An impressive flight of imagination
Reviewed by Vikrant Parmar

Quantam Siege
by Brijesh Singh.
Penguin. Pages 246. Rs 250

Can you imagine the life of 15 million people in the hands of a maverick cop? Can you imagine a ‘talking’ nuclear bomb that reads and interprets ‘news’ to fathom when it needs to explode? Can you imagine the world on the brink of World War III; a nuclear Armageddon? No? Then, Quantam Seige, IPS officer Brijesh Singh's debut novel, is the right dose for your imagination.

Militant organisation Lashkar-e-Tayyaba's devout cadre, billionaire Ansar Suleri procures a nuclear weapon from deposed Syrian general Abdel Badi in a bid to liberate Kashmir. With the help of one Jabreel, he manages to place it off the coast of Mumbai, threatening millions of lives. Abetting them is Lieutenant General Mukhtiar Chaudhary, ISI chief — ‘sharp as a razor blade, as adaptable as a chameleon and as sly as a fox’— who has a personal score to settle against India. Their plan is deadly, dastardly and foolproof, till opposition comes in the form of ‘muscular, athletic’ cop Rudra Pratap Singh of the Mumbai police.

In the midst of all hell that has broken loose, he narrates ‘Zen’ stories to the Police Commissioner Kamal Kant and surprises with his ill-timed gregariousness, which also provides the much-needed comic relief to the narrative. Rudra's ‘secretive lifestyle, untimely travels and devil-may-care attitude’ has ruined his personal life, but he is the saviour, who, more often than not, bails out the entire police force from a crisis situation.

To give him company is the flirtatious, ‘abusive’ RAW agent Sana. In the midst of intense action, she too maintains her jocular streak. Sana crosses the LOC in a ‘mancopter’ — a battery operated 'wearable helicopter’— and captures Suleri in a daredevil act of valour. Quite comparable to a female 007, to say the least!

India prepares for a retaliatory nuclear strike against Pakistan even as the top decision-makers of the country, including the Prime Minister, keep their fingers crossed. The upshot is global as security and intelligence agencies across the world, including Mossad and CIA, brace themselves up for a nuclear holocaust. Amid all this, the ever-so-calm Rudra is deep in the Mumbai waters giving shape to Operation Poseidon.

The action in the novel is break-neck, the time period is only a few hours; the clock ticks at the back of the mind, relentlessly. Brijesh Singh's knowledge of religion, politics, philosophy and psychology is appreciable, so is his technological and scientific acumen. His facts are precise, vocabulary vast and the knowledge of world affairs cutting-edge.

Quantum Siege is, indeed, a page turner and a must read.

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