Title: The GODs
Author: Rozlan Mohd Noor
Rating: 3 / 5
Keywords: Politics, Thriller, Malaysia

In the run-up to Malaysian General Elections, the Board felt that the country was under threat. The Board came up with a strategy as the Prime Minister abolished some draconian laws. Shadowy trio called MAC were engaged to bring back the GODs. A former Special Force named Reyza was brought in to create panic in the country. It was all okay for the GODs until the gun started pointing back at them. Who are the GODs?

I was happy to stumble on Rozlan Mohd Noor's The GODs during one of my book-shopping sessions. The synopsis was a really good bait to catch someone who loves reading on crimes and thrillers like yours truly. What actually reeled me in was the topic that Rozlan set this book in - the present-day Malaysian political scenes. It is worth mentioning that it is relatively not easy to find such fictions compared to the abundance of Malaysian fictions in the chick-lits and romance genres. Probably because it is tricky to tackle such topic in a country that is still very conservative in many ways and one wrong move can be your ticket to go straight to jail. Or, it could be because such setting is bleak and will not attract that many readers in this country. I don't really know actually. Anyhow, a fiction centered in Malaysian political scenes was definitely a welcome change.

While the synopsis gave an impression that the book was written about the politics, Rozlan's choice of main character tells otherwise. Reyza is an ex-Special Force, recruited to create panic among the general public. The plot spanned roughly four years, starting from the time that Reyza was recruited, his meeting with his Handler, the test of his abilities, to end of his contract. Rozlan portrayed Reyza as lethal, highly-capable and probably the best in his field - a character that fits well into the cold and dark story line. Rozlan brought his readers into the dark urban reality of the modern Malaysia. From assassination attempts, to brainwashing and propaganda, to media manipulations and bribery of the drug lords, Rozlan mixed everything into the plots, creating the harsh corrupted network in the dark alleys.

I applaud the idea behind this book. If I were to read the summary of the book, I would have liked it very much. What is there not to like? There are corrupted politicians and government officials, paid assassins and a group of puppeteers pulling the strings all in one book. However, to be very frank, I find the whole book rather shallow and superficial.  I was disappointed after reading it. The book fell short of my expectations. The characters were not well-developed and the plot failed to create the thrill that it should. I think there was not much research carried out prior to writing this book. I understand that the main focus is not Malaysian politics, rather the events that took place to ensure the political party win the general elections. Therefore, I can overlook the fact that the author did not go in too deep into the political world. But, the lack of thrills in this book is disappointing. In my opinion, confusing and lack of descriptive sentences were the main reasons that Rozlan failed to convey the necessary emotions in the pages of this book. Confusing sentences had me reading whole paragraphs again. This break the process of imagining the event. And the lack of descriptive sentences prevented perfect recreation of the author's imagination.

What I love?
A fiction set in Malaysian political scenes with an assassin and the puppeteers.

What I hate?
The shallowness. The lack of research on the topics that were chosen is disappointing.

tl;dr
Reyza, an ex-Special Force was recruited to join The GODs to change Malaysian politics. The plots were centered in the political scenes. However, as a reviewer, I find the book to be shallow and superficial.

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Labels: #rozlanmohdnoor, book reviews, Malaysia