Line of Control by Tom Clancy

No. This is not a Bollywood starrer with the Sunny Deol's efforts towards social service i.e population reduction of Paks.
No gun touting underfed junior artists masquerading in Indian army uniforms, mouthing sentimental dialogues, and dying in comic positions. (any resemblence to JP Dutta's movie is purely coincidental ;-) )

This is a simple novel by Tom Clancy.

Briefly,
An explosion in Kashmir, where a Police Station, a Hindu temple, and a bus brimming with pilgrims are blown up makes for a sensational beginning. The Opcentre, one of the numerous government security agencies of the US of A, sends out a team of commandos to help the Indian defence forces to handle the terrorist activities in Kashmir. But, the developments in the duration between the take off and reaching of Indian subcontinent by the team, suggest that there is a deeper conspiracy. India is planning for a full fledged nuclear war against Pakistan.

War or no war, depends on one single Indian female, working as a spy, presently held captive by a team of terrorists in the heart of the Himalayas.

Exciting?

Yup. The excitement mounts, when the team of American commandos jump out of their aircraft in the Himalayas, to rescue the Indian spy, and realise that they are being peppered by the firing from the Indian army at the Line of Control, neutralising most of the team.

Hmm,
As an Indian, you would not be able to digest that a democratic country of the likes of India can carry out such an act of aggression. But , this novel is by an American, and the point of view is mostly American. Except for this discomfort, there is a lot of research that has been done to make this novel. The scenes are very picturesque, the characters are interesting, though not very deeply established due to the length of the novel.

The novel raises a lot of expectations, both by its bombastic beginning, and the build up of the story. But ends very quickly. Almost abruptly.

I would have loved if the length of the novel were doubled.

A pleasant surprise is the absence of the Clancy's technical jargon, which had turned me off in just the first few pages in my first Clancy's novel 'The Hunt of the Red October'.

To summarise,
A good book for a bibliophile while on a three day vacation.