Excellent work!
The pace, plot, characters, words, storyline, everything is amazing.

The first half of the book set up the plot and setting in intricate detail. I took some time getting through the first 100 pages, however at one point after that, I couldn’t let the book go and finished it in one sitting, thrilled and enraptured by the development, hoping against hope that the protagonist comes out of it intact, but with no assurance of the same. I was kept guessing and HAD to get through it as soon as possible! Would definitely recommend this!

Very thrilling and enjoyable. It is such a type of book that the moment you start reading it, it takes you to a whole new world.

First of all many congratulations to this young writer for such an interesting , gripping, debut novel.
I for one could not put the book down..it was such an edge of the seat thriller. Simply loved the way the two chess games were made part of the story. Looking forward to many more from this writer

I had taken up reading a book after a very very long time and I must say this book exceeded far more than my expectations. It’s got a gripping storyline and keeps you at the edge till the very end. The character and the plot is beautifully written and I couldn’t put the book down until I finished it. An absolute must read!

The book is truly a fast paced engrossing thriller. What makes it even more interesting is the fact that one can relate it with the on going events in & around. Each chapter is well drafted & leaves your yearning to know know more. Very difficult to leave the book once you start reading. The events are well expressed & the locations have been described with the minutest of details. The protocols & procedures followed by the agencies too have been vividly spelt out. All in all a must read & a brilliant effort by the young author on his maiden attempt. Would love to read Part II of the novel.

It all started with a thief who became the witness to upcoming destruction of Indian economy.
A mastermind with the help of his pawns made a shrewd plan to make India and it’s economy suffer.
DSP Ranbir & Inspector Vikram went on the mission of uncovering the truth about the mastermind behind all the chaos in the country.
But while investigating, they came across people who were declared dead years ago. With confusing evidences they set on their journey of losing people and finding the mastermind.
Will they be able to succeed or is it the mastermind who wins?
Reading this book felt like a thriller movie. It was so engaging that I actually finished this book in 2 sittings.
The characters are well built and the author has explained everything in detail which is neither too dragged nor too short. The story is fast paced and definitely an amazing read.
Definitely recommended.

The novel is fast paced and very engaging it will keep you at the edge of your seat. It was definitely a roller coaster for me because the storytelling is brilliant and the plot will make you Wait! What did just happened? a lot of times in the middle. There are lots of twists and turns, and definitely a lot of mind games that are played.
As there are lot of characters, there has to be a lot of scenic descriptions and I appreciate how every scene was finely detailed, narrated with a geographical point of view to help out our imagination.
This has to be one of the best thrillers I have read and if it does make it to a movie translation the movie will be a killer, I would love to watch it.

Before I review this book I want to praise the smart title it has: Lynchpin. Mostly we find thrillers having a dragged title which gives too much away sometimes but here, the title is unique and made me think what the book will have to talk about.
Now, Lynchpin is a psychological thriller that made me think not just with the author but also the characters; they were extremely ambiguous and you certainly cannot trust their words and actions because of what the author has planned towards the end. I just found the names of the characters very movie-esque, there was nothing unique about them but the characters themselves were standing out from what I’ve usually read. Yes, the story has the capacity to be made into a series/movie because the content and actions are detailed, intense and suspenseful. It’s not everyday that you find thrillers whose descriptive narration is well balanced. This bring me to the other good quality, the book isn’t chatty where the characters are always talking and there is no action. This was smart on author’s part. For me, I never liked chatty books, there should always be a balance.
The story is structured like a chessboard where two masterminds are at constant fight and making their moves one after the other. I liked this structure, to be honest. It is used in an analogous manner but was not able to lose its momentum. And how smart were the chapter titles! They were tingling my nerves to think since they were a small hint towards what will happen in the chapter. I don’t think I have any negatives to say for this book but given how brilliant Siddharth Maheshwari has wrapped this novel, I am expecting a little more from him now, that maybe he could have made it even more realistic because we all have already watched stories on terrorism with such a plot. His work was different but still can be categorised similar.
I’ll still recommend this to people who enjoy a good political-psychological thrillers that prickles their nerves.
Ratings: 4/5

Introduction:

30 days is all you got and the fate of your country will be changed forever. That’s what a thief told inspector Vikram during his last moments. In minutes after his demise, Jaiprakash Mathur a pawn in this game of chess set things in motion with his sinister plan. All of a sudden everything changed. In a country of 1.4 billion people maintaining the socio-economic balance is a task in itself.

But what if someone has planned to disrupt this balance to pieces. The result? All of a sudden the economy is under immense pressure. One after the other every major city is having its share of hardships, including Kashmir. And a conspiracy of the Chinese and Indian prime minister. All of this leads to a thrilling encounter between various government bodies and people who have set this plan in motion for their vested interests.

Will the country survive?

My take on characters:

Lynchpin has a diverse character base introduced at different phases of the story, Jaiprakash Mathur that got the ball rolling, Vikram Singh inspector from the crime branch, Ranbir Roy from the Intelligence Bureau, the professor, and a bunch of other characters. All of them developed at a very organic pace along the story.

My take on the storyline:

To me, the story felt like a game of chess where each character played their part. Lynchpin is a smart, taut, & utterly fantastic roller coaster ride. I was hooked from the very first page and it was both intense & well structured. Facts & fiction very well collaborated together to form a complex web of parallel narratives that have entertained me as I flip through the pages.

How’s the author’s writing style:

The story includes famous Indian places which are mentioned not just by mentioning their names but also through defining the fine details present in those places that allowed me to paint a picture in my mind and exercise my imagination. And that’s how the author owned his writing style in the book. It was fast-paced and entertaining.

Final opinion:

So if you are looking to read a fast-paced thriller where you can’t trust any of the characters, then this book will leave you wondering for answers right till the very end.