The Negotiator - Book Review

After reading The Afghan, I needed one good Frederick Forsyth novel to boost my liking for my favorite author. The Negotiator did not disappoint me. Yes, the ending was a bit too fast and a tad bland without the usual great twist to the tale, but the novel is worth reading just for the first 300 pages.

The Negotiator has its share of layers that Forsyth is famous for, but the layers are not as differentiated as I have seen in his other novels. This results in us being able to guess to a good degree on the relationship between the threads. The threads in the novel are:
1) Oil resources depleting in USSR (yes, the book was written during the period of the undivided Soviet republic) and the army chief planning to launch an attack on a Saudi nation
2) Oil resources depleting in USA and an oil tycoon evaluating alternate options to get oil
3) The new US president getting into a demilitarization deal with his soviet counterpart. The arms suppliers in US, the army personnel in the USSR and few others preparing to thwart the demilitarization plan
5) The planning of a coup in Saudi Arabia
6) A student in a university in England
7) Mercenaries from Belgium
8) A negotiator

I found the vintage Forsyth touches in these places:
a) The title of the novel gives the impression that most of the novel would be about the negotiation. But the fact that the negotiation ended half way into the novel was interesting
b) The "introduction" of the president's son in true Forsyth style
c) The dialogues in the flight from USA to UK wh the negotiator meets the CIA folks

It is a good novel with fast paced action. But I am a bit disappointed with some aspects of it.
a) I was expecting all threads to converge at the climax stages, but some of them ended early. The story of the banker in Arabia had the potential to build into something great, but just frittered away.
b) Of the numerous intelligent agents from the US and UK, I expected some one to do something astonishing. But they too turned out to be like the cops in Indian movies who just watch the hero handle the bad guys.
c) What was the part of the KGB except for giving the hero a good shave and some money?
d) What about the protagonist’s friends in Spain. Poor folks were mercilessly wasted in the novel

LCD TV - US to India

Based on my quick research (googling), following are some of the things to be considered in buying an LCD TV from US for use in India

1. US uses NTSC and India uses PAL: Options to solve this
   a. Buying a PAL to NTSC converter
   b. Having a VGA box. Dish TV in India provide a package with a VGA Set top box and it seems to work fine. All that is to be done is to check whether the TV has a PC Input option (VGA input).
   c. Connect the video source to an external TV Tuner box. From the TV Tuner box connect to any of the input sockets on TV other than the cable input (RF). This is the best possible way since the Remote provided by the Tuner box can be used to change channels.
   d. Other methods include using a DVD recorder with built in Tuner (PAL Tuner) and then connecting the cable directly to DVD Recorder, taking the output from DVD recorder to the TV. However, in this method the channels cannot be changed that easily.
2. 220V in India Vs. 110V in US
   a. Need to buy a step-down transformer for the TV
3. Warranty: Need to check if the warranty is international
4. Transportation:
   a. Possibility: It is not possible to carry the TV from US to India. Need to check if the manufacturers will ship it. Amazon and Walmart don’t seem to ship outside USA.
   b. Cost of shipping the TV
5. Customs: I heard that new TVs are charged at 30% of their price. Not sure if this is true.
6. 1080p Vs. 720p: This is resolution (like the mega pixels for digicams). The question is, would we need 1080p for the transmission in India. I believe 1080p is more for blue ray discs. The next question is, how soon will the blue ray technology come to India?
7. Deciding on the screen size:
   a. For 20 to 27-inch displays, you should be able to watch comfortably from 2.5 to 5 feet away.
   b. For 32 to 37-inch TVs, you should sit back 6 to 8 feet from the screen itself.
   c. For 42 to 46-inch TVs, you'll need 10 to 14 feet between you and the screen.
   d. 50-inch LCD displays look best when viewed from 12 to 16 feet away.