"Khushwant Singh, The Tribune, 8 May 2010"

... It takes you into the world of Mafia gangs, underworld, jihadis, terrorists, cold-blooded killers. Don't part with the novel after you have read it."

-Kushwant Singh

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"The Hands that Wields The Scalpel, The Telegraph (Calcutta), 16 Jan 2011"

.....A perfect setting for a story that jets across four continents, and whose central characters sip champagne and sail in private yatchs."

-The Telegraph,  Calcutta

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"Truth as Fiction or True Fiction, Swagat, Jan 2011"

The story begins with the disappearance of four murderers in four different directions to escape possible identification."

-Swagat

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"A Cut Above, The Indian Express, Chandigarh, Jan 2011"

Dr. HS Rissam explores the medical profession's underbelly in The Scalpel"

-The Indian Express

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"Tale of Two Professions, HT City, Chandigarh, Jan 2011"

The Scalpel takes us through different levels of enigmatic stories and reveals the mystery of a medical thriller"

-HT City, Chandigarh

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"Dr. H. S. Rissam: Prompt interventions, Heal India, July-Aug-2011"

Dr. Rissam has also written a book named "The Scalpel". It is the first ever medical ficiton that attempts to showcase the reality of criminal terrorist, medical mafia nexus.

-Heal India

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"Take heart from Mediterranean diet, wine, The Indian Express, 9 July 2011"

Studies have shown that eating one bowl of beans for five years, reduces cholesterol levels by 50 percent", Dr Rissam, a member of the board of governors of Medical Council of India.

-The Indian Express

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"The Week - Health, July 2011"

H. S. Rissam's book has already gone in for three reprints in less than a year

-The Week - Health

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"Unraveling the Crime World, The Day After, Calcutta, 15 Dec 10"

The Author has also shown a web of intrigue of politicians who work with the connivance of terrorists. It is corroborated with a paragraph in the novel delivered by Mitalino Rosanno, the another mafia-"We will buy off everyone who matters. For instance in India, you will buy chief minister of states one by one."

-The Day After

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"Of Scalpels and Pens, Indian Express, Calcutta, 4 Dec 10"

....with a mysterious and beautiful protagonist in the form of Nona Lal, Himalyan Princess who uncovers a heinous organ trade nexus."

-The Indian Express

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"Written By Heart", Hindustan Times, May 23 2010

It is being touted as the first-ever medical thriller by a South Asian author. Dr. Harbhajan Singh Rissam's debut novel, THE SCALPEL - Game Beneath takes you inside the world of the medicine mafia."

-Hindustan Times

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"For the Love of Literature", The Hindu, Mar 02 2010

The scalpel...to break jinx that Indian writers cannot produce an engaging thriller...a gripping story...Has love, lies, deceit, jealousy...scandals."

...books have been flying off shelves as the medical community is interested in going through a novel written by its colleague."

-The Hindu

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"Write Prescription", Sunday Times, TOI, Mar 21 2010

In India, the doctors are taking up the pen with the same ease as weilding the scalpel. THE SCALPEL is more than heavy medical tomes. It's fiction. Dr. H.S. Rissam is the newest entrant of the club of doctors-as-writers."

-Sunday Times of India

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"A New Genre Fiction", Sahara Time, June 19 2010

It's a rolling, seething, tempestuous ride from the first page to the last - into the unbelievable torrid world of crime, greed and ambition."

"The book leads to a denouement that leaves one tingling with unmitigated horror at the extent to what man can do to man. It is a murder mystery with such a difference that one could place it in a new genre of detective fiction - exposure."

"The locales, the characters, the cruel pace of ambition which runs through this entire book and, of course, the variousness of its characters, makes it ripe for cinematic projection."

-Uma Vasudev, Sahara Time

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"Mafia in Doctor's Disguise", Pioneer, Mar 28 2010

As the author of THE SCALPEL - Game Beneath, Rissam has done us a rare favour. Risking his goodwill with many of his evil-willed co-professionals, he has shared with us his inside knowledge of the dark, murky, criminal underbelly of the medical world-Doctors cavorting with the mafia."

"Anyone who reads the book will fortify himself against the widespread gang of criminals operating in the guise of medical professional. The book does not reveal any names but it warns all of us about the various modus operandi of those whom we have often trusted blindly. It is compulsory reading for anyone who is likely to seek medical attention for himself or anyone close to him ever in his life. It is a life saving tip-off."

"Padma Shri Dr H.S. Rissam wielded the scalpel for 35 years. Now he has begun to weild his pen, too. His pen has proved more incisive than his scalpel."

-Pioneer

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"Tribune Life Style"

The book has been well received and reviews vary from 'compulsory reading' to 'engaging thriller' to 'it has love, deceit, lies'. Wonder of all wonders, the medical community whose many unpleasant secrets he seems to have laid bare has no qualms in accepting the book."

"...So, get set for the game before and after. Trust a doctor to go beyond the obvious symptoms. After all pognoses, diagnosis and treatment, everything falls in the same line. And only a few doctors like him posess the precision to stitch it all together to create an expose that exposes as well as entertains.

-Tribune Lifestyle

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"Clean Cut", The Indian Express, Feb 26 2010

Although the book is fiction and the action is exaggerated for the story, Rissam has enough interesting anecdotes from his professional life to be quite entertaining."

-The Indian Express

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"How About A Movie", New Indian Express-ExpressBuzz, Mar 28 2010

THE SCALPEL has a convoluted plot...in a cocktail shaker and you have a racy thriller...Rissam certainly has a sense of pace and plotting the action...His tale has all the elements to make a terrific commercial film and a hugely successful at that."

-New Indian Express

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"The Scalpel - Game Beneath", Indian Heart Journal, July 2010

THE SCALPEL - at once unflinching and compassionate - is an exhilarating journey narrated by a writer with a sharp surgical scalpel pen and a gimlet X-ray published by Rupa & Co."

"The book ends with some ends left loose - probably purposely - like the unknown Mentor and the fact that the Indian don remains alive having left a willing lookalike dead body. One can only bated breath for a sequel. A must read for all doctors - especially cardiologists and cardiac surgeons. It might excite some serious introspection too!"

-Indian Heart Journal

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"A Doctor with Scalpel and Pen", Uday India, June 26 2010

THE SCALPEL is the best example that doctors are taking up a pen with same ease as they take up a scalpel."

-Uday India

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"Dr. H. S. Rissam's Novel The Scalpel Released", NRI Achievers, April-June 2010

(Dr H.S. Rissam) wrote THE SCALPEL to break the jinx that Indian writers cannot produce an engaging thriller."

"Billed as a gripping story, the novel has love, lies, deceit, jealousy, scams and killings, and scandals.

-NRI Achievers

"Doctor, Fill My Shelf", DNA India, Jaipur, Oct 03 2010

He may be Cardiologist, but at the Rajput Sabhan Bhavan in the city on Saturday, Dr. H. S. Rissam launched the third print of his novel that has a whole lot of masala in the plot, including a Himalyan Princess, medical tourism, illegal organ transplants and ever cyber security!

-DNA India, Jaipur

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Rajasthan Patrika, Oct 03 2010

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Sahafat (Urdu), Dec 19 2010

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"Racy Medical Thriller", The Sunday Tribune, Mar 31 2010

Dr. H.S. Rissam, an interventional cardiologist, has added his rendition to this growing repertoire, filling in the lacuna in Indo-Anglian writing of medi-fiction, somewhat on the lines of Robin Cook's thrillers."

"As we approach the end of the book, the author enumerates the lists of the organs removed and the sales transactions. These gory details exacerbate the revulsion for the architect of this scandalous business. The characters have been crafted with such dexterity that besides fervently loathing the villians, we feel that they are probably lurking somewhere amidst us. Essentially, the book is an expose of the medical profession and the glitterati of society in the metropolis, so it must be read.

-The Sunday Tribune

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"Change of Heart", Tehelka, 27 Mar 2010

...The voracious reader's long love affair with books has now produced THE SCALPEL, a thriller that tackles the contentious issues of organ trade and medical tourism in India."

"Rissam says he's a 'storyteller and traces his affinity for a gripping story back to his childhood...In THE SCALPEL, the good doctor spins quite a yarn."

-Tehelka

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"Surgical Precision", Express Newsline, Feb 26 2010

Rissam has enough interesting anecdotes from his professional life to be quite entertaining. There's good news for readers as well..."

-Express Newsline

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Jagbani, 23 Mar 2010

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Punjab Kesri (Hindi), 23 Mar 2010

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"THE Scalpel-Game Beneath", Indian Observer, April 1-15 2010

THE SCALPEL is the story of four people... It is painted across a wide canvas filled with multiple hues: love, lust, lies, greed, deceit, jealousy, hate, vanity, purity, beauty, sublimity, scams, intrigues, violence, killings and scandals - while the four characters criss-cross continents...Read THE SCALPEL as the suspense continues..."

-Indian Observer