Bunker 13 [Paperback]

Aniruddha Bahal (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2004

This slick, cynical adventure concerns one Minty Mehta who is involved in filming the Indian Army in Kashmir. Minty foolishly quadruple-crosses the Azerbaijanis, the Sikhs, the Indian Secret Service and the Indian Army.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bahal, an investigative journalist from India, made headlines when he and his colleagues at Tehelka.com, an audacious Indian investigative news source, videotaped senior officials accepting bribes. To make the tapes, the reporters pretended to be rich businessmen. Bahal's first novel reads very much along these lines. His protagonist, MM, is a tough-as-nails ex-army officer turned investigative journalist with a penchant for risk, drugs and rough sex. Covering the army, MM learns that a small band of corrupt officers in Kashmir are engaged in smuggling drugs and weapons, and he soon becomes involved in an intricate web of guerrilla fighting, espionage, Russian mobsters and nuclear missiles. MM is a complex hero, a cynical and dissipated man who makes sentences such as "there's an art to drawing a gun" sound natural, but who is also principled. Some readers may grow weary of his relentless tough-guy posturing, but Bahal's use of the second person heightens suspense and adds psychological depth, and ample information about regional politics, warfare and journalism in India fills out the novel. The most serious problem is the awkward syntax, which considerably slows the pace ("You are in the mood for some luxury, and even though the hotel you have pitched camp in, bordering Dal Lake, isn't luxurious, it is better than the squatter mess settlements that the Western Command is most likely to put at your disposal"). Those who can get past the rough prose will find an offbeat, fun thriller.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Minty Mehta writes about military affairs for an Indian newsmagazine, earning a seat in the trenches as Indian and Pakistani patrols shoot it out in Kashmir. Related with cool detachment in the second person, MM's tale grows more complicated with each blood-spattered page. Is he a corrupt hedonist, stealing and dealing drugs and weapons even as he double-crosses his buyers and suppliers? Is he a vengeance-seeking missile out to vaporize those who've done him wrong? Or is he really a cocky, canny spy? If so, whose side is he on? Exhilarating set pieces--MM shooting heroin during a paratrooper freefall exercise--leave little time to ponder his mysterious identity. The story careens from improbable heist to impossible escape, going for the adrenaline rush even when it should slow down and explain why the Indian and Pakistani forces hate each other so much. MM proves wearisome after extended exposure, and Aniruddha tips off the book's big surprise too early. Even so, there's a lot of fresh, crackling action here for thrill junkies. Frank Sennett
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Faber & Faber (June 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0571217427
• ISBN-13: 978-0571217427
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,571,620 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Twisted Thriller: Real Nail Biter with a crazy ending, May 13, 2003

By 

Asit Mehra (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bunker 13: A Novel (Hardcover)

I had met the author on one of his visits to New York and he had mentioned about writing this book. I kept in touch with him, and actually got to go through an advanced copy of it too. The book starts out tight and only gets tighter page by page. Reads like your typical Tom Clancy thriller, with good action, descriptive but not boring .. enough of a pace to keep you hooked and glued ... but the real twist comes in the end. The end just leaves you gasping for air at the audacity of the whole plot.

The story is contextual to India and Kashmir, so i would suggest getting a brief overview of the nationalistic rivalry in that part of the world (much like the happenings between the Serbs and Croats) to really and truly appreciate the wonderful insanity of this book.

Also makes you question your perspectives on nationalism and what it means to be patriotic .. but then thats too deep a topic for this book. This is a true blue nail-biter of an action thriller.

Overall, an awesome read that i just cant seem to get out of my mind ...

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dark and Fast paced..., September 25, 2003

By 

Andrew Mendelssohn (Charlotte, NC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bunker 13: A Novel (Hardcover)

Aniruddha Bahal's Bunker 13 moves at such a lightening quick pace that the reader rarely has time to think. Bunker 13 stars MM, an adrenaline junky of an investigative news reporter, ostensibly researching illicit weapons and drug deals in the Indian Army. MM spends much of the book stalking his nemesis, a Major Rodriguez, but nothing in Bunker 13 is exactly as it seems. The story takes off with MM going through paratrooper training in the Indian Special Forces, with a high octane narcotic chaser. From there, MM follows Rodriguez into Kashmir... and to go into any more detail would give away too many spoilers. This is not a book meant to make you think; its all action, well written and fast paced.
If there's a major flaw in the book, its that at times the package is so fast, dark and smooth it doesn't feel particularly Indian. In that regard, Bunker 13 had a vaguely Bollywood feel to it... not only is it a twisted version of real life, on speed, but its an idealized Indian/Western version at that. Bahal uses the 2nd person while writing the book, and while at first annoying it eventually has its impact. In some ways, the second person perspective gives the book a slightly psychedelic feel, although in the beginning it felt derivative of something else, perhaps Complicity by Iain Banks.
Despite any flaws, or lack of Indian flavor Bunker 13 is nothing but a literary version of a high end Hollywood action film. Thinking too much spoils the fun, and the plot twists at the end are so wild that nobody could anticipate them. Instead, the reader should sit down, pour a drink, and just enjoy the ride. Its dark, fast, fun and not easily forgotten!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't pass up on this book, you'll regret it!, April 12, 2004

By 

Storm (Leuven, Belgium) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bunker 13: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is the best thriller I have read in a long time. Picture Hunter S Thompson writing Catch 22, that's how funny and ferocious this book is. This book is about a dangerous game of double dealing and an anti-hero that layers identity on identity. MM is a defence journalist but has an agenda of his own, and with Spider Jerusalem-like vehemence he takes on everybody that stands in his way. Saying more about the story would be giving it away, go and read it for yourself, you wont be disappointed. Here are a few tasters though: free-falling while shooting heroin, spies and mobsters, rogue army units and nuclear arms-heists, stingers and mp5's, swastika shaped pubes and kinky sex, chemical torture and Jihad. Do I really have to go on?