The Strange Case of Krystian Bala

Came across a most astonishing piece of news on the internet today; you might think you've seen it all, but I guess this man sets a new precedent. I've heard of many strange cases, but Krystian Bala must surely take away the prize for the most WTF crime ever committed.

A Polish author, Krystian Bala published his first novel Amok in the year 2003; some time later, police found an eerie similarity between a murder committed in the book, to an unsolved murder that took place in Poland in the year 2000. Getting suspicious, police began to track the murder again, matching it with the clues and events written in the novel.

In what might very well be a WTF moment, the author turned out to be the murderer, later drawing on his own experience to draft his masterpiece of a novel. Whoa, hold on - no, this genius didn't stop at that; he was at the time working on his second novel, and was also planning another murder at the same time. Guess this guy gives "writing from his experience" an entirely new meaning.

You can read the full stories here and here.

Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol - Completely lost

Barring Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown has delivered fairly unimpressive work. Couldn't say no to The Lost Symbol after it was literally handed to me on a platter - my cousin had it lying around the house when I went visiting over the weekend. Though painfully lengthy, the book got off to a good start. Suspense built up after 50-odd pages, and I started reading it in earnest. After all, the book starred Robert Langdon, and gotta admit, I find such historical suspenses set in modern times interesting.

The story begins with Prof. Langdon being called to Washington D.C., apparently by his good friend and mentor, Peter Solomon. What starts as an innocent invitation to give a lecture soon turns into a nightmare, with Peter Solomon's severed hand greeting our friend Robert Langdon in the lecture room. Yeah, spooky. A series of horrifying events follow, with Peter's sis Katherine Solomon also in the fray, and a weird, bald, tattooed man (animal is the only word for him) trying his best to kill everybody in sight.

What made me want to hurl the book at a wall towards the end was its glaring plot; maybe, if it were your first book, you might not be able to guess it, but the answer stares at you right in the face. Dan Brown obviously thought of his readers as fools. It's also a damn weak plot; hard to believe so much stuff was done, so many people were killed, for such a stupid reason. There is no feel-good factor once you reach the end; just a slight headache coupled with painful eyes, like in my case.