Srinagar in the winter of 1989 was an eerie ghost town witnessing the beginnings of a war dance. The dam burst the night boys from the separatist JKLF group were freed in exchange for the release of Rubaiyat Sayeed, the Union home minister's daughter. As Farooq Abdullah had predicted, the government's caving in emboldened many Kashmiris into thinking that azaadi was possible.

A.S. Dulat, who was posted there, saw Intelligence Bureau colleagues being picked off one by one. It was a long, slow haul to regaining control. From then to today, Dulat has had a continuous engagement with Kashmir. In this extraordinary memoir that reads like a thriller, Dulat gives a sweeping account of the difficulties, successes and near triumphs in the effort to bring back Kashmir from the brink.
.