The general at his desk, writing murder mysteries

Thrillers, of course, are not easy to write. First, there is the plot. It needs to be intriguing and, more importantly, as you read you need to be pulled deeper and deeper into it. Then, there's the pacing of the story. It must gallop towards a climax if not also a furious end

- Karan Thapar

It's not every day that an Army chief writes a novel. In fact, it's only happened once during the 77 years since Independence. This is what makes General Manoj Naravane's book almost unique and special. That's also why I'm writing about it today.

Called The Cantonment Conspiracy, it is, as its subtitle says, a military thriller. Though not a Le Carre, it is pacey and very readable. I finished it in a single sitting. The pages seemed to turn themselves.

The story centres around two young newly commissioned officers, Lieutenant Rohit Verma, a third-generation officer, and Lieutenant Renuka Khatri, the first woman to join an infantry regiment. Rohit is accused of molestation and assumed by most people to be guilty. Renuka, the more powerful personality of the two and the driving force behind the story, jumps to his defence. As the plot unravels, two murders take place, and the person who commits them is not the one you first suspect. But I won't tell you more. That would reveal the tale.