Surgical Precision

Set across continents and jet setting through Paris,Istanbul,Chicago,Sydney and New York,The Scalpel (Rupa,Rs 195) has an interesting protagonist in Nona Lal,a bright young Himalayan princess,now based in Paris,who finds out about the murky operations of a premier hospital in Delhi. Ordinarily,this would not have been of any consequence but Lal is also an undercover agent for an international law organisation. “She comes in contact with a respectable businessman Rashid Khan who is actually an underworld don. I’ve introduced the terrorism angle as I am from Kashmir and have had real experience of living with terror,” says Rissam. Some years ago,he was in Paris on a sabbatical and it was there that he began writing the first few pages of the novel. “I began writing everyday and showed it to a friend. He read it and urged me to complete the story,” he says.

Although the book is fiction and the action is exaggerated for the story,Rissam has enough interesting anecdotes from his professional life to be quite entertaining. There’s good news for readers as well: Rissam is associated with the Max Group of Hospitals and on showing a copy of The Scalpel,readers can avail a 20% discount on all healthcare services at the hospital.