Books 2014 Vol. 11 - "God is a Gamer" by Ravi Subramaniam

God is a Gamer by Ravi Subramaniam book review

About the Author

Sometime last year, I received The Bankster by the same author which I was not very impressed with. It was a plot involving the corporate bankers and secret nuclear project and blood diamonds. But, I was not really thrilled over there and that book had a lot of grammatical errors. I might not be a grammar nazi but the editors are expected to be!!

But, a lot of changes have happened in the last one year. And, his latest book God is a Gamer is a real game changer. The plot is all over there right from America to India which starts with a senator assassinated to a major ATM heist in the heart of New York in broad daylight to a major banking CEO murdered and many more sub plots which will have you reeling!!

About the Book

Where should I start talking about the plot and which ones should I talk about? Russia plans an imminent change in their payment system and shut down the visa and mastercard and put up a nationalized payment card system. Gillian Tan, a senator, is called upon to control this change as it would result in billions of dollars of loss for the involved parties.

And, soon after, Gillian Tan is assassinated. The scene then shifts to PM’s office in India where appointment for the RBI governor is pending and he looks through the shortlisted candidates. On the other hand, Swami comes to know through his mother that some amount of cash was withdrawn from their neighbour’s account when she reacted to the almost-real looking spam mail.

Turns out that this fraud has happened with many of the customers of NYIB, the bank for which Swami is the retail head of India. Malvika, the CEO, has sour relations with him and holds him responsible for the damage and loss the spam has caused the bank. Soon after, to contain this damage and realizing that the CEO lacks leadership skills, the management of NYIB plans to replace Malvika which throws her into depression.

Aditya is the owner of eTIOS and Indiscape, a BPO which has NYIB as one of its clients and a growing gaming company, is an ex-employee and mentor of Swami. His son, Varun, comes into his life after 20 years and takes over the gaming company with his bright and new-age ideas. He meets Tanya in Rio-de-Janeiro and accidentally bumps into her in Goa and then again in Mumbai.

Tanya, Malvika’s daughter plans a birthday blast for her in Four Seasons during which her colleagues and the who’s who are invited. Even the finance minister makes his appearance and just as he leaves, Malvika is found lying on the ground floor after a 32 floor fall. Tanya actively blames the finance minister.

And, in New York, a grand ATM heist of 5 million dollars in the heart of New York is planned and executed successfully. And, this money is taken from NYIB. The FBI gets on the case and then they start unravelling the threads which connect all the incidents happening.

My Verdict

But, the surprise is at the end of the novel and the tagline befits the plot perfectly! Though you would wonder if the motivation and the target were really in sync with each other.

The novel is breathtaking and everything moves at jet speed. The language is correct and I could spot only one grammatical error in the entire book which was a missing period, nothing major. So, yes, I would say its a treat for any crime thriller lover.