Watchman

Начало книги

From the age of twelve until I was nearly thirty, I kept a page-a-day diary, and reading through the years 1986–88 has allowed me to place Watchman in its historical context. I got the idea for the book just before my wedding day, and took a bunch of research stuff on my honeymoon. The entry for June 14, 1986, records: ‘I’m itching to start a new novel, either Rebus 2 or The Watcher.’ By July 14 (nine days after the wedding ceremony) I’d decided to concentrate on what was still called Watcher, and I was able to state in my diary that ‘the plot’s beginning to gel.’ I then started writing the first draft a week later, and finished it on Sunday, November 2. (Well, it’s a pretty short book...)

Watchman is a spy novel. My previous novel, Knots & Crosses, had involved a fairly cynical, worldly-wise cop, who’d been in the job the best part of fifteen years. Miles Flint, my hero this time around, happens to be a fairly cynical, worldly-wise spy, who’s spent twenty years or so in that world. (I wish I could explain what attracts me to my jaded elders.) The difference between the two men is that while Rebus is a man of action, preferring confrontation to rumination, Miles starts out just the opposite: he’s a professional voyeur, and my job would be to change his role gradually from one of professional passivity to real ruthless activity.

Читать дальше →