Books
Featured Books
By Puja Guha
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Ahriman: The Spirit of Destruction
A Middle East Political Conspiracy and Espionage Thriller (The Ahriman Legacy Book 1)$15.00 -
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Reckoning from the Shadows: A Riveting Political and Espionage Thriller
(The Ahriman Legacy Book 4)$15.00 -
Battle for the Veiled City: A Riveting Political and Espionage Thriller
(The Ahriman Legacy Book 5)$15.00 -
Sirens of Memory
$15.00 -
Down to the River
$15.00
Reviews
What Readers Say
Verified Battle for the Veiled City: A Riveting Political and Espionage Thriller (The Ahriman Legacy Book 5) | Great Thriller This is a fast moving and well written thriller that will hold you until the very end. This is the first book that I have read in the series of five, but it was easy to catch up with the characterization that had developed in the previous four books. The main action is sent in Tehran and in describing the city and the inhabitants, it seems to be a place of contrasts and many views that do no necessarily conform to the strict Islamic theocracy that we believe to be the case from the West’s perspective. I found it to be thoroughly enjoyable.Verified Battle for the Veiled City: A Riveting Political and Espionage Thriller (The Ahriman Legacy Book 5) | Fast paced, very detailed, easily could be real This was the first book in the series I read but there was enough background information as an explanation so it was easily followed. I will go back and read the others but I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have a new author to read!Verified Battle for the Veiled City: A Riveting Political and Espionage Thriller (The Ahriman Legacy Book 5) | Satisfying thriller from a writer who knows this world Book 5 in Puja Guha's entertaining series brings the story to a satisfying (maybe?) conclusion. The book clips along at a rapid pace thanks in part to punchy chapters that jump between a multitude of character perspectives. In some stories, this might detract from the connection with the protagonist. In this series, one gets the sense that the protagonist is the world of intrigue - very similar to ours but layered with fictional events on top of real ones - is the main character. Not to say Petra and Kasem are thinly defined. The romantic duo have certainly been through plenty in this series. An excellent read!Verified Battle for the Veiled City: A Riveting Political and Espionage Thriller (The Ahriman Legacy Book 5) | To What Lengths A lot is going on in book five of this ongoing espionage series. Book four ends close to where book five begins... with people pacing the floor wondering when the "axe will fall". If you don't know why then I suggest reading (or re-reading) the previous books. It was suggested that a bargain could be "struck" that would alleviate the floor pacing, however, it could involve a high risk of death or injury to the main characters, Petra and Kasem. In order to get out of their current situation and have a chance at some semblance of an untethered life, the duo agree. The question now becomes, to what lengths will they go to accomplish their missions? The author did a wonderful job of storytelling. Never knowing if Petra and Kasem would live long enough to accomplish their missions, kept me reading to find out. All I'll say at this point is that it was worth every minute of lost sleep to finish the story and discover what happened. Disclaimer: The version of the story that I read was an advanced readers' copy that I voluntarily accepted. All of the above are my honest thoughts on what I read. I enjoyed it so much that I purchased a copy for my Kindle library.Verified Battle for the Veiled City: A Riveting Political and Espionage Thriller (The Ahriman Legacy Book 5) | A tense international thriller that takes place in the UK and Iran Battle for the Veiled City is the latest installment from Puja Guha of her Ahriman Legacy spy thriller series. This time her heroine, Petra Shirazi, must go to Iran to take out an Iranian general responsible for a massacre at the Suez Canal. She and an assassin, who is also her lover and future husband, must train in Scotland and go to London and then to Tehran for the rescue. The book has lots of spy craft and great tension, particularly the white-knuckled ending. I really enjoyed that so much of the thriller was set in Tehran, a locale that most readers don’t know well. Guha shows not only the danger from government henchmen, but how the everyday life of the elites there is still full of forbidden entertainment. It is nothing like the fundamentalist portrayal the media presents. She tells the story in multiple points of view—from a worker in the sex industry to the adversary general’s son. The reader gets a full view of the predicament, each character’s motivation, and what each side doesn’t know about the other. I was wonderfully surprised at the twist when Petra finally meets her enemy face to face. I have not read the previous books but did not find that background necessary in order enjoy this terrific installment of the series. Here’s hoping there are more chapters to come.Verified Battle for the Veiled City: A Riveting Political and Espionage Thriller (The Ahriman Legacy Book 5) | Book 5 in this series and it hasn’t lost any of the nail-biting experience of the previous books. I do recommend that you read 1 through 4 to fully understand the interactions of the various characters. Seeing it has been a while since the start of the series I plan to reread those books to reinforce the various plots over the years. Petra and Kaseem have again been taken advantage of by the agency they used to work for. So many times, they tried to break away with no success. This time it is to do the mission or Kaseem will spend his life in prison. Not an easy decision because nobody expects them to be alive after what is basically a suicide mission. As in her other books you get a feel for the local population, the politics and all the intriguing plots. It is hard for Petra and Kaseem to know who to trust and who will betray them. Kaseem, haunted by his actions in the past, has a challenging time dealing with the situations as they arise.Verified Battle for the Veiled City: A Riveting Political and Espionage Thriller (The Ahriman Legacy Book 5) | A thriller Petra and Kasem launch a plan to take down General Majed. They travel into Iran into dangerous territory. An almost impossible task. A thrilling novel full of suspense.Verified Battle for the Veiled City: A Riveting Political and Espionage Thriller (The Ahriman Legacy Book 5) | A Superb Novel in the Action-Thriller genre “Battle for the Veiled City” is a superb novel in the action-thriller genre. You will read about some remarkable good guys and some evil bad guys. It is filled with danger and the reader wonders where and how it will end. Kasem Ismaili and Petra Shirazi are selected to run an OP in Tehran, Iran. The goal is to kill the evil General Majed. The story is loaded with interesting characters. Who can Kasim and Petra trust? Has Kasem let go of his former role as the Ahriman, the Persian evil spirit of destruction? I have read the previous novels in this series and this one is the best. If you have not read any of the previous novels, you can read this as a stand-alone novel. Puja Guha’s novel will keep you on the edge of your chair and wondering if and how Kasem and Petra will be successful.Verified Ahriman: The Spirit of Destruction: A Middle East Political Conspiracy and Espionage Thriller (The Ahriman Legacy Book 1) | Character-driven Spy Thriller Petra is everything you want in a main character: heroic, smart, driven. I also like most of Petra’s supporting cast, such as her boss and her recruiter who’s now retired. Except her boyfriend. The positive I can say about Grant is the character is used like he should be. He has a certain skill set that Petra lacks and needs in order to complete her mission. The Ahriman is everything I want in a villain. Great motivation with a strong, conflicted backstory. Great job of characterizing villains. Gives most of them (except for the most diabolical) a good, sympathetic backstory. Weaves between the past and present. The past covers Puja’s recruitment, early missions and lead up to a huge, global event that took place in the past. Writing is well done. The story reads easily. There’s a lot of information that gets covered early on the book, especially for someone like me who knows little about Middle Eastern politics. Luckily, Mrs. Guha works this in naturally, such as during briefings or in regular dialogue between characters. Instead of being bored by it, I found it fascinating. Mrs. Guha used the prologue well in her story. Normally, I dislike it because, but it’s a faced paced prologue and its significance is realized later in the story with a big “AHA!” moment. Just like one of my favorite things about this book was the characters, some characters were my least favorite. The President is a total douche. Which one? You’ll find out towards the end. It seems too strange that someone could become so powerful and yet be that big of a douche. I’m fine with the character being a jerk, just so outright. But maybe that’s a personal preference. I disliked the way Grant and think this was mostly due to how he weaseled certain characters into given him classified information. But don’t let a few bad apples stop you from reading it. I still enjoyed and I’m sure you will, too. I’m eagerly looking forward to the next one.Verified Ahriman: The Spirit of Destruction: A Middle East Political Conspiracy and Espionage Thriller (The Ahriman Legacy Book 1) | Excellent debut novel Ahriman is an excellent first novel. Puja Guha got a lot of things right in her international thriller. I loved the Middle East setting, Kuwait mostly, with it's strange 'democracy' where the 'king' is progressive and the congress wants to keep the people in a religious stranglehold where women have few rights. If a Westerner were asked which was better, a king or a congress, we'd probably say a democratic congress every time because we don't understand how things work in the Middle East. Aside from a great history lesson, Guha has a great plot twist, wonderful characters, and a great ending. Her novel is pretty amazing for a debut, and it was easy to lose myself in this intense novel. Petra, a spy for an shadowy company, has been out of the field for the past three years because of an incident that left her traumatized. When she's asked to got back into the field, Petra knows that she really doesn't have much of a choice so she revisits the place that left her emotionally scarred in order to stop an assassination that could change the world. What happens is of course what's the book is about, so I won't go any further except to say that the plot moves along nicely and the ending worked well. What didn't work as well was the rough language in the novel. It's okay in a movie to drop the 'f-bomb' but in a novel is startled me out of the plot. Also, there were a few too many explanations for things that really didn't end up mattering in the book. Backstory is nice in one of those sprawling family dramas, but in a suspense novel only a few lines are needed, otherwise it can leak tension out all the tension. A little less emotion in the characters,(think James Bond), otherwise the tough guys start looking sappy. All of this is minor and a good editor would have fixed them right up, but it's not a reason not to read the excellent plot that Guha has woven together, which is really the most important part of a suspense novel. And Puja Guha has done herself proud with Ahriman.