Brand New Start - the Power of Personal Branding By Mainak Dhar

I selected "Brand New Start" by Mainak Dhar due to following reasons

1) Author Mainak Dhar

2) Attractive cover giving confidence of Superpower

3) long subtitle "Fast-Start Your Career with the Power of Personal Branding"

4) Chances of learning something new

I took this book in the morning. I read the first few pages where the author describes why one should read this book. And that's it, 160 pages were finished in the next 3-4 hours. The section I liked the most is "Three reasons why you should listen to me and one reason why you shouldn't". Here I liked the frankness of Mainak over the acceptance of his limitations. In a very friendly manner, he tells us that he is not a counselor but a direct or indirect person in the decision-making of things discussed in this book.

As the blurb suggests, the content of this book is all about personal branding. Yes, you heard me right. Though our world works on product and personality branding, we mostly fall on the consumer side. This book tells us the supplier side. I mean it shows what a brand for a person is. The initial section tells us all about personal branding by removing myths and by answering general questions. The later section discusses how to make a brand out of us. The material is good.

My observations

1) Very good content creation. Text, charts, and figures were proper. Even larger than normal font size helps in reducing bored-ness in reader

2) Kind of good topic for a self-help genre

3) For new entrant a good read, for those who have read already established book, this book may not give too much novelty

4) I found fewer examples and cases. I feel those are the heart of self-help books. Else self-help will be an academic book for me.

I would like to thank Writersmelon for providing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Nice self-help deserves 3.75 out of 5.

Book links - Goodreads & Amazon

Book Review “Sniper’s Eye" by Mainak Dhar

An aerial view of Mumbai from a Sniper’s perspective in cover and colophon abstracting a romantic date gone murderously wrong (pun intended), I initially read a few pages from this book while talking to a Netflix customer care, who seemed to blame all the software bugs as license problems (sigh!!!). Instead I ended up ditching the call and finishing the book (one more page and then I am done).

Book Blurb

I was out on a date. Everything was perfect… Till that shot… a high-calibre one, no apparent sound. And, the man in front of me fell. A rifle with a suppressor? A sniper in the middle of a Mumbai mall? As the body count mounted, I was soon sucked deeper into the chaos unleashed by that shot. To survive and save those whom I care about, I have to become the man I left behind. I have no choice but to tap into a bloody past that has put me on the terror kill list. I may also have no option but to join hands with the sniper terrorising Mumbai. The problem is that the man has sworn to kill me. In a world where the young and poor kill and die in conflicts started by the old and rich, I and my unlikely companion finally discover the thin line that separates a mere killer from a hero. This is our story…

“Sniper’s Eye” starts with a mall shooting and centres around Aditya Ghosh whose date with Zoya turns a disaster. Things slowly spiral out of control as he is supposed to corporate with the sniper himself as along with him several army men and their families become victim of terrorist attacks or sniping. 

The book is written in first person narrative. The thrill and grip are maintained throughout the books as the reader moves from one page to another. The chapters are well placed, and connected. The use of simple language aids the plot as the readers can actually focus on the story and keeps them occupied. The action and fight sequences are well described and add to the flavour of the thrill that the story keeps.

Aaditya Ghosh portrays the main protagonist superbly. He is a man of action, perfectly practical in times of trouble, doesn’t lose his cool, and keeps his demons of past at bay. Aman Karzai portrays his grey shaded character perfectly. Zoya, Ravi, Rekha and Phadke support the plot nicely. Personally I felt that the character of Sai could had been given more presence or maybe given more depth. The Stan Lee sort of cameo of Mainak Dhar as M.K. Dhar works acts as an easter egg and works for the entertainment of readers. Suffice it to say that no character is overused

Overall, the author delivers us a story which serves as the perfect thriller. Inspite of its familiar plot, the book successfully captures the readers interest and delivers.

Overall Verdict:- The perfect thriller

For Mainak Dhar’s enticing and engrossing thriller, my overall rating would be 4.5/5.

The book can be found at Amazon

Reviews from other readers can be found at GoodReads

We would like to thank WritersMelon for providing us the review copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Review of 03:02 - An Action Thriller by Mainak Dhar 

Action Thriller - 03:02 by Mainak Dhar

I am very glad that I came across thetalespensieve and I applied for giveaway for 03:02 by Mainak Dhar. Otherwise I would have missed an awesome action thriller. During flood in our hometown we had experienced complete black out for a week, well law and order were still intact in most of the parts, but I can still relate many things in story with real incidents that we experienced.

Blurb of the book goes like this:

At 03:02 on a Sunday morning, the world as we knew it came to an end. 

Mumbai suddenly went black — no electricity, no phones, no internet and no working cars. It was as if someone had turned off the master switch of our civilization, turning us back hundreds of years overnight. We learned that it was not just Mumbai, but much of the world that had been impacted. 

We also learned that it was no accident. A deadly enemy was behind it. An enemy that was now in our midst, seeking to conquer us and destroy our way of life. This is how our war for freedom began. A war that was to be waged not on the borders or by the Army, but in our homes and streets, with us as the soldiers. 

This is our story. 

The story of 03:02 starts with a blackout in Mumbai city at 03:02. People took it lightly and went back to their bed. When they woke up in morning finding no electronics or electrical device is working, their life became miserable. A strong heart guy Aditya took things in hand and started directing people to constructive work. Living in a same society for years and not knowing people personally was a common thing in today's world. But blackout brought people together. People who usually seen in lifts and parking lots became partner in daily activities like food, water and other scavenging. 

Well story doesn't end with just one society but same things happened to 70% of world. Which brought anarchy along with blackout. Police, militia and government had their own struggle to keep things in order. Without law and order in Mumbai and many other cities things go beyond imagination. Story was focused on Mumbai specially Patch between International Airport to Powai region. In initial days Aditya faced lot of resistance from society people who were considering power outage was just a temporary phenomena, but as time progressed they understood it was not gonna end soon. 

Using his common tactics and other's help Aditya kept securing his and neighborhood societies from looters and thugs. But they got big shock when they learned the most feared and brutal terrorist group is just 4-5 km away from there location. Instead of giving up to terrorist, Aditya and his Azad Hind Fauj fought till end. (Well I don't want give every twist and turn in my review)

Story was written in first person as Aditya main protagonist. Its fast paced narration which made me finish book in 4 sittings, in spite of its length. Talking about ratings:

• Cover - 3.5 / 5 
• Concept - 3.5 / 5 (Not completely new seen similar in Die Hard Movie)
• Language - 3.5 / 5 
• Story Line - 4 / 5 (Smooth and Fast Paced)
• Characters - 4 / 5
• Overall - 4 / 5

Book can be found at - Amazon  & Flipkart

Review from other readers can be found at GoodReads

I won a review copy from The Tales Pensieve as part of Reviewers Programme. Register on #TTP for lots of #book fun and activities.