Fear is the Key by Juggi Bhasin 

Fear is the Key is the adult psychological thriller novel with the touch of eroticism written by the author Juggi Bhasin, who is known to write out of the box crime thriller novels.

I always enjoy reading the psychological thriller genre for their intensity and mind games. Naturally, I was super excited to read this one and was expecting it to be about something like conquering some kind of fear which was acting as a stumble block for the protagonist Rahul in his search for his girlfriend Simone.

Synopsis

So the story is about Rahul who is a founder of a successful Start-Up company Yummimages. Everything is going great for him when suddenly his entire world comes tumbling down when his girlfriend Simone disappears into thin air. No one had any idea as to what become of her and there were no clues to start her search.

Well Thought Story

The book has all the elements of crime thriller. The ghostly presence which sprinkles fear in the air, psychological factor added suspense to the story and the quest of Rahul to find the reason behind the mysterious disappearance of Simone will enable the readers to turn page after page and a creepy feeling sinks in by the climax time when the truth unfolds. The climax was unusual, unexpected, but not unique as I have seen movies and TV serial with the similar concept.

Complexity was the Key

The story of the book is not so simple and straightforward as it appears. In fact it is like the famous Indian sweet Jalebi, straight but crooked. Expect the unexpected is what I would like to tell the future readers of this book.

Fear is the Key is not a usual crime thriller. It is like you start from a point but takes a different route to reach a completely different place. The book started like a simple crime novel, but slowly and slowly, the author started adding so many angles and layers in the story that the situations become quite implausible and characters became too complex to understand.  

Did I Enjoy It as Expected

The author has worked hard on the story line but somehow I didn’t enjoy reading this psychological thriller. Characters were flat and unrelatable. I thought I understand the characters in spite of their complexity. But too much of the complexity made characters cold and by the end I have absolutely no feelings for any characters.

Psychological reason behind the murder didn’t generate any sympathetic feelings for the murderer. In fact murder appears more cold blooded rather than multiple personality disorder.

Also the erotic element in the story was a turn off for me and most probably an important reason why I didn’t enjoy reading it. Might not be the same for the one who likes to read erotic psychological thriller.

The Verdict

There are some books which are well written but due to one factor or another you might not be able to appreciate the book so much. Fear is the Key is one such book for me.

But then you might like it. It’s all about personal choice.