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Ebook Details
  • 06/2022
  • 9781734982657 B096WRWG1D
  • 383 pages
  • $3.99
Jaydeep Shah
Author, Editor (anthology)
Boondocks: An Asian Evil Apocalyptic Thriller
Jaydeep Shah, author

Adult; Mystery/Thriller; (Publish)

They believe it is only about defeat and escape. Little do they know; it is something more than that. It is about the rise of the dead and the world’s destruction. Lost in the desert of Rajasthan, India, Rahul and Elisa learn the truth about a wicked wizard named Dansh and some enchanters performing resurrection rituals. Though they try to stop him, Dansh knows black magic and they find him a challenging adversary. Even worse than him, Rahul and Elisa soon discover that the churel named Dali has returned. Soon, the King of the Underworld, an immortal rakshasa named Sekiada, will make his way to the earth with the force of his thousands of fallen angels to conquer the world. Rahul and Elisa must find a way to stop them and save humanity. Terror inflames the nation. The country’s best commando, Aarav Singh, and the best local police officer, Arjun Rawat, reach the city’s border near the desert with the force of gifted soldiers to commence battle against evil. They turn the border into a battlefield to prevent the demons from entering the city. The apocalypse is struggling to reach its highest peak as the Asian evils slowly spread across the nation: churels, rakshasas, pishachas, daayans, shaitans, and many more hair-raising bloodshed lovers. Rahul must find a way to murder the immortals: the wicked wizard, the king of the Underworld, and the strongest churel of all time, and Elisa must gather her own courage to battle the demons, especially one of the immortals, to prove women are not weak. Welcome to the world of horror, where the characters play games of deceit and betrayal to achieve their goals, and the demons enjoy slaughtering the humans. The end is near. Or it’s just the beginning!? Dare to witness the apocalypse, but only if you are comfortable with bloodbath and barbarity.
Reviews
Spanning 5,000 years and both present day India and an Underworld ruled by a lion-riding, knife-handed undead king, Shah’s ambitious, action-packed, supernatural epic bursts with churels, daayans, rakshasas and other witches and demon-like creatures, here cataloged under the subtitle’s unfortunately vague designation “Asian Evils.” Don’t misread that term: in Shah’s telling, the term refers to the ancient daityas (or demons) awoken in Black Magic rituals by the wizard Dansh, chief among them the blood-sucking, village-destroying churel witch Dali. Apocalyptic action ensues as cities burn and the king of the Underworld marshals his forces for an invasion of Earth. Standing against it: Rahul and Elisa, a cosmopolitan couple whose tour of the Great Indian Desert has gotten off course.

Shah’s love for Indian mythology and folklore shines throughout, and the hordes of “evils” his tale unleashes prove vivid and frightening, the Rakashi with Viking swords, the pishachas playing drums as their footsteps shake the Earth, the shaitans who are “masters of leading people on the wrong path.” The action is lavish, and the stakes are high, as the everyday heroes—aided by villagers and eventually a buddy soldier and cop team right out of a Bollywood epic—face an invasion that will play out over the course of a series.

Readers should expect portals and caves, tunnel escapes, villains whose conferences update us on their plans, and surprise moments where music proves as powerful as guns; those familiar with the ancient epics and contemporary blockbusters that inspire Shah—Dansh is described as “a stranger with a harrowing physique and a burned face, just like how the horror movies presented villains” will appreciate the scope and sincerity. Key to the appeal of Bollywood action and this novel is a poker-faced solemnity no matter how over-the-top the escapades get: “It was as if Mother Nature was sobbing in consternation at humanity’s uncertain future,” Shah writes, describing the world’s reaction to the evils’ attack.

Takeaway: This vigorous supernatural adventure pits ancient evils against a couple in contemporary India.

Great for fans of: Imran Kureshi, Sudipto Das.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: B
Marketing copy: B-

Formats
Ebook Details
  • 06/2022
  • 9781734982657 B096WRWG1D
  • 383 pages
  • $3.99
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