Book Review: God Is A Gamer by Ravi Subramanian

Title: God Is A Gamer

Author: Ravi Subramanian

Genre: Thriller/Fiction

Number of pages: 324

Publisher: Penguin Books India

ISBN-10: 0143421395

ISBN-13: 978-0143421399

Ravi Subramanian always brings to my mind ABBA's famous number which goes like this, "Money, money, money; Must be funny; In the rich man's world." It's this lure of money and the power that comes with it that makes the tales told by Ravi intriguing and engrossing, often leaving the reader at the edge of his/her seat wanting more.

God Is A Gamer, much like his previous four titles is based on the backdrop of banks and all that's associated with it. In this latest edition he taps on the mysterious new form of currency that took everyone by storm early this year, Bitcoins. Being a banker himself, Ravi has been able to explain the finer nuances of how this currency works and its pitfalls, however maintaining the simplistic language making it understandable.

Much has gone into research while writing this book, including bitcoins, online gaming, ATM heists and online advertising. To take the suspense further Ravi has also introduced a new style of writing, unlike his previous linear way of writing. Much like a Dan Brown the reader is given two to three page snippets of things happening across the world at the same time. Though this style of writing keeps the reader on tenterhooks but, unfortunately, forces him/her to keep track of every action till the end where it all comes together. The number of characters also is a challenge, some of which get lost along the way while the rest are killed one after another similar to the Game of Thrones but minus the pity or sympathy one feels for the loss. Another inspiration is taken from Dhoom 3. The Author makes the FBI appear like retards kidnapping people for their investigation, arresting people without evidence & even being to lazy to question theories. Towards the end, however, it appeared as though the author was in a rush to finish the book – the last chapter seems to be written hurriedly, almost in bullet points-like sentences.

Another thing about the characters, that is if you have read all of Ravi's books, is their names. The characters in God Is A Gamer share their names with his previous book 'If God Was A Banker'. These characters in addition to a few new ones introduced rule the roost in this book. Of which some have not been described described vividly, while some have been underplayed. I missed the heroic Aditya and smart Sundeep. And still haven't understood the need for killing Swami. 

However, in this world of conspiracy, money, power and the race to either save oneself  or to the top this book is a good read and money's worth. I would have loved if to take the point further it could be purchased using Bitcoins :) 

If you have some time and are looking for a new age thriller in the field of finance give 'God Is A Gamer' a try. Compared to Amazon, Infibeam and Ebay, the cheapest I could find it was on Flipkart. 

More about Ravi: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravi_Subramanian

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