Book– Majid’s Diary: The Masks We Wear, The Webs We Weave

Author– Ghazala Rizvi

Previous Works- Debut Novel (solo)

Publishers– Notionpress Publishers

ISBN-13 – 978-9352065592

Number of Pages- 244

Blurb–

A death leads Jamal and Dev on a quest for truth and unravels a mystery connecting the by-lanes of Hyderabad to the Gomal Valley in the Pak-Afghan border. In its wake, Jamal and Dev leave behind a trail of bodies and reveal a tale of gore and greed that shatters their fragile perception of reality. As the two friends grope and meander through the labyrinth of lies, they discover the truths about themselves. They realize that sometimes life carries you to a place where you no longer know yourself; and then friendships are the first casualties. Will their friendship survive the burden of truth?

Review-

A suicide and the hunt to know the reason behind it, sucks Jamal and Dev into a whirlpool of lies, crimes and terrorism.

All that Jamal knew about his brother Majid, felt fabricated and Dev’s life falls out of place when he finds the picture of his lost love in Majid’s diary.
Together they start to find the truth behind Majid’s diary but then they realise that they have set their foots on the wrong boat.

Majid’s Diary has been written in a lucid way making it an interesting and absolutely worthy read for probably anyone who has even slightest of interest in thrillers.
The plot starts with the mysterious suicide of Majid and later throws light on a series of cleverly connected events.

The characters Jamal and Dev have been perfectly written to make them as realistic as possible and also give the reader an exact sketch of the characters as in the mind of the author.

Majid’s diary goes through a series of turn of events and that’s the reason why no part can be considered boring, the change in the plot will force you to turn the page and read another chapter before keeping the book down for the day.
Friendship,love, caste intolerance and crime come together to form an unpredictable  storyline.
The one particular thing that really liked about the book were the realistic characters. In the book, the character Dev is portrayed as an intelligent guy and most novels make the intelligent guy seem like the most sorted out one because he is intelligent and he can solve cases. That doesn’t happen in Majid’s diary, Dev is as confused and worried as any other real guy would be and that’s where a person can relate to.
The book first shocks the reader with the suicide, then it again repeats the treatment with the gore tradition, then it does the same thing again and again thus capturing the element of surprise that readers these days crave for.

When you start the book, you don’t know what to expect in the next chapter, when you are done reading, you never thought that would be the end of it.
The book adorns the Tughlaqabad Fort on it’s cover and that’s quite an important aspect of the story.

Ratings-

Cover- 4 stars

Title- 4 stars

Blurb- 4 stars

Plot- 4 stars

Writing and Presentation- 4 stars

Overall Rating- 4 out of 5 stars

The book has a few editing errors but those can be happily ignored, owing to the fact that the plot was amazing.

Majid’s Diary was definitely added to my list of favourite books by Indian authors.

Reviewed By- Banaja Prakashini

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