at the thought of an unplanned vacation after graduation, 'Johnny Gone Down' is a pacy read with towering highs and abysmal lows. From a Buddhist monastery to a homeless shelter, the hero faces his worst nightmares in broad daylight as he undertakes a journey that changes his life and those he meets.

The ever-changing
backdrop of the story, from Cambodia to Columbia to India, keeps the reader engaged. And the fast changing course of Johnny's journey takes you to places you may have only heard of.

After surviving genocide and a short stint at a monastery later, Nikhil aka Johnny finds himself on the streets of Rio. Call it destiny, but Johnny starts working as a wily accountant to a charismatic favela don. With his new found love for numbers and Lara, a lissome model, Johnny is finally on a firm footing. Or so he thinks. But before he knows it, old boy Johnny is on the run again. The stability he had craved so much becomes a distant dream. And Johnny is staring at death again. This time in his homeland: India.

Sample this excerpt:
By the time Daya found the bump on the temple, he was sweating profusely, his hands clammy and unable to get a firm grip on the barrel. He looked down at himself in disgust. "Don't worry," I told him "You aren't scared. It's the heat in the room." He looked at me gratefully. "They said you are from a big college like IIT sahib," Daya said, once he had prctised a few times with a firmer grip. "Is that true?" I winced. My absent arm began to hurt again.

But, as always, Johnny escapes from this situation too. And plunges into a new uncertainty.
What works for the novel is the fact that the writer has done away with the clich ufffds of the genre to which the novel belongs.
For most parts you empathise with the protagonist who reminds you of a wounded, dark, mysteriously sexy Bollywood hero from a Sreeram Raghavan film like Johnny Gaddar.

But the constant
underlying self-pity that the protagonist is overwhelmed with from time to time is a put off after a while. It is overdone.
But that is a minor failing. On the whole, the book works. And most importantly, I learnt my lesson. Will try not to judge a book by its cover.

JOHNNY GONE DOWN
Available at: Leading book stores
Publisher: Harper Collins
For: Rs 99