Nitin A GokhaleGentleman Spymaster:R.N.Kao

Firstly, a good insight into the closed door operators.Secondly, the writing style and the language makes the book more interesting for any reader.Thirdly, the author is able to keep the readers glued to his work till the end.

The book is a biography of R. N. Kao. It gives the background of the creation of R&AW and lists, not very satisfactorily, some of the Operations that RN Kao did during his years at R&AW. Given that I had read 'Operation X' by Capt. M.N.R. Samant (MVC) a former naval officer, and Sandeep Unnithan (journalist), referred to in Page 169 (Chapter 12 : RNK and the R&AW IN Top Gear) in this book, it was a case of 'already read'. Details of the few operations listed are simply absent, unlike 'Operation X'. The book sounds credible in what is stated.

Discover the Legend and the founder of our External Intelligence agency the "Research & Analysis Wings" - R&AW.

I have become a fan of late Shri RN Kao. What an amazing personality. Various in detail operations of R&AW are explained in detail. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in special operations of R&AW. Mr Kao was truly a gentleman.

Well narrated. The timeline meets reality, and fact checks are in order. Language is easy to understand even for beginners and the narrative is brilliant

This book gives the glimpses of Rn kao life founding father of RAW. Also it gives the details of 1971 Indo Pak war and accession of Sikkim to Indian union.

Must read

Received book in very good condition and the papers used and printing is also very good

Talks about the Bangladesh war and Pakistan's genocide of Bengali Hindus and Muslims.

I liked the introductory chapters. The readout from Kao’s personal notes were fun.Around the Bangladesh timeframe, the content moved away from Kao’s personal notes to a narrative. That took away the reading experience of this book being in the mind of RN Kao to a description of Kao becoming the playmaker or master of puppets.The style of narration, was great either ways. Definitely made me a proud Indian to understand that R&AW started off with such an esteemed creator.I’m glad to have read this book.

Touches on some important part of RN Kao's life esp. his childhood, his role in Sikkim, his relation with Indira Gandhi, and the 1971 war. I learned a lot of things I didn't know about esp. the part about Sikkim but when it comes to RNK's professional career it doesn't go into a lot of detail which is fair since a lot of information RNK knew won't be in the public domain until 2025 so the book does a decent job of giving us a fair view into RNK's life but is not entirely exhaustive.

Great insights into historical achievements of RAW and of course Mr. Kao! Beautifully written too. Happy to recommend to all proud Indians.

Fascinating titbits about a rarely talked about man... A good read.. Tad bit drab but worth it. Recommend it highly