[1] Sood tries to clarify that the real world of espionage is not like James Bond movies and much more than just "cloak and dagger" operations; with John le Carre's novels about George Smiley being a better comparison to the reality.

Events that led to the Kargil war in 1999 with Pakistan and Sood's tenure as secretary, R&AW from 2000 till 2003 when he retired is also discussed in the book.

The prologue section of the book covers how R&AW found about the progress of the "clandestine nuclear weapons programme" of Pakistan.

Part 2, titled "Inside Intelligence", talks about topics and organisation such as the Five Eyes, Snowden, Pinay Cercle, the Safari Club among others.

Chapter 10 is titled, "Known by their failures", which discusses Kargil War and the assassination of a former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi, in Sriperumbudur in 1991.

[16] The book launch took place on 13 August 2018 at Delhi, followed by a panel discussion with the Union minister Smriti Irani, former national security advisor Shivshankar Menon, and former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal.

[15][19] In 2016, following an attack in Baramulla on 3 October in which a Border Security Force soldier died, Sood had stated similar thoughts, that "unless Pakistan mends its ways, India should not hold talks.