MemberAndrew.Raymond

As you can see I'm a sucker for a great spy story and thriller. There are definitely some guilty pleasure on here (I bet you can tell which), but also a few that I really like, but in a way, when I read those books I often get ideas about what I would have preferred the story did, or what a character did.
That's really why I love writing so much, because I get to sculpt exactly the sort of stories I would want to read. And if I happen to bring some other people along for the ride, then that's a bonus.

I've been a fan of thrillers ever since watching All the President's Men when I was far too young to understand what was going on. Now every day I get to indulge in my passion for fast-paced stories, characters you really care about, and to bring you behind the scenes of the intelligence agencies and the most secretive parts of the political world (the parts they don't want you to know about).

I've taken inspiration for my Novak and Mitchell thrillers on writers as diverse as John Le Carre, Robert Ludlum, Mick Herron, Charles Cumming, Robert Harris, Terry Hayes, David Baldacci, Thomas Harris, and Sam Bourne to name but a few.

It's often said that I write cinematically, which isn't a coincidence, as my influences are as much in cinema as literature: Daniel Craig's Bond films, Glengarry Glen Ross, Spartan. TV has also been a major factor in my writing. From the original BBC miniseries State of Play, David Simon's The Wire, and Aaron Sorkin, writer of The West Wing; and the US version of House of Cards.

I have worked in the book industry since I was 21.