Book Title: Our Kind of Games
Author: A.S. Dulat
Publisher: Hachette India
Number of Pages: 224
ISBN: 935731783X
Date Published: Sept. 17, 2026
Book Review
A.S. Dulat’s “Our Kind of Games” is his first novel, set in Kashmir during the late 1980s and early 1990s, when militancy reshaped the Valley. It follows Ranjit Soni, an intelligence officer trying to manage informers, militants, and political pressures while slowly confronting the damage caused by the work itself.
Dulat writes in a lively, accessible style, but the prose is more functional than lyrical. The language is clear and direct, suited to the procedural details of intelligence work, though it sometimes lacks the atmosphere and emotional depth that Kashmir’s beauty and grief deserve. The pacing is slow and methodical, unfolding through meetings, negotiations, and quiet moral compromises rather than sudden twists. This gives the novel authenticity, but the large number of characters can make parts of the story confusing, and several figures remain thinly drawn.
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The book’s political references are its real strength. Drawing on Dulat’s long experience with Kashmir and India-Pakistan relations, it presents the conflict through intelligence officers, militants, informants, and intermediaries, showing how everyone is caught in a system where trust is dangerous. Yet the novel is noticeably gentle towards the intelligence establishment; it questions the cost of the “game” more than it fully examines the institutions that created it.
This is a book for readers interested in Kashmir, espionage, and political history, especially those who value insider detail over polished literary fiction. It may not satisfy readers seeking fast action or balanced moral complexity, but it remains a sobering, revealing portrait of a conflict where no one truly wins.
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About the Author
A. S. Dulat is a former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), India’s external intelligence agency. Following his retirement from the organisation, he joined Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), where he was entrusted with overseeing and coordinating the government’s peace efforts in Kashmir.
His career in public service began with the Indian Police Service in 1965, followed by his induction into the Intelligence Bureau (IB) in 1969. He spent nearly three decades with the IB, playing a significant role in its Kashmir operations. During the turbulent 1990s, he headed the organisation’s Kashmir Group before moving to R&AW, where he eventually served as its chief.
Dulat has also written extensively on intelligence, diplomacy, and the political dynamics of Kashmir. His first book, Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years, appeared in 2015. He later co-authored The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace (2018), with former Pakistani intelligence chief Lt. Gen. Asad Durrani and Aditya Sinha, followed by Covert: The Psychology of War and Peace (2024), co-written with Neil K. Aggarwal. His memoir, A Life in the Shadows, was published in 2022 to critical acclaim. In 2025, he released The Chief Minister and the Spy, which explores his relationship with Farooq Abdullah.
