NOVEL--THE ELEVENTH HOUR

The Eleventh Hour by S.Hussain Zaidi ; Published by  Harper Collins ; Pages 247;     Price  Rs.299/-

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The  book under review is  a novel  by S.Hussain Zaidi, who has acquired name and fame in crime reporting. He is the author of several books including "Black Friday", "Dongri to Dubai", "Mafia Queens of Mumbai" and "Byculla to Bangkok". A number of his  books have been successfully transformed into gripping  movies. These  include "Black Friday", directed by Anurag Kashyap; "Shootout at Wadala", based on "Dongri to Dubai", directed by Sanjay Gupta; and "Phantom", based on "Mumbai Avengers", directed by Kabir Khan. 

Writing about Crime is so highly attractive that even the ex-American President Bill Clinton has penned one entitled “The President is Missing” along with James Patterson---it  is  focussed on cyber-terrorism and the efforts of a heroic President who disappears from the White House to thwart the danger. The novel has been crowned with success.

 Zaidi’s hero is a Superintendent of Police named Vikrant Singh who survived the 26/11 attack on Mumbai nine years before the action in this novel. The Policeman who is consumed by anger  slaps the High Commissioner of Pakistan when he meets him at a function. Though he is officially suspended he is requested—behind the scenes—to help the team that is in pursuit of the terrorists.

The plot unravels in a somewhat sluggish   pace after this dramatic beginning. In a striking incident , five members of the Indian Mujahideen escape from the Central Jail in Bhopal. In another part of the country, a retired tycoon, a heartbroken ex-soldier and a young woman dealing with demons of her own embark on a journey of self-discovery aboard a cruise liner from Mumbai to Lakshadweep. Fate, however, has other plans, and the cruise liner is hijacked. Passengers cannot believe such an eventuality and are left to wonder if they can survive. The Somali hijackers appear to be built and well-fed to be pirates. Who are they, and what is going on?

The cruise liner is a puzzle. Nobody seems to have a clue about the hijackers’ background and motivation, while the author’s focus on a few passengers suggests that they have an identity beyond the obvious. Among them is Vaishali, a charming young lady, who enjoys the company of an old man named Hakimi before falling for Daniel Fernando. A mysterious man is the team leader of the hijackers who have sophisticated weapons, thus revealing their preparedness.

There are some gaps in the telling  of the tale. Vikrant vanishes  for several pages at a time, and other characters who dominate in their respective subplots take over. However  interest  does not flag.

Most thrillers have set pieces and devices. There is a stash of RDX known as Cache ’93, which had apparently remained unused during 26/11 and has been concealed somewhere. While one can understand the presence of an RDX angle, what is missing is an in-depth explanation of the importance of Lakshadweep. One wishes Zaidi had  more to say on this.

 “Success will always come, even if it is at the eleventh hour,” one of the characters says. The  victory of good over evil is inevitable  and thus  the plot reveals the author’s grasp of the “Crime situation” having  at the forefront of crime and terror reporting for a long time.

The novel highlights  the crucial  role played by popular culture plays in structuring people’s understanding of political phenomena---like terrorism, intelligence agencies, and the creeping normalisation of a state of heightened paranoia where every citizen is recast into one of two groups either  anti-national suspect or patriotic helper.

It is astonishing to see Zaidi, one of India’s finest investigative journalists, resurrecting in popular fiction the very absurdities that many commentators have pointed out in media narratives of IM. This includes the most glaring of them — the notion that a jihadi terrorist group seeking a “universal caliphate” would define itself in nationalistic terms as ‘Indian’.

"Since childhood, I was fascinated by men in uniform. At that time, I used to think that we could sleep peacefully because of all these heroes I would read about - men like Shahwaz Ali Mirza and Vikrant Singh," says Zaidi.

Soon after 26/11, Superintendent of Police Singh was transferred to the Intelligence Bureau on deputation, something he had always wanted. He threw himself into the world of surveillance and monitoring like a man possessed, using all his source-building and investigation skills with the sole motive of preventing another 26/11.

He found a mentor in his reporting head, Inspector General of Police Mirza, who was not only an intelligence pro but also had keen insight into the way the mind of a radicalised Muslim youth worked.

 Eleventh Hour is tailor-made for Bollywood. A good option for thriller fans, Eleventh Hour starts dramatically and ends quickly.

The author drives the narrative at his own comfortable speed, giving us an insight into both the tragedies of the past and the obvious danger of  the present. He  uses of his knowledge of the locales he has selected  for the novel, ensures authenticity s, whether it’s the streets and slums of Bombay or the luxurious confines of a hijacked cruise ship. The reader is impressed to learn  the internal workings of various bureaucratic, anti-terrorism agencies to the vibes of the underbelly of Bombay. The panic and paranoia of a post 26/11 city still reeling from the feelings of being held hostage by the unknown forces of terrorism are depicted in their emphatic depth and makes the novel both gripping and rewarding.

P.P.Ramachandran.

30/12/2018.