Spy Stories

I am a huge fan of Levy and Scott-Clark. Their writing is crystalline and their research impeccable. Like all other books, this book too is an eye-opener. It focuses on the role that spy agencies play and narrates the unfolding of various events and the actions of the principal actors without bias.My only grouse against the book was that the occasional back and forth in the timelines got very confusing. I bought the Kindle version. Perhaps the paper version will make easier reading and allow the reader to flip back to the point in the story for greater clarity.Hats off to the authors for writing without prejudice.

Like all other books of the authors this is a good study book without being spectacular. Bought this book to learn more about RAW than ISI which is rather well known. There surely is a lot of information on RAW but may be 30% as compared to ISI which dominates at 70%. May be ISI folks are fearless, or too many of them have gone rogue and have no fear of the state arm , given the general lawlessness in Pakistan. Dont think too many of our Raw operatives, existing or retired spoke. May be Indian culture, fear or strict regimen. Even in the book the authors are a bit circumspect when hinting at TTP s training and support material. Wish there was more on RAW and its activities, most what you see in the books published so far , except a few are fairly comical. It is a fast and easy read. Detailed and neutral. Helps you understand the wheel within wheels better, if you want to.

In the highly conservative monolithic organisations, intelligence setups are probably the most entombed variety.One has to read between the lines, and ponder over apparently disjointed and unconnected events across times and climes before one perceives patterns in the mosaic. This is clearly not possible in the realm of the common man.Levy’s access to intelligence operatives and czars over decades has allowed them access to a fund of information which they have assembled and presented in a cogent fashion , in the manner of who dun it.This has ensured a better understanding of the intelligence operations in Pakistan and India.The tilt and soft corner for isi and Pakistan is clear if not glaring.Attributing terrorist incidents of the most heinous kind to renegade soldiers and heads of JeM, TTT, LeT, Taliban etc, as being beyond the machinations of ISI or pak army, is a clear attempt to whitewash Pakistani ‘establishment’ .Indirect attempts to elicit sympathy for a ‘helpless’ iSI and Pakistan is oi IOU’s.It makes for an excellent reading.Levy has clearly highlighted the problems faced by the intelligence organisations in India under naive politicians and manoeuvring beauracrats. The muddled approach to intelligence in India will definitely be reduced if this book is studied carefully in the RAW Hq and more so in the Home and Defence ministries

The book is more into ISI and the various characters there who pull the strings of power in Pakistani. , RAW Is spoken off but honestly the RAW-IB angle is just there so as to be there , it’s mostly about ISI thru it’s machinations and super cunning behind the scenes play keeps the jihadi machine running even while it keeps fighting with the very same jihadi machine , they can kill it - the jihadi machine is a monster that just about to break loose , but at the same time the Pakistanis can’t say no to them and need to maintain and nurture them to “keep Kashmir on the boil” ..The book is tough to follow- actually there’s no thread to follow it’s just an amalgamation and a narration of various events through the times and how they happened ans what the various characters in those operations , events , accidents were l. It’s not easy to follow and keep track of . One may end up by around 50% of the book start thinking why am I reading this book? What is it telling me - it’s a book of accounts and stories of how things happened who did what and who played whom why and for what . That’s it. Keep faith and finish it , it’s eye opening in its detail description of the seriousness of failure in Pakistan wrt faith and politics and using religion for ulterior motives and finally creating a monster of a system of groups and mini armies of hard core radicalism fed mad men!I honestly felt the writers , really esteemed folks , with tons of experience and contacts - serious contacts !!! , kinda poke 90% of the time about ISI and what it did , it’s book about and on the characters on the Pakistani side ISI , the RAW- IB narrative and description felt as if they didn’t have much respect or didn’t even value raw in properly, the portrayal is a very low and often gives the picture of an agency and systems which are ineffective and almost laughable when compared to the formidable and all controlling and seeing ISI Lin Pakistan , the raw is seen to be bungling and quite callous .. I kinda felt the authors don’t really have such a high opinion of the raw folks in comparison to isi folks , but well .. it’s an opinion.Good read eye opener to the dark games played across the border , shows that truth and lies are basically the same what matters is who’s version and from who’s angle are you looking at them! And this versioning of the same is mastered and twisted by both agencies to suite their needs.

I generally don't read books , but on Shekhar Gupta Ji's recommendation on one of his Cut the Clutter video, thought I should try and was very glad I did. The book is very well written , although it is not a novel but it is a very "gripping" and "interesting" documentary of the SPY world of RAW and ISI (especially ISI)It is worth the time, I would recommend this to anyone an avid reader or not. It has been a great learning experience , the book showcases the world that is always(mostly) hidden from the Public eye, at the very least u will add another perspective to how the world works.Thinking of Reading it again.

This book is a genuine pageturner, and an excellent and objective summary of the dynamics within the ISI and RAW. For those that have followed the political and military situation in the Indian subvontinent over the last 20 years, this book is a must-read. Kudos to the authors for this brilliant work!

I discovered the authors with ‘The Siege’, which was an absolutely brilliant read. So I was excited to read this one as well and am impressed. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in a visceral narrative of the geopolitics of this region.The positives are as follows:1. The authors are well connected with the security establishment in both countries, which is clearly evident from the quotes directly attributed to the senior most officials in both countries.2. But, this is not just about name dropping. They seem to have leveraged their network for extensive research to craft an engaging narrative.On the negative side, I felt that at various points there are too many details and too many names, which was not germane to the narrative, though that is a minor blemish, in my opinion.I am also unclear about the criticism from my fellow Indian brethren. The reality is that in the murky world of spying, there is always going to be plenty of facts that will be beyond unpalatable for mere mortals like us. On the other hand, this book vividly confirms the Indian narrative - Of a flailing Pakistani state struggling to control the monster it created, in the words of the very people who created it! Also, for all its failings, I also developed a healthy respect for our security establishment. Dealing with the messy neighbourhood is an incredibly challenging affair, and yet, everything we do and aspire for depends on these men and women succeeding more often than not.Perhaps the biggest question in my mind after reading the book is this: Is this really a work of non-fiction? Or, in their quest to gain credibility, did the authors fall prey to the machinations of both agencies (after all deception is the essence of spying!). To be fair, it looks like the authors recognised this threat and seem to have tried to check, verify and corroborate the narratives from both sides, which is commendable.And, finally, this book viscerally highlighted the disastrous consequences of leveraging religion for narrow political goals. The question is: Does the current Indian leadership recognise this and have a vision for what the country is truly capable of achieving, or are we destined to make the same mistakes as our cousins across the border?

Strongly recommend reading to understand the details of the 2 agencies - the best possible one can get given their secrecy and ability of ordinary folks being able to penetrate.

Authors portray the information they receive from the ISI as gospel truth but draw huge doubts when it comes to RAW. India & RAW are brutish and human rights violators but the Pakistani state & ISI are whitewashed to look as knights to the rescue. The authors and the book do a huge disservice by peddling Pakistani narrative as truth and nothing but the truth. I want a refund

The writing and editing are sloppy. What’s worse is that it is full of claims about Indian intelligence agencies’ operations that are just not backed up by source material. Notes/references 88, 89 and 96 are the ones I tried checking to see what source material the authors had to back up their claims. And in EACH instance, the cited material had NOTHING to do with the events being described in the text! Absolutely nothing! The two stars I have given is purely because of the subject that this book covers - one that has not been covered elsewhere.