Review: Ensnared

Ensnared by Prashant Wase
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

'ENSNARED' BY PRASHANT WASE- A FANTASTIC HORROR-THRILLER!! (RATING: 4.4/5*)

Hello friends, I am back with one more BookLysis. Guess the genre of the book I am going to review here. Guess… guess…! Don’t know? Okay, let me reveal the suspense. I am not good at keeping suspense anyway! So, I am reviewing the novel ‘Ensnared’ by Prashant Wase. ‘Ensnared’ is the horror- thriller published by Authors Ink India. After ‘ The Pocket Love Story’by Ajitabha Bose, this is the second title by the publisher which I am going to review here. After reading ‘Khel–The Writings’ by Vishal Goswami,Ensnared by Prashant Wase is the second horror – thriller I am analyzing here-

About the Author

Prashant Wase (born on 1st September 1985) is an aspiring Novelist from Nagpur, Maharashtra, India. His previous novel “ It’s Complicated- An Uncommon love story of a common man” was published in 2013 by “Notion Press”, the book received very good response overall. Apart from writing, he is fond of watching thriller/horror movies. He has completed his higher education from Melbourne, Australia.

Cover and Title:- The cover of Ensnared is very soft and smooth like gauze, if you finger on the cover, you feel like fingering on silk. Black background, black shadow, gray, blue and red color combination perfectly suits to the horror thriller. A shadow image of a witch girl in the mirror, a shadow image of an another witch on the front cover and a black cat on the back cover make readers understand all the themes of the novel. Ink Studio deserves full marks for perfect cover design. One word title ‘Ensnared’ seems interesting and relates to the genre and themes of the novel.

Language and writing style:- Author Prashant Wase uses very lucid language, which is really easy to comprehend each and every page of the novel. Hindi words are highlighted with the proper use of italic fonts. Author Prashant Wase uses the flashback technique and narrative style to scribble the story from protagonist Neil to listener Prashant himself. Author’s fast pace grows curiosity among readers for flipping pages and going through the climax.

Haunted Locations:- The conversation between Prashant and Neil starts in London. The author takes us to Rajasthan trip when Neil shares his experience with wife Divya in Jaisalmer, Jantar Mantar, and Hawa Mahal in Jaipur, Jaigarh fort and City Palace in Rajasthan. The story of Ensnared runs through several cities like Lokhandwala (Mumbai), Pune, Kolhapur and Konkan in Maharashtra. The author beautifully portrays the background scene of Konkan, so readers feel like being on a Konkan tour. There are some glances of Maharashtra-Goa border and Gandhinagar (Gujarat) as well.

Themes:- The novel Ensnared by Prashant Wase covers various themes like friendship, love, betrayal, crime, superstition, invisible negative power, psychology, science, thrill, and horror.

Characterization:- Author Prashant Wase introduces each and every character pretty well. I figured out 13 characters in the first half and 24 characters in the second half. So I can count 37 characters in the novel. However, I have ignored some very minor characters. It seems that author has portrayed each and every character keeping a presence in mind. He correctly scribbles Bengali accent in the name of Bengali character Pronita.

A businessman Neil Mehta is the protagonist in the novel. He shares the story of past life’s strange happening around him and his wife Divya with his friend author Prashant Wase in the novel.

There are so many other characters in the novel, but if you want to meet them, you will have to be ensnared in their trap like me. HaHaHa! (This isn’t a smiley smile , this is witch’s laugh evil ).

Plot:- Ensnared’s plot is constructed into two halves (Part I and Part II) like a film script. Part I contains 14 short chapters scribbled in 49 pages meanwhile Part II contains 9 long chapters (compare to the part-I) in 68 pages. Like a Bollywood movie, both parts are separated with ‘INTERMISSION’ page which makes the book more interesting and somewhat unique.

Author Prashant Wase’s beginning of ‘Prologue’ reminds me the prologue of a national bestseller ‘ The 3 Mistakes of My Life’ by Chetan Bhagat where protagonist Govind asks an author to scribble his story in the next novel. However, I don’t intend here to compare both authors. Please don’t get my observation in a wrong way. The conversation between Prashant and Neil makes us believe that Neil’s story might be true.

The novel ‘Ensnared’ points out superstitions like Aghori Vidya (black magic) by Aghori Sadhus. The novel reveals the difference between Traditional-Tantra and Neo-Tantra- “In Traditional Tantra the guru is the ultimate authority and is treated with utmost respect. In Neo-Tantra utmost importance is given to sex.” A character Ramlal explains Neo-Tantra- “Neo-Tantra brings sex into the light, making the practitioner more sexually aware. It gives you the opportunity to expand your limits of pleasure, to try new positions and techniques, and to delve deeper into intimacy. It helps you to have better, fuller orgasm and deeper, more meaningful communication in the bedroom. By bettering the quality of your intimate relationships, you better yourself, your partner, and those around you. Not to mention, every aspect of your life is bound to benefit when you achieve a great sense of peace, balance, and harmony with the world.”

In the prologue, author sarcastically comments on the same negative news of politics, accidents, and corruption in newspapers. I would like to note a quote by Pronita, “People (with negative energy) don’t love anyone. They desire lust and sex and when they cannot achieve this on their own, they transfer their negative energy in doing wicked spells, curses or even black magic.” Protagonist Neil remarks the serious reality in India that how bribe stops legal procedures. Inspector Prabhakar’s assistant police Vijay ironically comments on the dark reality of average salaried policeman (any government servant’s) financial crisis, “An average salaried policeman doesn’t have enough money to save his wife from cancer. We are saviors for others, but we can’t save the people who belong to us.”

Protagonist Neil warns readers that how the first attempt of smoke for fun turns into a bad habit, it means he indirectly message readers not to smoke. When Neil takes an appointment with a psychiatrist for his wife Divya, he indirectly appeals people not to ignore the abnormal behavior of their loved ones and to consult a psychiatrist for patient’s better mental health. I would like to mention the quote of tarot card reader Pronita here where she tells the importance of laughter therapy, “Laughter really is the best medicine because you can use it quite effectively against any type of curse. When you feel the effects of the curse around you, think of something funny and laugh. Focus entirely on a funny video or book and see how it makes you feel.”

I felt Goosebumps and thrill while reading brutality in chapter 13. The first part ends with a hint of something unexpected, unpredictable and more deadly incidents in Divya and Neil’s future life. Neil, Divya, and their friends experience after being trapped/ensnared by Chhalava in a jungle in the dead of the night really entertains me! Unpredictable climax thrills us with so many shocks when suspense gets reveals in an unpredictable way with more twists and turns.

Quote:- “We make unnecessary comparison with others and become sad. We don’t value what god has given us. This all leads to the vicious cycle of unhappiness. Learn to be happy in what you have instead of looking at what you don’t have. There will always be someone who will have more or less than you have. Person who is satisfied with what he/she has, is the happiest person in the world.”- Prashant Wase

Minor Drawbacks:-
1.Typing Errors:- Prashant is misprinted instead of Neil in the last paragraph on page no.2 but is was corrected by pen (in handwriting) in my review copy from the author. But your copy may have this error as it is. Neil is misspelled as Neal on page no. 46 and 47. A Comma is missing in the last line of page 51. Poorab’s character is spelled as Purab as well as Poorab, though both are correct; I think anyone spelling had to be continued because two different spellings confuse readers to think both are different characters with the same name. An author uses doctor’s abbreviation doc., I know it is correct but I believe that abbreviations should have been avoided in the piece of literature.
2.Binding of the book could have been better because current binding seems cheap a bit.

Blurb of Ensnared:-

Neil and Divya are the perfect couple with a perfect life until they are not. They fall prey to strange happenings around them. It doesn’t just stop there; along with them, their family and friends experience the unspeakable. What is the secret behind their tragic fates? Will they survive this haunting?

Prepare to taste the dark side of Tantra and find out the answers for yourself. Feel the chill for yourself. Get ensnared.

Reviewer’s opinion:-

“Ensnared is the fantastic horror-thriller which shocks readers with non-stop twists, turns, thrills and suspense. The novel haunts readers and sometimes make them feel goosebumps with horror. As the protagonist, Neil says to Prashant, “To make a film we need a perfect script.” I would like to note that, “Without any doubt, this is indeed a readymade script of to be a blockbuster movie.” This book is a perfect entertainment piece for the lovers of horror. If you are interested in haunting yourself with entertainment, you must read Ensnared by Prashant Wase. I would rate this novel 4.4/5*.”

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