BOOK DETAILS :
- Publisher : NuVoice Press
- Publication date : 14 October 2025
- Language : English
- Print length : 264 pages
- ISBN-10 : 819887268X
- ISBN-13 : 978-8198872685
ABOUT THE AUTHOR :
Akash Pasricha is an avid traveller and has lived in India, the USA and Latin America. He enjoys living like the locals, learning their customs and language when possible. His interests include skiing, drumming, hiking, and cooking. Professionally, a visionary and leader with a proven track record of success that spans multiple careers, including architecture, building and technology entrepreneur, including working in the PE ecosystem. He has successfully launched technology products and services for the likes of Sun Microsystems, Cisco Systems, HCL and Wipro. Leading large teams, he realised the power of inspiration through history. This is his first book to expand the knowledge and provide inspiration through Indian history, in hopes of unlocking the hidden potential of a people. He lives in New Delhi and California, splitting his time between his family and his passion for Indian history.
BOOK REVIEW :
What if one of India’s greatest historical secrets wasn’t really lost… but deliberately buried?
There are historical thrillers that use the past as a backdrop, and then there are books that make history feel like a living, breathing mystery waiting to be decoded. Lost Secret – The Hidden Truth of Nalanda by Akash Pasricha belongs firmly to the latter category.
Blending ancient Indian history, espionage, archaeology, science and high-stakes conspiracy, the novel takes an intriguing question about India’s forgotten technological heritage and turns it into a fast-moving thriller.
What initially appears to be an isolated incident gradually opens the door to something far more dangerous.
Kabir finds himself working alongside Reeya Ghosh, a determined and fiery historian, as the two follow clues scattered across some of India’s most fascinating historical sites. Their investigation takes them through places such as Rajgir, Nalanda, Giriiyak, Udaygiri, Sanchi, Udaipur, Dholavira and Rakhigarhi, giving the narrative an unusually expansive historical canvas.
But beneath the archaeology lies a much bigger secret.
At the heart of the mystery is wootz steel, an extraordinary metallurgical achievement associated with ancient India, and its fictionalised connection to the possibility of clean, abundant thorium-based energy. As Kabir and Reeya get closer to the truth, they find themselves pursued by people who understand exactly how powerful this discovery could become.
And suddenly, the question isn’t merely what was lost?
It’s who wants to control it?
🔥The biggest strength of Lost Secret is its genre fusion.
Akash Pasricha doesn’t simply write an archaeological mystery or an espionage thriller. He brings together elements of:
🏛️ Ancient Indian history
🔎 Archaeological mystery
🕵️ Espionage
⚛️ Science & technology
💥 Action
🌍 Geopolitical conspiracy
That combination gives the book an appealing “Indiana Jones meets Indian intelligence thriller” flavour, while keeping its central mystery rooted in the Indian subcontinent.
I particularly enjoyed the idea of making historical sites themselves part of the investigation. The Table of Contents immediately hints at the scale of the journey, moving from Rajgir and Nalanda to Sanchi, the Heliodorus Pillar, Dholavira and Rakhigarhi. It makes the novel feel less like a story confined to one location and more like a treasure hunt spread across layers of Indian history.
⚔️ The pairing of Kabir and Reeya also adds an interesting dynamic.
Kabir approaches the mystery with the instincts of an intelligence officer, while Reeya brings the perspective of a historian. One searches for threats; the other searches for meaning in the past.
That contrast gives the investigation another dimension, and makes the central mystery feel like something that has to be solved from both historical and contemporary perspectives.
🧠 This is perhaps the most ambitious aspect of the novel.
The book takes an ancient technological achievement; wootz steel, and connects it to a futuristic question surrounding energy. Whether you’re naturally fascinated by metallurgy, archaeology, India’s scientific heritage or conspiracy-driven thrillers, this premise has enough ingredients to keep the curiosity alive.
What I found particularly compelling is the underlying thought experiment:
What happens when knowledge from the past becomes strategically valuable in the present?
That question gives the thriller stakes beyond simply catching a murderer or uncovering an artefact.
✨Lost Secret – The Hidden Truth of Nalanda is the kind of book that makes you look at historical ruins a little differently.
Behind every ancient pillar, inscription and abandoned site, there could be a story we haven’t completely understood. Pasricha takes that fascination with the unknown and builds an entertaining fictional conspiracy around it. The book’s greatest appeal lies in its ambition. It attempts to connect India’s ancient knowledge systems with modern intelligence operations and future technology, while taking readers on a geographical journey through some remarkable chapters of Indian history.
And that makes it particularly interesting for readers who enjoy their thrillers with a generous dose of history and ideas.
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