Bihar Diaries by Amit Lodha: The gripping tale of how Bihar's most dangerous criminal was caught! #BookReview

Bihar Diaries by Amit Lodha

Publisher: Penguin Random House

ISBN: 978-0-143-44435-0

Genre: Non-Fiction

Pages: 280

Rating: 2/5

A light read with intriguing writing style and funny random moments. The focus is on the police department with political influences and average characters carrying about the story!

Handed over to me as a part of new launch, the title of the book seemed interesting “The True Story of how Bihar’s most dangerous criminal was caught’ and the fact that it is going to be turned into a movie directed by Neeraj Pandey intrigued me.

As I began reading the book, it was more like a film script that brought about a deadly villain whose deadly horror had kept Bihar in its worst of conditions. Vijay Samrat – the criminal who had grown over the years into a crime hungry person pleased with the sight of blood. His heinous crime rate is in full swing when a the hero of the story, the IPS Office Amit Lodha is posted to Bihar.

After clearing IIT, Amit Lodha took an unconventional way from engineering to switch to civil services out of choice. His posting to Bihar was heart wrenching to him making him question at his choice time and again. The time when engineers walk with their degrees into corporate life, this man chose to be a police officer and serve the nation.

IPS officer Amit Lodha who was posted to Shekhpura district was seen going about the routine policing of his district until things started to disturb him and he found a target to chase. The growing terror of Vijay Samrat became nerve cracking for him and he became determined to catch the criminal with all his might.

The story although real, failed to bring about that impact of a tough fight for me. Where the role of the police inspector and the entire police department was glamourized at every instant, the criminal was shown getting weaker without having made enough attempts of counter attacks. It almost started feeling vague at a point! Or maybe the author tried to keep it more dramatic and happy read for the readers instead of making it a complete crime novel.

This is a non-fiction and a true story of IPS officer Amit Lodha – and he has done a perfect job and penning down the true events in the most intriguing and lively way. He weaved the story taking into account each aspect of a police inspector’s life and brought the characters with fine craft. It also brings forth the reality of the police department, their hard work, their problems and the way they make the best of situations to make the society a better place to live in! Their role indeed is incomparable and respected!

The fact that the IPS officer made use of mobile tapping and was continuously active to take up calls was exciting and connecting the dots as to how dedicated a police inspector can be and that little things can reveal a lot about the happenings around!

The 280 pages of gripping tale is indeed a perfect script material and would definitely make for a good movie probably taking up stars that have done amazing portrayals of police inspector roles in the past.

I was a quick read and a gripping tale that you would soon in the cinemas too!

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