[My novels] introduce levels of intelligence ... moral doubt [and] self-doubt, which may not pertain [to real-world espionage].

How Bush and his junta succeeded in deflecting America's anger from bin Laden to Saddam Hussein is one of the great public relations conjuring tricks of history. But they swung it. A recent poll tells us that one in two Americans now believe Saddam was responsible for the attack on the World Trade Centre.

The world of spying is my genre. My struggle is to demystify, to de-romanticise the spook world, but at the same time harness it as a good story.

Blackmail is more effective than bribery.

The cat sat on the mat is not a story. The cat sat on the other cat’s mat is a story.

A good writer can watch a cat pad across the street and know what it is to be pounced upon by a Bengal tiger.

I've always had difficulties with female characters.