The 3rd Survivor is the third book in the Unit 22 series of spy thrillers by Mainak Dhar. I am so totally hooked onto this series that I have already downloaded the 4th book as well.
The 3rd Survivor – Summary
Major Aaditya Sen now has his Unit 22 operating out of a basement in one of R&AW offices. Because of an accidental media leak about the unit and specifically about Major Aaditya, the unit is sent to a base on the border with Myanmar.
Their first mission is to hand over three men to the Myanmar junta in return for an unknown favor — some asset to be picked up and brought back. The asset is basically a hard disk but the information on it leads Unit 22 into a dangerous mission behind enemy lines.
This plot of this book unfolds in Tibet. Unit 22 and Major Aaditya Sen have to retrieve an asset from Tibet and when they realise the type of asset, it’s a total shock for the team. It’s a fascinating theme about a young girl who has dreams of freeing Tibet and how she manages to galvanise the entire Tibetan people. I don’t want to give away the entire plot, but it’s sufficiently intriguing to keep the reader engaged throughout.
Major Aaditya Sen does succeed in his mission, but loses a Unit 22 member in the process. The author beautifully brings out the emotions that go through a soldier’s mind when they lose a brother in combat. Something that one cannot understand till you are part of the armed forces.
The beauty of Tibet and the struggle of its people under the oppressive Chinese regime is woven into the plot. The sacrifices made by ordinary people in order to gain freedom from China makes the reader want to help the cause !! Hope some day Tibet is a free nation ……
This book brings in a love interest for Major Aaditya in the form of Malini. Too early to predict how this relationship will go, but thankfully it doesn’t end with this book.
The only observation I made was this book has several grammatical errors that have escaped the editor of the book. The 1st Assassin and 2nd Fugitive had probably one grammatical error each, but this one has a few. Hopefully it gets rectified in the Kindle Edition at least.
My Rating – 5/5. Definitely worth reading.
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