Brahma's Maze: 8.5 out of 10
Brahma's Maze is excellent at drawing you in and then building the excitement and the suspense. There is one moment where the ride jerks to a slower speed, like a roller coaster unexpectedly hitting the brakes at the bottom of the slope, but it immediately begins building momentum again and refuses to let it go.
Aside from this one moment, there are only two problems that I had with Brahma's Maze. Since the author is not a native English speaker, much of the conversation within the story is stilted and a bit dry. In truth, this made many of the scenes more realistic. But in those scenes when two Indians would in reality be speaking Hindi together (I assume; I'm no expert, but I can google search things as well as the next couch potato), the conversations could use some smoothing over. On a related note, it was quite interesting to realize that this was only a problem with conversations. The rest of the author's writing was smooth and nearly flawless.
My second problem is of a nature that still has me wondering whether or not it is a problem. To be clear, the protagonist, for most of the story is not a saint. Brahma's Maze is the tale of a demon enacting revenge and/or justice on far, far worse demons. It casts a pair of old, powerful godfather-and-his-hitman types as heroes and gods (in the mortal sense). Despite wondering whether or not you should, you will root for this team. You will be filled with a sense of pride and triumph when the Old Man (the godfather-type) steps in and exercises his power. You will cheer as the hero's carefully laid plans unfurl and his tormentor's lives unravel in sweet payback.
On a brighter thought, there is very good reason to consider the protagonist, Tarun, a hero. He is a good man. Although Tarun is consumed by a thirst for revenge against those who destroyed his life, he is a kind, gentle soul to everyone else in his world. More importantly, he does find redemption in the end.
I was amazed most of all, when I began to suspect and then confirm a fascinating aspect of the book. The author has blended facets of the Hindu religion directly into the story. Some of it is obvious, such as the title, other pieces are a bit more subtle. Sitting down at the end of the story, with the book and wikipedia, opened up an intriguing sub-level of understanding about both the book and several Hindu deities. I positively enjoyed seeing a deeper piece of the story's setting and the author's background through such a subtle but clever method.
I would definitely recommend Brahma's Maze, with a word of warning about the questionable idea of rooting for revenge, but encouragement to look past that to the deeper meanings behind the story.
Learn more:
http://www.amazon.com/Brahmas-Maze-Immanual-Joseph-ebook/dp/B00B12TEN0/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422412329&sr=1-1&keywords=brahma%27s+maze&pebp=1422412422872&peasin=B00B12TEN0&pebp=1422412423121&peasin=B00B12TEN0