Facts in the realm of fiction: The story of Lucifer and the unknown gunmen

The book can be enjoyed and appreciated at different levels. At the simplest, it will be enjoyed by all who like authors such as Ian Fleming, John Le Carré, Graham Greene and Eric Ambler.

- GAUTAM R. DESIRAJU

Where does fiction flow into fact? "Code Name Lucifer" is the absorbing story of our unknown gunmen, a thinly disguised work of fiction based on true events surrounding the elimination of dreaded terrorists who sought to undermine the integrity and unity of India for many years. The Government of India has declined to associate itself with these killings carried out by men and women who live in the world of darkness, barely at the edges of light, with speed their only ally and anonymity their only armour. One recollects the era of Nacht und Nebel in World War 2 when agents would dispatch enemies of Germany into the great void of darkness. If I were asked to give another title to the book, I would call it "To Light from Darkness".

The authors Savio Rodrigues and Shirish Thorat are surely associated with our intelligence agencies in some capacity or another, and a hint as to this was provided by a recent disclosure by the Washington Post that said that both were involved in a $6 million plot to overthrow President Muizzu of the Maldives. Indeed, the Maldives, as also various places in Pakistan, Afghanistan, the UK, Canada and India are the fictional locations in the book where the various hit jobs were done by Lucifer, the leader of this mysterious gang of men and women, who volunteered for the mission seeking closure for their unresolved grief—the fallen angels.