The Blissful Inferno: Story Unravels by Abhishek Pathak is a riveting mystery thriller that takes place at two places: earth and hell with only one lead character named Kushagra. Right at the beginning I had no idea what later will ensue in the story, I was thinking it a predictable novel as the protagonist wasn’t happy in his married life and some unexpected was expected. Thank god…it didn’t turn out to be a romance novel.
The guy dies in an accident and reaches hell. But well before he could grant an entry at hell, the author showed me the way and that funny plane through which souls come to hell. A soul going to the hell was completely sounded a modern idea. Imagine some angels and the Peter type man holding you up till the gate. A lot drama happens when Kushagra was about to enter hell and he very scared at the thought. Ironically, things are not that look. They are way different than we people on earth read and imagine about the hell. To my surprise, Kushagra is initially happy in the hell and applies to go back to earth as a human reborn….but the waiting time was 4 years. Isn’t funny! That part was very funny.
He meets Tarini and Uttakarsha – they are like him. He gets along with them quite well. In the hell, he finds peace. People are listening to music as they could have been enjoying at earth. But the peace in hell is not that came easily. It was because of Shristi, the witch. Like any other place, demons and monsters and ghosts fight to gain superiority in hell. In others realm, things are bad, souls are treated badly. However, the current commandant was Shristi, she was peace loving but at the same time she was preparing an army of her to fight from other demons that are way too excited to capture and rule over hell. Kushagra being a human runs out of choice and joins the army of Shristi.
It sounded me strange to witness demons fighting among each other in the hell. So where is the god – who controls hell? Right at the preface the author mentioned the absence of god. Probably, the novel’s story moves at no intervention from god. The USP of the book is in portraying the other side of hell. But whatever it is, whether defying the human concept of hell or introducing something new, the overall story was fun to read and observe as a keen reader. I enjoyed the hell part like anything, the shuttling of novel between various characters, earth and hell was good and a sort of balancing point in the story.
Talking about writing, pace, narration, and climax – it is way perfect and sounded quite gullible at all juncture. All in all, a good novel to read anytime for all types of readers! I would rate this novel 4.5 out 5.
ibooksta 