If you just walk into a bookstore or browse through Amazon, you can find fiction about anything in this world, and beyond … People, murderers, spies, aliens, spaceships, aircrafts, superweapons, superpowers and what not. But, when was the last time you heard about a fiction based on bitcoin?
If you are an avid book reader, then not long ago I suppose. There is one such book titled “God is a Gamer” that mixes right amount of facts with fiction to be a worthy read. I hadn’t really given this book much thought until recently. I decided to give it a try, so I picked up a copy and started reading. Four hours of continuous reading and I didn’t regret it. I found it pretty impressive. God is a Gamer is authored by Ravi Subramanian, a banker turned writer and published by Penguin Books India. Ravi has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry and it is clearly visible in his writing. The central theme in most of his books revolve around banks and bankers. Even God is a Gamer, claimed to be the world’s first bitcoin thriller doesn’t fall far from the tree.
To give you an insight to the story – The book opens with few actual events like Russia setting up National Payment Card System (NPCS), WikiLeaks and its adoption of bitcoin after other payment gateways stopped their services. The story is set in India and United States, involves assassination of an US Senator, FBI’s investigation that leads to Cotton Trail (sounds like Silk Road) and then comes the India connection with the domestic operations of an international bank being the target of multiple scams including a couple of murdered employees and so on. Bitcoin remains the central theme of the story from the beginning until the end.
Ravi has made a conscious effort to include everything about bitcoin (especially the darker side) into the story, diluting the plot in few places (or at least that is what I felt). In spite of that, it is a great read. The main protagonist in the story Varun, who isn’t introduced until you finish the first few pages, is a part-time drug dealer and a creative genius. Varun turns out to be more than that, thanks to his connections in the deep web. A master of deception who gets everyone to play their part just the way he wants them to. After all, revenge is a dish best served cold. After reading this article, if you get an urge to read God is a Gamer, you can find it here.
Viacom 18, a movie production company has bought the movie rights for God is a Gamer. You can expect to watch it on a big screen sometime soon.
