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Book Review: The Dragon’s Shadow
- Style Essentials Edit Team
- 20 hours ago
- 2 min read
The Dragon’s Shadow by Balakrishna Kamath is positioned as an intelligence-driven political thriller, drawing from the author’s professional background and familiarity with security environments. India's strategic concerns, particularly in relation to China's expanding geopolitical influence, set the backdrop for the novel. The narrative follows intelligence operations, surveillance structures, and the internal functioning of agencies tasked with assessing and responding to external threats.
The story is built around covert assignments and the movement of information rather than conventional warfare. It focuses on how intelligence is gathered, interpreted, and acted upon, and how decisions are made within institutional hierarchies. The structure moves between locations and characters connected to national security, presenting a fictional account shaped by real-world strategic anxieties.
China, represented metaphorically as the “Dragon,” forms the central axis of the plot. The book examines themes such as cross-border influence, espionage networks, and the indirect methods through which power is exercised. The conflict remains largely within the domain of intelligence and diplomacy, rather than open military engagement.
The writing remains direct and plot-oriented. The emphasis is on the progression of events, operational details, and situational development. The author does not rely on elaborate literary devices, instead maintaining focus on the unfolding of the intelligence narrative. This method keeps the book in line with the rules of geopolitical thrillers.
A key aspect of the novel is its attempt to present the internal culture of intelligence work, including the pressures, secrecy, and layered decision-making involved. While fictional, it reflects the structure and pace associated with the genre.
The Dragon’s Shadow contributes to the growing body of Indian geopolitical fiction that explores contemporary strategic realities through storytelling. It situates itself within a space that combines fiction with national security themes, offering readers a narrative shaped by current global and regional tensions.
Book: The Dragon’s Shadow
Author: Balakrishna Kamath
Publisher: Srishti Publishers
Genre: Political / Intelligence Thriller
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