Penguin Random House India is thrilled to announce the publication of Perfect Storm: The History and Anatomy of 26/11 which offers the most comprehensive and chilling reconstruction yet of one of the darkest chapters in India’s history.
Written by Prabhakar Aloka, former Special Director of the Intelligence Bureau, and Nikhil Ravi, screenwriter and filmmaker known for his work on Indo–Pak geopolitical thrillers, Perfect Storm uncovers the full scope of the conspiracy that culminated in the 26/11 attacks — tracing its origins back to the Partition of 1947 and following its threads through decades of proxy warfare, jihadist evolution, and state-sponsored terror.
From the ISI-backed Lashkar-e-Taiba training camps, telecommunications fraud cells in Manila, to the intelligence agencies that missed crucial signals, Perfect Storm peels back the layers of a vast, interconnected plot that spans continents. Drawing on declassified documents, open-source intelligence, and Aloka’s own experience tracking Lashkar-e-Taiba’s operations, the book reconstructs how scattered fragments of information failed to converge in time.
“You cannot understand 26/11 without understanding Pakistan’s strategic culture of asymmetric proxy warfare against India—a framework that began with Partition’s trauma and continues to evolve in dangerous ways. Understanding this history isn’t merely academic. The forces that produced Mumbai also produced this year’s Pahalgam massacre. Until we grasp this continuum, we remain vulnerable to the next attack” says Prabhakar Aloka, co-author of Perfect Storm, on why the book remains deeply relevant even seventeen years after the attacks.
Unlike previous accounts that focus narrowly on the events at the Taj or on key figures like David Headley, Nikhil and Aloka delve into 26/11 within a larger geopolitical and historical continuum. The result is a sweeping yet grounded investigation that connects history, intelligence, and ideology to the modern realities of terrorism.
Meticulously researched and written with cinematic clarity, Perfect Storm provides readers with both an insider’s view of intelligence operations and a deeply human understanding of the systemic failures that make such tragedies possible — and, perhaps, preventable.
About The Authors
PRABHAKAR ALOKA has formerly worked with the Intelligence Bureau, the country’s premier intelligence agency. In nearly three decades of service in the bureau, where he was rigorously trained in covert operations while in pursuit of hostile elements, Aloka served in counterterror, counterinsurgency and anti-Naxalite theatres.
NIKHIL RAVI studied Philosophy at the Manipal Centre for Humanities, and has co-written the Netflix Original Series, IC814: The Kandahar Hijack.
