Book: The Girl Who Loved A Pirate

Author: Kulpreet Yadav

Genre: Fiction/Crime

Publication: Rumor Books India

An author signed book is a prized possession for book lovers. And when ‘The Girl Who Loved A Pirate’ arrived at my door step, I was happy to receive yet another book with a note from author.

I haven’t read the earlier book in this series which I am guessing introduced the reader with ‘Andy Karan’ the spy.

This story is about a ruthless pirate wanted by the Malaysian government. Andy Karan, an undercover spy has dual job as a journalist trying to unearth drug don in Goa and a secret mission for the Indian government with the help of the pirate.

In a series of events that take the reader from Goa and the rave parties to the high seas where drama unfolds as pirates and Filipino crime hardened sailors take on each other. The leader of pirates battles with an urge to go against the government mission for safety of his lady love. The Indian coast guards and Navy along with Andy Karan come into play for the sake of mission. All in all there is a lot of action going on from the word go of the story. The subtle love story of pirate leader ‘Ba-qat’ and Andy Karan’s escapades with drug lords of Goa run parallel in the story.

The story however begins with Kurukshetra and Karan in his dying moments. I was expecting a ‘Karan-esque’ end to the story, Mahabharata style. Or that the pirate and spy stumble upon a dark secret of being brothers….a la Karan Arjun style. But as there was nothing of that sort, I was confused as to why the prologue  was the way it was.

Also I felt that since the story was named ‘The Girl Who Loved A Pirate’, there was very less mention of ‘Dao-Ming’ the pirate’s lover. She is in background with Andy Karan’s drug investigations and pirate’s action taking the center stage. I would have liked to see the girl in more prominent role may be as a spy herself who falls for a pirate and that would have justified the title of the book too. May be like the lead character ‘Lisbeth Salander’ of Millennium series by Stieg Larsson like ‘The girl who played with fire’ and the first one ‘The girl with the dragon tattoo’.

The book is a nice read with author’s knowledge about ships and seas shining through. The story also keeps the reader engaged and guessing throughout with fast action thriller. I would like to read more from the author…