A good writer is an expert on nothing except himself. And on that subject, if he is wise, he holds his tongue.

It's easy to forget what intelligence consists of: luck and speculation. Here and there a windfall, here and there a scoop.

Every writer knows he is spurious; every fiction writer would rather be credible than authentic.

When you're my age and you see a story, you better go for it pretty quickly. I'd just like to get a few more novels under my belt.

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.

The Cold War was over long before it was officially declared dead.

It was a charming fantasy of romantics that the spies would stop spying, that political conflict would end and politicians would tell the truth. Unfortunately that has not been the case.