When Death Came Calling

Through strategically placed cameras he is aware of all the nefarious goings-on behind the closed doors of the very wealthy. But when one of his clients dies suddenly, with his From his state-of-the art control room - providing security to 'smart homes' of India's rich - ex-army man Ashwin can see and hear pretty much everything happening in and around his clients' homes. But when one of his clients dies suddenly, with his Swiss bank number winking enticingly on his computer screen, Ashwin realizes the full potential of this brilliant system Moving at breakneck pace from the protagonist's control room to the sprawling houses of Delhi's rich and famous, Mukul Deva crafts what is probably India's first techno crime novel.

This crackling thriller will have you riveted right till the jaw-dropping sting-in-the-tail end.

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Be the first to ask a question about And Death Came Calling. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Dec 19, Vishal Kale rated it really liked it.

This isnt a classic Mukul Deva. If that is what you are looking for, stop reading here and move on. But if you are interested in a good fast-paced book - read on. This is a completely different book in every sense of the term. A major, major diversion from the usual Mukul Deva classic. The book has a slow build-up; but interestingly, the suspense and the expectation starts from This isnt a classic Mukul Deva. The book has a slow build-up; but interestingly, the suspense and the expectation starts from almost the first page, and builds up page after page ceaselessly.

An expectation of increasing tension, action and adventure that rides on the reader's mind as he or she turns pages in the expectation that the next page contains the implied explosion into action; an expectation that keeps you glued to the pages. The list of characters says it all: I have listed only 2. And it takes tremendous skill to write an engaging Novel based on only 2 main characters, with a wide variety of supporting characters and 2 major supporting characters, people who play pivotal roles in the story.

Read the book to find out: I dont want to spoil the fun! The character development is excellent, although in a minimalist style, and amply supports and further develops the story. The writing style is very, very different - and yet, retains its punch. The only objection I can find is the vulgarity and open sexuality.

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I can understand the use of some bad words, given the overall character of Ashwin Thakur. That is entirely in keeping with the character, and its absence would have seemed out of place. But the overt sexuality and explicit description of female parts as well as inclusion of the sexual scene seems overdone. The same effect could have been had by a gentler approach. That apart, the book is superb.

If you enjoy good writing, if you enjoy great fiction, if you enjoy a fascinating read, if you enjoy a rapid and fast-paced novel that is a captivating read - this is the book for you. It is unique, and is based on a superbly laid out near-flawless plot that will stay with you hours after you keep the book down. I rate it 4 stars out of Jan 14, Jairam Mohan rated it it was ok. For whatever reason this book didn't work for me. A combination of high expectations, an extremely thin plot and an insipid first person narrative meant that I didn't quite enjoy the book and found it very amateurish overall.

Mar 19, Yamini rated it liked it. Not the typical Mukul Deva book. He should stick with writing military based thrillers. The intimate scenes in the book sound unnecessary and cheap. Jan 19, Gopakumar Ambat rated it liked it. The first half of the book was a bit dull, but the chase across the border was quite thrilling! Rajivghosh98 rated it it was amazing Aug 03, The other was a scientific breakthrough of far-reaching importance. In May , the plague came to Hong Kong. It cut a swathe through the colony, causing widespread suffering and sparking social unrest.

From Hong Kong the plague spread far and wide, creating a global pandemic that claimed millions of lives. Yersin identified the bacillus that causes plague, laying the groundwork for methods to prevent and cure the disease. The bacillus was later named in his honour: The twin anniversaries are a timely reminder that plague exists in today's world. The word "plague" might be redolent of biblical retribution and medieval misery, but the disease itself has not been consigned to history. In fact, since the early s, plague has been making a comeback.

Over the past 20 years, more than 50, human cases have been reported and the World Health Organisation has classified it as a re-emerging disease. The world is full of infectious diseases, of varying degrees of nastiness, but plague is exceptional. Yersinia pestis is the most virulent pathogen ever known and it has killed more people than any other.

Most bacteria are millions of years old and arose long before human beings. Yersinia pestis , however, is only 3, years old. It's the youngest pathogen we know - in terms of evolution it's like a newborn baby. Despite the harm it has caused mankind, plague is foremost a disease of rodents.

In Hong Kong, the primary host was the brown rat. Other animals, such as cats and camels, can act as intermediaries between the rodent hosts and humans. The animal hosts are infested with fleas, which act as vectors - they transfer the plague bacillus from one animal to another when they bite. Discerning fleas usually prefer rats but if their options are limited, they will hop onto people and bite them instead, infecting them in the process. Plague manifests in three forms, depending on the route of infection. The most common form is bubonic plague. When a plague-carrying flea bites a person, the bacteria wash into the wound and travel to lymph nodes in the armpit, groin and neck.

The lymph nodes enlarge, forming the "buboes" that give this form of plague its name. Without treatment the victim experiences seizures, cramps, a hacking cough, acute fever and delirium. The skin blackens as gangrene sets in at the fingers, toes, lips and nose, causing excruciating pain. Death occurs in 40 to 80 per cent of victims within about seven days.

If the bacteria reach the lungs, the second form - pneumonic plague - develops. Pneumonic plague can be transmitted directly from person to person via coughs and sneezes, so it can spread extremely fast. The mortality rate is per cent and death comes quickly, in one to three days. The third and rarest form is septicaemic plague, which occurs if the bacillus enters the bloodstream. It is so deadly that the victim can die even before symptoms appear. From its birthplace in China, the plague bacillus went on the rampage and caused major pandemics on three occasions.

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The first pandemic, the Justinian plague, swept around the Mediterranean in the sixth century. It killed an estimated 50 per cent of Europe's population before dying out in the seventh century.

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The second pandemic started in the midth century and followed the Silk Road, arriving in Europe in , where it became known as the Black Death. The third pandemic was the one that brought Hong Kong to its knees. It started in Yunnan province in the s and, over several decades, made gradual progress along trade routes until it reached Canton now Guangzhou in With daily water traffic between Canton and Hong Kong, it was inevitable that plague would spread to the colony.

The first cases were identified in Tai Ping Shan at the beginning of May. Nowadays it's a maze of ladder streets and alleyways, home to an appealing mix of low-rise residential buildings, quirky shops and funky cafes, alongside traditional printing presses, coffin shops and dai pai dongs. Back in the s, it was a very different scene. After the British arrived, in the s, they established Tai Ping Shan as a settlement for Chinese workers.

As the population grew, the district's tenement houses were sub-divided into tiny, window-less dwellings and large multi-generational families were shoe-horned into them. There was no fresh water supply, no sewerage system and no proper drainage. Contemporary reports describe a hellhole - the inhabitants lived in abject squalor, the streets were mired in filth and the stench was overpowering.

It was the kind of place where pathogens thrived and diseases spread like wildfire. On May 10, Hong Kong was officially declared an infected port. The health authorities sent in teams to conduct house-to-house searches. James Lowson, a Scottish doctor and acting superintendent of the Civil Hospital, described in unsparing prose the full horror of what they found: One was dead, the tongue black and protruding.

The next had the muscular twitchings and semi-comatose condition heralding dissolution … Another sufferer, a female child about ten years old, lay in the accumulated filth of apparently two or three days … The fourth was wildly delirious. The colonial authorities imposed a strict regime on the local population involving the rapid disposal of corpses, the isolation of infected patients and the disinfection of houses. Later, they forcibly evicted the remaining residents and razed Tai Ping Shan to the ground. Their actions fostered mutual distrust, heightening pre-existing political and racial tensions and amplifying the panic on both sides.

Yersin was dispatched to this chaotic scene by the French government and his employer, the Institut Pasteur, but he wasn't the first scientist to be sent. Three days earlier, celebrated Japanese bacteriologist Shibasaburo Kitasato had arrived from Tokyo. Kitasato had been given a hero's welcome and presented with a well-equipped laboratory in Kennedy Town Hospital. Yersin's reception was chilly by comparison. Kitasato perceived him as a threat. He refused to give Yersin access to patients or cadavers and banned him from the hospital laboratory.

In desperation, Yersin built a simple straw hut near the hospital to use as a laboratory. To obtain samples, he bribed two British soldiers guarding the morgue to turn a blind eye as he removed corpses. At this point, Kitasato had already declared victory and medical journal The Lancet had published a report stating that he had discovered the plague bacillus. But Yersin wasn't convinced by his rival's results and continued his own work. So he opened a patient's bubo, drained the pus and looked at this under the microscope.

In a curious twist, Yersin's lack of equipment was his good fortune.

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While Kitasato grew his bacteria in an incubator at 37 degrees Celsius, Yersin cultured his samples at room temperature on a bench top in the straw hut. We now know that the plague bacillus grows best at 30 degrees, the mean temperature of June in Hong Kong.

Death and Revenge - The Dead Came Calling

At 37 degrees, other bacteria take over and contaminate the sample. In Kitasato's case he had mistakenly identified bacteria responsible for pneumonia, not plague. But what he achieved was incredible and it's part of his legacy that we [the Institut Pasteur] have branches in Madagascar and many other countries, working at the forefront of plague research. The plague was still raging in Hong Kong but, despite the risk that it would travel overseas, the British authorities were reluctant to shut down the port.