Irony of life

 

Continuously Learn & change ... Nokia CEO

 

Outlook of the majority people in the world

 

Technology trends before 2040

 

Dalai Lama's golden words

 

Observe!

 

The evolution of the employee .. from past to future

 

Benefits of walking

 

How to increase your happiness?

 

Lesson for mankind

 

Man O Man!

  Man O Man!

 When without money,

 eats vegetables at home;

 When has money,

 eats the same vegetables in a fine restaurant.

 .

 When without money, rides bicycle;

 When has money rides the same ‘exercise machine’.

 .

When without money walks to earn food

 When has money, walks to burn fat;

 Man O Man! Never fails to deceive thyself!

 .

 When without money,

 wishes to get married;

 When has money,

 wishes to get divorced.

 .

 When without money,

 wife becomes secretary;

 When has money,

 secretary becomes wife.

 .

 When without money, acts like a rich man;

 When has money acts like a poor man.

 Man O Man! Never can tell the simple truth!

 .

 Says share market is bad,

 but keeps speculating;

 Says money is evil,

 but keeps accumulating.

 .

 Says high Positions are lonely,

 but keeps wanting them.

 .

 Says gambling & drinking is bad,

 but keeps indulging;

 Man O Man! Never means what he says and never says what he means..!!

Better thinking on life!

 

My review ... "Outpost" by Mike Lees

The story revolves around Gar - an alien on a distant planet, who gets branded as a terrorist, tricked into the web of a perverted system of injustice. His autocratic superiors prevailed and banished him to a God-forsaken Outpost with the task of monitoring the Earth, humans and their culture. Whatever it is, the government has long arms! However, Gar desperately wants to retaliate. The story actually begins at a crucial moment when the space shuttle from Earth on a scientific mission lands near Gar’s Outpost; with a strange combination of astronauts with unique individualities. His chance opens up. But then..?

 

 

 

Mike with his effective writing style and sense of humour has added unusual situations. His characters with conflicts ... Mathilda, Stone, Perez, Hadley… are credible, to stimulate our interests.

Gar's characterisation as a brave and patronising guy, yet coolly causing fear in the minds of the astronauts - as cool as a cucumber - has come out nicely

 …”Hard to say mate, they (aliens) could invite you for a meal and a chat or blast you with ray guns! No idea.”

 Gar stood in front of them like a teacher telling children off in a classroom, “Well fantastic, smart, you supposed to be crack commandos and Earth’s finest and you run like kittens.”

Some actions by the space shuttle crew on the Alien’s planet, as Mike has portrayed scenically, are nice to imagine. The astronauts could not get on the same page, as everyone had a different book, and Mike has described this aspect well.

Mike has described the space-time shifts on an alien planet wonderfully:

 “Stone, how long have we been travelling from your point of view?”

My point of view? Thought Stone. “Eh, four and half minutes. And you?”

 “Two and half hours.  Are you sure we are going in the right direction?”

“Well, it seems something is playing with space time here. The nearer we get, the further is it away."

 Mike has made some good typical descriptions ... “In fact, many departments of Government were corrupt and took bribes, allowing the gangs to freewheel. A few brave journalists tried to bring the corruption to light, but were often accused of hyped up charges that would either get them killed or put in prison for many years. The entire system was working for itself, leaving the population to suffer and lose hope."

 

 Negatives

 

v  Unprofessional editing.

v  Unclear sequencing and colloquial jargon obstruct the flow.

 

 Positives

 

v  Exciting fun-filled witty prequel to a Sci-fi story, providing good entertainment value.

v  Some nice chapters, descriptions and good momentum

v  Interesting dialogues between Gar and the crew

 

 I liked:

v  Mike’s theme of the storyline with originality in character building.

v  The subtle humour with refreshing comic bits, running undercurrent, with dread factor throughout …

o    "..the Forbidden Planet, … For some it could be mild, for others, pure hell. Phobias you have; heights, spiders, sharks, tax bills etc and also any imaginative creatures like ghosts, demons, the mother-in-law or the like will become real and personified by those statues….a never-ending abyss which could engulf them into eternity."

o   "At home, I’m considered a … A mix between your Stalin and Hitler."

The book is enjoyable. How Mike plans to develop the created tempo, with a clear emphasis on the core theme compellingly, perhaps would make this Sci-fi series extraordinary.

Why only 1% succeed?

 

Positive and Negative energy

 

Self (ego) vs. soul

 

My review .. WHAT IF? ...By Swit La Pound

 “WHAT IF?” by Swit La Pound is a collection of eleven well-knit short stories wherein she has combined some facts, real places and people, pivoted on myths, strong doses of folktales and superstitions in the realms depicting the power of witchcraft, supernatural, voodoo and all kinds of evil a reader could imagine.

The tales never lose in the telling, though sound absurd, as one reads it with reasoning and rationality. Swit transports us back to our childhood days …"children and youth came on those nights to curl around the bright fires with us, ears in the air, attentively taking in the stories, word for word…. here, stories of ghosts, tokoloshe, witchcraft and muti are a daily dish we all believe. Since time in memorial we have been warned and told, over dim bonfires casting shadows on the wall, of the spirits that roam this forsaken community, especially in the night, for whatever reasons known only to them, and assumed by elders to scare us off.'

 

Swit has neatly portrayed mixed hues of cruelty in utterly selfish wicked people as cunning as a fox; how tactfully they spread evils in society; how they take advantage of the deeply rooted faiths in dreams, paranormal, and such strange phenomenons of gullible people who are as innocent as a lamb. She has indirectly depicted the essentiality of strong bonding in family, which, when beset with unrest, is how members come together, as a clan and society observing certain traditions, as otherwise, they know evil triumphs when good men do nothing.

Swit has crafted some nice character developments (Mzee, Sheila, Tasha, Wandile..) and situations with funny imaginations. There are explorations of friendship, conflicts and genuine emotions typifying parents and their children in families. She has effortlessly carried the stories with her interesting style, veering the readers to give a feel of normal events that occur in our day-to-day life:

 

v   “My phone rang and I went out of the bathroom, back to the bedroom where I had left it, toothbrush in mouth still. Mum hated that. She always complained that it looked gross and unsanitary.”

 

v   "AS HE GREW, TAYLOR became possessive of his family and would so often, lose his temper, and get into fights and arguments, when he thought his family needed his protection and defense. In the same manner; Taylor was adamant about his perception of things, and frequently had anger outbursts, when people failed to see things his way."

 

v  Swit has graphically depicted a typical daughter… "She tested our patience and rebelled against our authority, many times a day, but after some time, we learnt to live with each other, and understand each other better than we had before."  Yes, a mother understands what a child does not say!

 Readers will be able to see a piece of themselves within some of these characters and their stories.

 

 

 Positives

 

v  Engaging chapters, well narrated with unimaginable paradigms. 

v  Good descriptions of practised cultures.

v  Imagery portrayal …… "Open the shed, he did, tried to put down the plough… plough would not budge. The plough somehow was now stuck to his shoulders and hands, involuntarily not letting go. Something was holding everything as he carried it, stuck to his body."

v  Easy flowing natural style… “As growing children, it was in the blood to explore, break rules and test out the truancy of theories. So, we used to crown ourselves ‘Sherlock Holmes” and try to crack these mysteries. At times trying to break the rules hoping for an encounter with these supernatural forces, against the advice of elders.”

 Negatives

 

v  Lack of professional editing. Unconnected sequencing and unclarities disturbing the flow. Absence of a glossary for foreign words. 

v  Overdone narratives – inadequate dialogues.

 

Swit has challenged some fundamental faiths, what if some of them are not myths or tales, as we think, but the things do happen, whereas we cannot imagine or accept. She makes us ponder over what if it happens in our own life, how we would react to such sad and scary situations.

The readers will enjoy the book as it sustains enthusiasm with good entertainment value.

This is life!!!

 

Do you know?

 DO YOU KNOW?

1. Hot water will turn into ice faster than cold water.

3. The sentence, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” uses every letter in the English language.

4. The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.

5. Ants never sleep!

6. “I Am” is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

8. The most common name in the world is Mohammed.

9. When the moon is directly overhead, you will weigh slightly less.

10. Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from the blowing desert sand.

11. There are only two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: “abstemious” and “facetious.”

12. The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with.

14. TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.

15. Minus 40 degrees Celsius is exactly the same as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

16. Chocolate can kill dogs, as it contains theobromine, which affects their heart and nervous system.

17. Women blink nearly twice as much as men!

18. You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.

20. The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries.

21. People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because when you sneeze, your heart stops for a millisecond.

22. It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky

23. The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.

24. “Rhythm” is the longest English word without a vowel.

25. If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.

26. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents great king from history.

Spades - King David

Clubs - Alexander the Great, 

Hearts - Charlemagne

Diamonds - Julius Caesar.

27. It is impossible to lick your elbow.

28. 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

29. If a statue of a person in the park on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle.

If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle.

If the horse has a all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

30. What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers all have in common?

Ans. - All invented by women.

31.Question - This is the only food that doesn't spoil. What is this?

 

Ans. - Honey.

32. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.

33. A snail can sleep for three years.

34. All polar bears are left handed.

36. Butterflies taste with their feet.

37. Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.

38. In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

39. On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.

41. The ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.

42. The electric chair was invented by a dentist.

43. The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.

44. Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over million descendants.

45. Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times

46. The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.

48. Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.

Relax! Trust in God.

 

Dilbert's one liners

 

Humans can learn from ants!

 

True!

 

Sundar Pichai...What ties did you break this week?

 

Google CEO Sundar Pichai Says His Mentor Asked Him This Question Over and Over--and It Changed the Way He Leads

As CEO of Google and Alphabet, Sundar Pichai is responsible for making sure his companies continue to move forward, continue to evolve to keep up with the demands of millions of users and customers around the world.

That's no easy job. But Pichai once shared with me a single question that helps him to remember his role. He learned the question from his mentor, former Columbia University football coach turned business coach Bill Campbell.

Whenever they met, says Pichai, Campbell would ask him:

"What ties did you break this week?"

Campbell wasn't speaking about breaking ties as in cutting off relationships. Rather, he was teaching Pichai that he needed to break stalemates. 

Pichai got the point.

Oftentimes, when an issue makes it to a leader, there are (at least) two good options available with which to move forward. Both options will have pros and cons, and both will have their share of supporters. Making a decision could alienate the leader from half of their team--at least temporarily.

But, as a leader, Pichai's job isn't to keep everyone happy. Nor should he allow things to stay still, hoping that one half of the team will change their minds or that the "right" path forward will miraculously become obvious. Rather, his job is to move things forward. 

There's a major lesson here for new leaders, and some longtime ones:

If you attempt to please everyone, you will end up pleasing no one. 

So, how do you combat the tendency to be a people pleaser, and become a better leader? 

Here are three suggestions.

Prioritize those whom you want to please.

If you can't please everyone, whom should you focus on pleasing?

That's a complex question. And like all complex questions, the answer is ...

It depends.

In the business context, the answer depends on circumstances such as what stage your company is in, your role at the company, and the company's short- and long-term goals. 

For example, for decades, fellow CEO Jeff Bezos bucked the norm and refused to please Amazon shareholders by reinvesting large amounts of money, in hopes of refining company strategy and getting really good at more than one thing. 

That strategy made a lot of people unhappy, but it also transformed Amazon into one of the most valuable companies in the world--and led to major profits in the long run. At the same time, though, Amazon has been criticized for the way it treats employees, especially those working in entry-level positions.

When deciding whom to prioritize, consider the following groups of people:

• Your employees 
• Your customers
• Company ownership, including shareholders
• Your superiors
• Other primary stakeholders

In addition, you should also consider yourself and your family. Not just because it's the "right" thing to do, but because achieving balance and a stable home environment will make you a better leader, too.

Pursue progress. Not perfection.

With an organization as large as Google (and its parent company, Alphabet, which has more than 130,000 employees), it's easy for issues to get stuck. Meeting after meeting. Discussion after discussion. 

But leaders must remember that the goal isn't perfection. The goal is to move things forward, and learn from mistakes.

"There are very few decisions that are extremely high stakes, where mistakes are going to have major consequences," explains Pichai. "It's the incremental decisions that lead to progress."

See the big picture.

Leading others requires giving them feedback they need to hear but don't want to hear. At times, it means pushing them outside of their comfort zone. Challenging them to do something they haven't done before, and may not even believe they're capable of (but you know they are).

And if your tendency is still to try and please everyone, ask yourself this question:

If my team fails, or if the company goes out of business, who will be happy?

Nobody, that's who.

So, if you want to be a better leader, take a page out Sundar Pichai's playbook and ask yourself:

"What ties did I break this week?"

Then, remember to:

• Prioritize those you want to please
• Pursue progress, not perfection
• See the big picture

Because leadership is moving things forward.

Life's pillars and foundation

 Life's five pillars:

Honesty, humility, family, friends and kindness

Foundation : LOVE always!

4 Hormones which determine a human's happiness.

As I sat in the park after my morning walk,

My wife came and slumped next to me.

She had completed her 30-minute jog. We chatted for a while. She said she is not happy in life. I looked up at her sheer disbelief since she seemed to have the best of everything in life.

"Why do you think so?"

"I don't know. Everyone tells I have everything needed, but I am not happy.

"Then I questioned myself, am I happy?  "No," was my inner voice reply.

Now, that was an eye-opener for me.

I began my quest to understand the real cause of my unhappiness,

I couldn't find one.

I dug deeper, read articles, spoke to life coaches but nothing made sense. 

At last my doctor friend gave me the answer which put all my questions and doubts to rest.

I implemented those and will say I am a lot happier person.

She said, there are four hormones which determine a human's happiness -

1. Endorphins,

2. Dopamine,

3. Serotonin,

and 

4. Oxytocin.

It is important we understand these hormones, as we need all four of them to stay happy.

Let's look at the first hormone the Endorphins.

When we exercise, the body releases Endorphins.

This hormone helps the body cope with the pain of exercising. We then enjoy exercising because these Endorphins will make us happy.

Laughter is another good way of generating Endorphins.

We need to spend 30 minutes exercising every day, read or watch funny stuff to get our day's dose of Endorphins.

The second hormone is Dopamine.

In our journey of life, we accomplish many little and big tasks, it releases various levels of Dopamine.

When we get appreciated for our work at the office or at home, we feel accomplished and good, that is because it releases Dopamine.

This also explains why most housewives are unhappy since they rarely get acknowledged or appreciated for their work. Once, we join work, we buy a car, a house, the latest gadgets, a new house so forth. In each instance, it releases Dopamine and we become happy.

Now, do we realize why we become happy when we shop?

The third hormone Serotonin is released when we act in a way that benefits others.

When we transcend ourselves and give back to others or to nature or to the society, it releases Serotonin. Even, providing useful information on the internet like writing information blogs, answering peoples questions on Quora or Facebook groups will generate Serotonin.

That is because we will use our precious time to help other people via our answers or articles.

The final hormone is Oxytocin,

is released when we become close to other human beings. 

When we hug our friends or family Oxytocin is released.

Similarly, when we shake hands or put our arms around someone's shoulders, various amounts of Oxytocin is released.

So, it is simple, we have to exercise every day to get Endorphins, we have to accomplish little goals and get Dopamine,

we need to be nice to others to get  Serotonin and finally hug our kids, friends, and families to get Oxytocin and we will be happy. 

When we are happy, we can deal with our challenges and problems better.

Now, we can understand why we need to hug a child/ spouse who has a bad mood.

So to. 

make your child/ spouse more and more happy day by day ...

1.Motivate him / her to play/ shop on the ground/ mall

-Endorphins

2. Appreciate your child/ spouse for his / her small /big achievements 

-Dopamine

3. inculcate sharing habit through you to your child / spouse

-Serotonin

4. Hug your child/ wife

-Oxytocin

Have a Happy Life.

Never waste time on discussions that make no sense..

 The Story of the Donkey and Tiger

The donkey told the tiger: 

′′The grass is blue". 

The tiger replied: 

′′No, the grass is green".

The discussion became heated up, and the two decided to submit the issue to arbitration, and to do so they approached the lion, King of the Jungle. 

Before reaching the clearing in the forest where the lion was sitting on his throne, the donkey started screaming:

′′Your Highness, is it true that grass is blue?".

The lion replied:

"True, the grass is blue". 

The donkey rushed forward and continued: 

′′The tiger disagrees with me and contradicts me and annoys me please punish him".

The king then declared:

′′The tiger will be punished with 5 years of silence".

The donkey jumped for joy and went on his way, content and repeating:

′′The grass is blue"...

The tiger accepted his punishment, but he asked the lion:

′′Your Majesty, why have you punished me, after all, the grass is green?"

The lion replied:

′′In fact, the grass is green".

The tiger asked:

′′So why do you punish me?"

The lion replied:

′′That has nothing to do with the question of whether the grass is blue or green. The punishment is because , a brave, intelligent creature like you shouldn’t have wasted time arguing with a donkey, and on top of that to come and bother me with that question".

The worst waste of time is arguing with the fool and fanatic who doesn't care about truth or reality, but only the victory of their beliefs and illusions. Never waste time on discussions that make no sense... There are people who for all the evidence presented to them, do not have the ability to understand, and others who are blinded by ego, hatred and resentment, and the only thing that they want is to be right even if they aren’t. When ignorance screams, intelligence shuts up. Your peace and tranquility are worth more.

Facts! Interesting!!

 Glass takes one million years to decompose, which means it never wears out and can be recycled an infinite amount of times!

Gold is the only metal that doesn't rust, even if it's buried in the ground for thousands of years.

When a person dies hearing is the last sense to go. The first sense lost is sight.

Your tongue is the only muscle in your body that is attached at only one end.

The tooth is the only part of the human body that cannot heal itself.

If you stop getting thirsty , you need to drink more water. When a human body is dehydrated, its thirst mechanism shuts off.

Zero is the only number that cannot be represented by Roman numerals. 

Kites were used in the American Civil War to deliver letters and newspapers.

The song Auld Lang Syne is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English-speaking country in the world to bring in the new year.

Drinking water after eating reduces the acid in your mouth by 61 percent. Drinking a glass of water before you eat may help digestion and curb appetite.

Peanut oil is used for cooking in submarines because it doesn't smoke unless it's heated above 450F.

The roar that we hear when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear.

Nine out of every 10 living things live in the ocean.

The banana cannot reproduce itself. It can be propagated only by the hand of man.

Airports at higher altitudes require a longer airstrip due to lower air density.

The University of Alaska spans four time zones.

In ancient Greece , tossing an apple to a girl was a traditional proposal of marriage. Catching it meant she accepted.

Warner Communications paid 28 million for the copyright to the song Happy Birthday, which was written in 1935!

Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

 A comet’s tail always points away from the sun.

Caffeine increases the power of aspirin and other painkillers, that is why it is found in some medicines.

The military salute is a motion that evolved from medieval times, when knights in armor raised their visors to reveal their identity.

If you get into the bottom of a well or a tall chimney and look up, you can see stars, even in the middle of the day.

In ancient times  strangers shook hands to show that they were unarmed.

Strawberries and cashews are the only fruits whose seeds grow on the outside.

Avocados have the highest calories of any fruit at 167 calories per hundred grams.

The moon moves about two inches away from the Earth each year.

The Earth gets 100 tons heavier every day due to falling space dust.

Due to earth's gravity it is impossible for mountains to be higher than 15,000 meters.

Mickey Mouse  is known as "Topolino" in Italy.

Soldiers do not march in step when going across bridges because they could set up a vibration which could be sufficient to knock the bridge down.

Everything weighs one percent less at the equator.

For every extra kilogram carried on a space flight, 530 kg of excess fuel are needed at

lift-off.

The letter J does not appear anywhere on the periodic table of the elements.

Realisation!

 

Winston Churchill's humour

 During WW II, a man was arrested in London for calling Winston Churchill, the then PM of UK, a fool.

The next day in the House of Commons, the opposition members were ready to roast the government for this. They shouted,

"Are we living in a police state Where we cannot call the PM a fool"?

Churchill's reply was truly disarming, 

“The man was not arrested for calling the Prime Minister a fool", he said, 

_"but for letting out a State Secret at a time of war"._

Thats the real sense of Humour...

Strange Laws

 *Some Laws that we didn't learn at school*

01. *LORENZ'S LAW OF MECHANICAL REPAIR*

Once  your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch.

02. *ANTHONY'S LAW OF THE WORKSHOP*

Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.

03. *KOVAC'S CONUNDRUM*

When you dial a wrong number, you will never get an engaged tone.

04. *CANNON'S KARMIC LAW*

If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tyre, the next morning you will have a flat tyre.

05 *O'BRIEN'S VARIATION LAW*

If you change queues, the one you have left will start to move faster than the one you are in now.

06. *BELL'S THEOREM*

When the body is immersed in water, the telephone rings.

07. *RUBY'S PRINCIPLE OF CLOSE ENCOUNTERS*

The probability of meeting someone you know increases when you are with someone you don't want to be seen with.

08. *WILLOUGHBY'S LAW*

When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will.

09. *ZADRA'S LAW OF BIOMECHANICS*

The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.

10. *BREDA'S RULE*

At any event, the people whose seats are farthest from the aisle arrive last.

11. *OWEN'S LAW*

As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.

Covid 19 impact on cars... A perspective!

 

Time is most powerful indeed!

 

We are always on the move!

Mother and Son

 

Decision making

 

Happiness...!

 

My review for the book ... The Darkness by Robbi Sommers Bryant

 

Robbi Sommers Bryant’s ‘The Darkness' is a good psychological thriller and horror story filled with exciting pivotal moments. Set in Seattle and Vegas, she has creatively explored the intensity of an evil – ‘The Darkness' – an incorporeal creature – its devastating effects through Edward – a lawyer.

Owing to a horrible past, already the iron had entered Edward’s soul. So, Darkness could easily conquer the ownership for his soul.

Darkness has dangerously turned Edward into a 'go scot-free' serial killer … hmmm … he has killed just 50 women for fun.

And The Darkness wouldn’t shut up. Always push-push-pushing Edward into rage ... Edward fell back onto the couch, the kill rushing through him … He howled like the predator he was. He was so drunk with pleasure he felt as if he could float with the clouds, dance with autumn leaves, sleep on the sea.

Gifted with his handsome personality, Edward can skilfully flatter women and seduce them so much that they fall head over heels for him – as blind as a bat. They feel that his smile itself must be a black-hole; nothing can escape it.

Cate, with a secret past, is a strong-willed and tough-minded nurse in an intensive-care unit of a hospital.

Unsuspecting Cate likes Edward as he made her comfortable. They are mutually attracted. He exuded confidence while remaining humble. A take-charge man yet respectful. She was like a spring flower and Edward, the sun. His charisma, his non-judgmental thinking, his protectiveness, and his edginess had caused her to bloom.

Edward treats Cate as his trophy. He deeply loves Cate - “I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride” (― Pablo Neruda).

Edward desperately wants to marry her. However, with a complex mindset, he is torn between his normal good-self and his obsessions dictated by the uncontrollable Darkness. Iron hand in a velvet glove.

Police enlist Will – a detective - to arrest the elusive serial killer, terrifying the people in several parts of the USA.

Will too gets attracted to an obliging Cate during the investigation. Will lived a life plodding through the muck of crime. Cate was a lone flower that had pushed through the crack in his cement heart.

A serious love conflict develops as Cate intimately likes both. Curious complications arise, endangering the safety of each.

Who survives?

Robbi has cohesively sewed an excellent story like an expert weaver. She glues the reader with her smoothly structured atmosphere settings, fast-paced storyline, unusual situations, dynamic behavioural patterns and details of the puzzling characters:

v  Cate: So much compassionate that she can kill someone with her kindness - - Without her, most families would have no one to talk to, to lean on, to understand their needs when their loved one’s life was balanced on the precipice of death.

v  Edward: Pitch perfect as if Robbi had interviewed him before writing! His behaviour as if he was sent back to earth from hell because the devil choked on his soul. A dreadful chameleon and a courageous liar:

o   But I had a happy childhood.” Lie. Lie. Lie. “I came into a nice inheritance, though.” Edward liked to throw in an occasional truth.

v  Ruby: a trustworthy friend of Cate at 80+ with innate understanding of people’s real motives, to guide Cate.

v  Darkness: Beware weak-hearted readers – Heart-wrenching horror! The Darkness relished the killing, but for Edward, it was the terror in the eyes; the fading irises; the scream unable to push its way out the girl’s blue lips—all of it.

Disliked:

v  Flat characterisation of Will.

v  Abrupt ending

v  Inappropriate depictions

v  Unexplained sequences

 

Liked:

v  The powerful story

v  A good suspense build-up.

v  Picturesque absorbing writing style - as easy as A.B.C to read, with a balance between narratives and natural dialogues:

o   Calm down. Worrying about what may happen is a waste of time. You lose today when your mind sits in tomorrow.

v  Smart scenes with sprinkled humour … Ruby thought as she put on enough lipstick to make up fifteen beauty queens.

All about this book - from plot to world-building, to the characterisation – praiseworthy!

Worth the read as you will be increasingly eager when you flip through the pages. Get awestruck with the climax of this thoroughly enjoyable thriller-diller. Yes! Robbi has infused fresh air into the genre.