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Escape to Nowhere
A whistleblower nervously drops in to share his suspicion about a senior colleague's involvement in espionage with Jeevnathan, head of the security division of the Agency, India's External Intelligence Service. An inquiry is promptly launched and Ravi, the suspect is placed under an elaborate regime of surveillance. The investigation subsequently throws up a huge amount of evidence, showing the suspect stealing sensitive data. As panic sets in, investigators acrimoniously debate whether to allow the suspect to walk free or physically force him to own up his crime. For Jeevnathan, the problem also is how to keep the tiring watchers going and persuade an edgy Chief to stay on course. As the story enters 96th Day, paradoxical consequences follow.
Loosely inspired by a true incident that took place in 2004 when a senior intelligence officer suspected of being a spy for decades vanished, the story also treats us to a rare insight into the state of security awareness of employees in the Agency, constrains in conducting aggressive operations, pitfalls in liaison relationship, competing interests of intelligence services, hazards in co-ordination of intelligence inputs and the Kashmir imbroglio.
Loosely inspired by a true incident that took place in 2004 when a senior intelligence officer suspected of being a spy for decades vanished, the story also treats us to a rare insight into the state of security awareness of employees in the Agency, constrains in conducting aggressive operations, pitfalls in liaison relationship, competing interests of intelligence services, hazards in co-ordination of intelligence inputs and the Kashmir imbroglio.
332 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
43 people are currently reading
583 people want to read
About the author
Amar Bhushan
6 books26 followersAmar Bhushan served as Special Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat before he retired in 2005. There was never a dull moment in his career that spanned nearly four decades and engaged him in various shades of policing, investigation and intelligence.
However, due to his compulsive habit of dissenting, his passion to experiment with new and bold ideas, his penchant for rallying behind lost causes and his intense dislike for stereotypes, he always remained an outsider in his profession. He now lives in Jasidih, a sleepy village in the state of Jharkhand
However, due to his compulsive habit of dissenting, his passion to experiment with new and bold ideas, his penchant for rallying behind lost causes and his intense dislike for stereotypes, he always remained an outsider in his profession. He now lives in Jasidih, a sleepy village in the state of Jharkhand
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
November 21, 2012
This review is part of my resolve to write consistently about debut Indian authors and their debut books.
Before writing this review, some advance disclaimers. I was one of the discussants at the launch of this book in May (or was it June), which was published by the same publisher that brought out my debut book. However, I have not interacted with the author before or after the event.
I revisited the book some weeks ago, as it is one of the few 'insider' accounts of an intelligence agency that must remain ever so discreet that it might evoke gross circumspection at times. Interacting with some illustrious ex heads of the agency, I was told that the success record of our intelligence agency is a lot more impressive than the public cares to believe. Unfortunately, successes cannot be trumpeted, while failures come to the limelight and can not be brushed under.
The story is about the defection of an Indian intelligence officer who was a double agent. The book cover says 'Inspired by a true story', and we can guess what that means with a Find/ Replace. But do not expect to find a plot that takes you to exotic locales in Switzerland,Columbia etc. You only get as far as Nepal, that too in a jeep. Don't look for someone wanting to assasinate the head of state etc. No, there's no vamp either. Well, there is one, without action.
The book is more about the red tape inside the agency and the frustration of a diligent intelligence team that doesnt get support or clear directions from above. It is a babu versus field operative conflict in all its Indian richness. What they achieve despite the resistance, if true, is already a good mark for the state of our intelligence folks. I loved the part dealing with covert internal surveillance of colleagues under the needle of suspicion.
Realising that the book was written by someone who is not a trained writer, I would say it is a good first book, rich with facts, written like a diary because it is probably based on diary notings.
After or before reading the book, do Google the real story in May 2004 of a senior officer that vanished/ defected. You will then be able to appreciate the book lot more.
I give it three stars for the honesty and the guts shown by an insider who chose to write about the folly. I think I recogised the author in the story. Maybe you will too.
Before writing this review, some advance disclaimers. I was one of the discussants at the launch of this book in May (or was it June), which was published by the same publisher that brought out my debut book. However, I have not interacted with the author before or after the event.
I revisited the book some weeks ago, as it is one of the few 'insider' accounts of an intelligence agency that must remain ever so discreet that it might evoke gross circumspection at times. Interacting with some illustrious ex heads of the agency, I was told that the success record of our intelligence agency is a lot more impressive than the public cares to believe. Unfortunately, successes cannot be trumpeted, while failures come to the limelight and can not be brushed under.
The story is about the defection of an Indian intelligence officer who was a double agent. The book cover says 'Inspired by a true story', and we can guess what that means with a Find/ Replace. But do not expect to find a plot that takes you to exotic locales in Switzerland,Columbia etc. You only get as far as Nepal, that too in a jeep. Don't look for someone wanting to assasinate the head of state etc. No, there's no vamp either. Well, there is one, without action.
The book is more about the red tape inside the agency and the frustration of a diligent intelligence team that doesnt get support or clear directions from above. It is a babu versus field operative conflict in all its Indian richness. What they achieve despite the resistance, if true, is already a good mark for the state of our intelligence folks. I loved the part dealing with covert internal surveillance of colleagues under the needle of suspicion.
Realising that the book was written by someone who is not a trained writer, I would say it is a good first book, rich with facts, written like a diary because it is probably based on diary notings.
After or before reading the book, do Google the real story in May 2004 of a senior officer that vanished/ defected. You will then be able to appreciate the book lot more.
I give it three stars for the honesty and the guts shown by an insider who chose to write about the folly. I think I recogised the author in the story. Maybe you will too.
January 21, 2015
There are books written by many investigative journalists which unravel the mystery behind the spectacular life of espionage of renowned spies like Kim Philby of MI6, Markus Wolfe of the Stasi, Aldrich Ames of the CIA and so on. But there is little public knowledge of any of the major real-life spy stories associated with India’s external intelligence agency, the RAW (curiously called ‘Research & Analysis Wing‘!). I have read B.Raman, who retired from RAW and wrote newspaper columns on security issues, mention that R.N.Kao, who used to head RAW in the 1970s, being regarded as one of the top six spy masters in the world during his time by the French Intelligence service. However, Raman didn’t give out much information as to why he was regarded so highly and what his achievements were. Given such a history, I was naturally excited when I found that this book was a novel written by an ex-RAW official and that it was based on the true story of Roben Singh, who worked in RAW in the 1990s and spied for the US, just like Aldrich Ames did for the USSR while employed by the CIA. I thought I would get an insight into the way India’s external Intelligence agency worked and the sort of questions that engaged the organization. Unfortunately, the book is such a damp squib, leaving the reader with the impression that RAW is just a bureaucratic and inept organization, hobbled by a whole lot of constraints and lack of security awareness among its own employees!
The book starts by laying the background to the suspicion that Ravi Mohan (proxy for Roben Singh) was copying documents from RAW and taking them home for possible transfer to a foreign agent. This happens inside the first thirty pages and then till page 300, it is a boring narrative of secretly watching him, taping him, recording him and more watching and recording him and so on. Perhaps, real life spy craft is just drab, unexciting and repetitive like this rather than the dashing adventure of blondes, brunettes and redheads that one sees in the Bond movies. But this is purported to be a novel, rather than a memoir. So, the author has the freedom to embellish the novel with a bit of his imagination. Instead he chooses to be a poor story teller as he goes on endlessly spitting out the dull conversations between the RAW officials, looking for concrete evidence to nail Ravi Mohan. It seems as though the author just wanted to write a memoir on this case by just changing the names. The final 30 pages, when Ravi Mohan gives the slip to RAW and escapes to the US and the Epilogue, which contains the author’s views on the case and other related issues, are the only interesting parts of the book. In the end, there is really no indication as to the nature of the sensitivity of the documents that Ravi Mohan had transferred to the foreign agent. So, one is left with the impression that a rather incompetent, two-bit spy in RAW did some treachery by transferring material to foreigners and then escaped easily through Nepal even as he was under watch by RAW all along.
The book has the usual tone of retired and disgruntled govt officials and bureaucrats in painting a dismal picture of the departments they worked for. There are the accounts of internal politics in RAW as well as the inter-organizational politics between RAW and the IB (Intelligence Bureau). In addition, there is the familiar warning that Pakistan’s ‘highly efficient’ ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) has successfully infiltrated every government department in India whereas India is just blundering along without much of a clue. What is odd is that when one reads Pakistani newspapers, one finds that they write about how the ‘efficient’ RAW has infiltrated deep into Pakistan and has managed to pull off successful sabotages inside Pakistan! I even remember reading Tim Werner’s book on the CIA, “The Legacy of Ashes”, which paints an account of how CIA stumbles from one disaster to another, whereas developing nations have an image of the CIA as something which can pull off regime changes at the drop of a hat because of their efficiency! The only passage in the book where there is some perceptive observation is in the Epilogue when the author writes about investigative journalism. He writes: “…Investigative journalism is akin to running an intelligence operation. In both cases, building an asset is a tortuous process, fraught with prospects of frequent failures. It demands enormous investments and painstaking efforts over a long period of time. But, who has the time and patience to pick the chaff from the grain..?” Perhaps, this explains why we see so little of credible investigative reports in the Indian media.
Overall, a disappointing book.
The book starts by laying the background to the suspicion that Ravi Mohan (proxy for Roben Singh) was copying documents from RAW and taking them home for possible transfer to a foreign agent. This happens inside the first thirty pages and then till page 300, it is a boring narrative of secretly watching him, taping him, recording him and more watching and recording him and so on. Perhaps, real life spy craft is just drab, unexciting and repetitive like this rather than the dashing adventure of blondes, brunettes and redheads that one sees in the Bond movies. But this is purported to be a novel, rather than a memoir. So, the author has the freedom to embellish the novel with a bit of his imagination. Instead he chooses to be a poor story teller as he goes on endlessly spitting out the dull conversations between the RAW officials, looking for concrete evidence to nail Ravi Mohan. It seems as though the author just wanted to write a memoir on this case by just changing the names. The final 30 pages, when Ravi Mohan gives the slip to RAW and escapes to the US and the Epilogue, which contains the author’s views on the case and other related issues, are the only interesting parts of the book. In the end, there is really no indication as to the nature of the sensitivity of the documents that Ravi Mohan had transferred to the foreign agent. So, one is left with the impression that a rather incompetent, two-bit spy in RAW did some treachery by transferring material to foreigners and then escaped easily through Nepal even as he was under watch by RAW all along.
The book has the usual tone of retired and disgruntled govt officials and bureaucrats in painting a dismal picture of the departments they worked for. There are the accounts of internal politics in RAW as well as the inter-organizational politics between RAW and the IB (Intelligence Bureau). In addition, there is the familiar warning that Pakistan’s ‘highly efficient’ ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) has successfully infiltrated every government department in India whereas India is just blundering along without much of a clue. What is odd is that when one reads Pakistani newspapers, one finds that they write about how the ‘efficient’ RAW has infiltrated deep into Pakistan and has managed to pull off successful sabotages inside Pakistan! I even remember reading Tim Werner’s book on the CIA, “The Legacy of Ashes”, which paints an account of how CIA stumbles from one disaster to another, whereas developing nations have an image of the CIA as something which can pull off regime changes at the drop of a hat because of their efficiency! The only passage in the book where there is some perceptive observation is in the Epilogue when the author writes about investigative journalism. He writes: “…Investigative journalism is akin to running an intelligence operation. In both cases, building an asset is a tortuous process, fraught with prospects of frequent failures. It demands enormous investments and painstaking efforts over a long period of time. But, who has the time and patience to pick the chaff from the grain..?” Perhaps, this explains why we see so little of credible investigative reports in the Indian media.
Overall, a disappointing book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 25, 2013
*******Spoiler Alert..!!*******
If you are expecting it to be a thriller with deadly guns,expensive cars and exotic locations, you will be disappointed. This book gives us insights in the celebrated intelligence agency of India. It's very much realistic. Writer claims the book to be based on true story (A search on Google about the case after reading the book confirms this claim).
Because it is being written by a formal bureaucrat and it is meant to be informative, we should not spent much time in criticizing it with literary genres. It is evident that the characters are inspired by real people to whom the writer was close.
A suspected espionage agent is a highly ranked officer of the agency. He is kept under surveillance by an officer. The story unfolds his espionage activities. Story is written on the 'events of the day' basis probably because it is taken from the writer’s diary. The title gives the hint of the ending.
What is more pleasing about the book is that it gives us the firsthand account of the agency's working. The story touches the topics like - Kashmir question, US's role in Indo-Pak conflicts, ISI's reach in India, ULFA activities, Nepal's internal security, India's stand on Myanmar's military Government, Pak-China relations (Apparently China acted as coordinator between Pakistan and N. Korea in their Nuclear exchange), divide between IB and RAW and how the petty political leadership fails the ambitions of agency/bureau. It also gives idea about how the international intelligence agency's work and how the 'sources' are formed. Writer takes care to show these discussions as personal views of the people involved, but we are free to take a clue.
I was surprised to read a few real names in the book like Saran (Indo-US nuclear deal coordinator), Nambi Narayan (ISRO Scientist, falsely claimed to be a spy by Kerala Govt.)
The writer was always honest about the case and has criticized the agency at appropriate levels. Language of the book contains vary few bureaucratic jargons and they make it more readable.
The Ravi Mohan is actually Rabinder Singh. He had filed a petition in US under alias for asylum in US, first it was declined but it is now under consideration. The copy of that petition can be read here:
**http://ramanstrategicanalysis.blogspo...**
Read more about the case and other Espionage activities at: **http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/feb/0...**
A few facts that I collected through net that will probably helpful:
Jeevanathan = Amar Bhushan
Chief Wasan = C.D. Sahay
Espionage Agent Ravi Mohan = Maj. Rabinder Singh
His Wife = Pammi Singh
Post Incident Enquiry Person- Sharma = M. K. Narayanan (The then Special Advisor to PM Manmohan Singh)
Ravi Mohan’s Canadian Relative who accompany him to Nepal = Monty Saigal (Actually his brother-in-law)
If you are expecting it to be a thriller with deadly guns,expensive cars and exotic locations, you will be disappointed. This book gives us insights in the celebrated intelligence agency of India. It's very much realistic. Writer claims the book to be based on true story (A search on Google about the case after reading the book confirms this claim).
Because it is being written by a formal bureaucrat and it is meant to be informative, we should not spent much time in criticizing it with literary genres. It is evident that the characters are inspired by real people to whom the writer was close.
A suspected espionage agent is a highly ranked officer of the agency. He is kept under surveillance by an officer. The story unfolds his espionage activities. Story is written on the 'events of the day' basis probably because it is taken from the writer’s diary. The title gives the hint of the ending.
What is more pleasing about the book is that it gives us the firsthand account of the agency's working. The story touches the topics like - Kashmir question, US's role in Indo-Pak conflicts, ISI's reach in India, ULFA activities, Nepal's internal security, India's stand on Myanmar's military Government, Pak-China relations (Apparently China acted as coordinator between Pakistan and N. Korea in their Nuclear exchange), divide between IB and RAW and how the petty political leadership fails the ambitions of agency/bureau. It also gives idea about how the international intelligence agency's work and how the 'sources' are formed. Writer takes care to show these discussions as personal views of the people involved, but we are free to take a clue.
I was surprised to read a few real names in the book like Saran (Indo-US nuclear deal coordinator), Nambi Narayan (ISRO Scientist, falsely claimed to be a spy by Kerala Govt.)
The writer was always honest about the case and has criticized the agency at appropriate levels. Language of the book contains vary few bureaucratic jargons and they make it more readable.
The Ravi Mohan is actually Rabinder Singh. He had filed a petition in US under alias for asylum in US, first it was declined but it is now under consideration. The copy of that petition can be read here:
**http://ramanstrategicanalysis.blogspo...**
Read more about the case and other Espionage activities at: **http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/feb/0...**
A few facts that I collected through net that will probably helpful:
Jeevanathan = Amar Bhushan
Chief Wasan = C.D. Sahay
Espionage Agent Ravi Mohan = Maj. Rabinder Singh
His Wife = Pammi Singh
Post Incident Enquiry Person- Sharma = M. K. Narayanan (The then Special Advisor to PM Manmohan Singh)
Ravi Mohan’s Canadian Relative who accompany him to Nepal = Monty Saigal (Actually his brother-in-law)
September 2, 2012
Hardly worth a read, unless you are interested in a garrulous self serving defense of a discredited RAW officer written in the form of a daily diary
April 14, 2021
Reads like a report.
December 23, 2023
I loved this book. I won’t give any spoilers but I felt that it described so many internal operations & limitations of each security agency pretty well. If you feel like you are stuck in a rut at your job then definitely read this book and you might just thank your stars.
December 12, 2012
I enjoyed reading the book. Some people may mistake this to be a racy thriller but it is not (since the ending is already known). Since the author himself is one of the protagonists in the story, it gives an insider view of the Intelligence establishment of our country. In most senses, it is an informative read. I would give it a 3.5 star and is worth reading.
August 14, 2016
Good story, could have been told better http://www.anureviews.com/escape-to-n...
October 5, 2023
I have clearly forgotten the ISBN and publisher.
The inspiration to read the book came from a space that it was to be made into a serial for OTT starring Tabu.
Venkat... is a whistleblower and whistles about Ravi Mohan. Then the entire Babudom moves find out major question is he a spy? If yes who is he spying for and who is his handler. More than a story it looks like a documentation if a posting in Raisina Hills. There is Chief Wasan who reports to Princi ( a code for Principle secretary) who in turn reports to the politician relevant. Wasan's Jeevanathan is the Pain in your most painful anatomy. He is assisted by Kamath, PK, Kutty, Panda we are made to realize the YRF spy-universe is unreal and real investigation work is boring, involving humongous manpower. which is controlled by politicians.
The book made radiography-blood pathology investigations in the hospitals more interesting.
the story is apparently based on a true incident of a vanished Bureaucrat.
The inspiration to read the book came from a space that it was to be made into a serial for OTT starring Tabu.
Venkat... is a whistleblower and whistles about Ravi Mohan. Then the entire Babudom moves find out major question is he a spy? If yes who is he spying for and who is his handler. More than a story it looks like a documentation if a posting in Raisina Hills. There is Chief Wasan who reports to Princi ( a code for Principle secretary) who in turn reports to the politician relevant. Wasan's Jeevanathan is the Pain in your most painful anatomy. He is assisted by Kamath, PK, Kutty, Panda we are made to realize the YRF spy-universe is unreal and real investigation work is boring, involving humongous manpower. which is controlled by politicians.
The book made radiography-blood pathology investigations in the hospitals more interesting.
the story is apparently based on a true incident of a vanished Bureaucrat.
November 4, 2023
Great Read
A great book that covers the constraints and complexities of working in a thankless job and thankless organization . Author tries to get very much into detail to educate readers on working methods in the agency
A great book that covers the constraints and complexities of working in a thankless job and thankless organization . Author tries to get very much into detail to educate readers on working methods in the agency
March 28, 2020
A must read. Detailed and neat.
Read
March 8, 2023Awesome book
Read
October 27, 2023Fascinating to read from an intelligence officer about a true story from as late as 2005
November 23, 2024
A spy thriller from an Indian author, it's a page turner.
January 7, 2026
Gripping!!!
September 19, 2016
The book seems to be an authentic tale of how our intelligence agency runs. I got interested in the book as a non fictional read. This is a story of how a senior official at IB became spy and started taking out secret information. The plan of collecting evidence through surveillance. The day by day account makes is less interesting.The narration is not captivating and even if you skip 10 -15 pages , you wouldn't miss the sequence.
Towards the end I had to rush through to complete to know the end of the suspect.
Towards the end I had to rush through to complete to know the end of the suspect.
September 1, 2013
Terribly edited. It seemed that the each of the character development was done solely for the sake of it, which neither endeared the reader to them nor made them particularly real. However the working of R&AW and the petty squabbles that exist between different governmental bodies which hinder their working have been amply focused on. In conclusion I must say that this book might have felt better in a documentary format (fake classified papers/ phone transcripts/ all the story constricted in correspondences), not too much drama or masala that has become so quintessential to writing a book nowadays. :-/
April 22, 2015
The book is boring! A lot of technical jargon! The author is a newbie and he makes the reader realize it in every word!
The author wanted to tell his side of the story to the people without breaking any intelligence rules! He could have wrote a blog n published instead of dragging a 30 page story to 300 page novel!
Only good thing about this book is that you'll get to know how Indian intelligence is working! How incapable people are promoted!
Though author doesn't name anyone it's easy to map the characters of the book to their real life identity.
If you want a short version of this then read in the below link:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabind...
The author wanted to tell his side of the story to the people without breaking any intelligence rules! He could have wrote a blog n published instead of dragging a 30 page story to 300 page novel!
Only good thing about this book is that you'll get to know how Indian intelligence is working! How incapable people are promoted!
Though author doesn't name anyone it's easy to map the characters of the book to their real life identity.
If you want a short version of this then read in the below link:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabind...
November 12, 2013
Quite well done... could have been fleshed out more, but even this account of tradecraft in pursuing a suspected traitor in a intelligence setup is quite reminiscent of Graham Greene's The Human Factor - from the pursuers' viewpoint - while the bureaucratic millieu is nothing less than Le Carre at his most bleak. On the other side, some loose editing at a couple of places... where words get dropped, a character's name gets changed midway through a paragraph before being restored.... are mildly annoying in what is otherwise an engrossing read.
April 25, 2017
I actually wanted to give it a 3.5 but didn't know how. Even if the typos in the book distract the reader, the story is current and alarmingly true. Read it not for the writing style but for a real picture of the state of affairs in India's external intelligence agency.
October 17, 2012
An excellent account of what lead to the escape. Well written after lots of hard work.
November 26, 2012
Racy and thrilling, excellent detailing of every count in very fascinating manner.
August 6, 2013
Riveting, it keeps you hooked and you don't know no rest till you reach the end.
October 22, 2013
There are better ways to write a good expose.
March 24, 2014
insightful, and very inspiring
March 28, 2014
Those who like to read the intelligence agencies related books particularly Indian intelligence go for this. Easy and quick read as well.
Read
September 7, 2017One of the rarest accounts of inside life of India's coveted external intelligence agency that is available for mango people. throughout mesmerizing, terribly revealing and boldly admitting.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews