Zero Dial: The Dangerous World of Informers  (English, Paperback, Dey J.)

Zero Dial is about the life of three informers of the Mumbai police force and how their lives collide in search of a most wanted terrorist. This book is about the dreaded streets of the Mumbai underworld and the gory life of its inhabitants.

Summary Of The Book

The life of the Mumbai underworld is dangerous to say the least. It is a brutal life full of crime, sex, illegal dealings, betrayal, and an ever-long fight to survive. People face danger at every turn and the one who lies gets an extra chance to stay alive but only to face betrayal the very next day.

J. Dey shares his stories and experience and wraps it up in a thriller story about chasing the most wanted terrorist, Riyaz Bhatkal. In Zero Dial, the quest takes the informers to some of the remotest and most dangerous terror hubs of the country. With their hidden identity and the possible wrath of the most dangerous terror outfit, they can only hope to come out of all this alive. But, Zero Dial has a lot more in store. 

In his career as a crime journalist in Mumbai, Jyotirmoy Dey had come really close to the Mumbai underworld. He was an expert in this field and observed their movements very closely. He pours out all his information about the Mumbai underworld in his book and describes the information gathering process of the informers. It explains the rise of terrorism and the ineligibility of the Mumbai police force to manage this new domain.

There is also a mention of the current rivalry between the central intelligence and the Mumbai police Anti Terrorist Squad. Zero Dial contains a lot of facts and unfolds the gory world behind Mumbai.

About Jyotirmoy Dey

Jyotirmoy Dey (1955 – 2011) was an Indian journalist and crime and investigation editor for MiD DAY. He was an expert on the Mumbai underworld.

Apart from Zero Dial, J. Dey has also authored Khallas. Both his books are about underworld activities and in both the books, he tries to raise the curtain and bring the underworld to enlighten the knowledge of the readers.

J. Dey started his career with Hindustan Times and started writing on forest encroachment and man-animal conflicts. He later became a freelancer and started writing for various newspapers before joining Mid Day full time. His strong network of informers and his insight into the hidden world of the underworld made him an expert in this field. Supposedly for having too much information about the underworld, he was killed by motorcycle borne sharpshooters on the 11th of June, 2011.