Am done with all the four books in the Unit 22 thriller series and am certainly hoping that Mainak Dhar has plans to continue the series. Would sorely miss Major Aaditya Sen and his daredevil escapades if the 5th book doesn’t come out soon. 🙂
The 4th Traitor – Summary
At the end of The 3rd Survivor Maj Aaditya’s love interest Malini was left alive unlike his other two relationships. The 4th traitor starts with their relationship getting more serious. Even though Maj Aaditya Sen is on a holiday, he still is asked to check out a satellite picture that shows armed men using Zodiac boats to go somewhere. While initially the doubt that Maj Aaditya’s boss and he have is a Mumbai style attack being planned, but it’s not very clear.
Once Maj Aaditya is back in India, Unit 22 is sent to Maldives to help train their special forces. The very first training exercise turns into a real life “incident” and everything goes belly up. The Chinese are trying desperately to regain control of Maldives and resent the closeness that the President has to India.
While reading the first three books, I pegged the author to be ambivalent about PM Modi, but this book clearly gives Modiji his due recognition. It shows how India comes out in support of Maldives at a time of crisis. Ofcourse the incidents are all fictional, but other such incidents have happened. Sadly one more Unit 22 member can no longer operate because of the torture he undergoes in the hands of the Chinese and the 4th traitor.
Also I liked the fact that the 4th traitor is a woman. The Maldivian President’s son is part of their special forces. Can’t remember any Indian politician’s son or daughter serving in the armed forces. I wish that changes.
Unfortunately Maj Aaditya loses yet another dear friend in the final act of terrorism by the 4th traitor. These books clearly show how the armed forces deal with the loss of friends and brothers in arms. It leads to PTSD in veterans and several other issues that aren’t spoken about.
The author has left the readers at a critical point at the end of the book – Maj Aaditya is about to propose to Malini, but we don’t know what she says !!
My rating – 5/5
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