amos decker fit that bill. i mean, he is not your typical hero.channel him so easily, cos you‘re that too! what does that tell us about you? i was very struck by how topical the book is. the murder turns into an issue of national security. you also deal with isis, cyber hacking, cyber security. how important is that to you, to make the book feel current? plausibility, i‘m bound by plausibility. fortunately for me, it seems like these days, anything is possible. so i can write about anything and people will say, yeah, i think i read that in a newspaper last week. so for me, it‘s to take life as we know it now. and i‘m very curious about the world. i try to read everything i can possibly read. so take life as it is now and try to extrapolate it out, so i can say, ok, what is it gonna be like in the near future? and so i can sort of push the envelope and see what‘s coming down the road. i had an intelligence guy one time tell me... i‘d written a scene and i thought it was gonna be over the top, too much. i said, read this, let me know if i need to pu

as you say, amos decker isn't your typical hero. what appeals to you so much about him?f my other characters are kind of like, you know, they're fit and well trained and, you know, they're sort of classical heroes, 0k? as a writer, i think if you don't expand and challenge yourself, you wither on the vine. so i wanted to write a character totally different from anything i've written before. amos decker fit that bill. i mean, he is not your typical hero. i channel him so easily, though. you know, he's really weird and quirky. and my wife will say, yeah, i can understand why you channel him so easily, cos you're that too! what does that tell us about you? i was very struck by how topical the book is. the murder turns into an issue of national security. you also deal with isis, cyber hacking, cyber security. how important is that to you, to make the book feel current? i have to be... plausibility, i'm bound by plausibility. fortunately for me, it seems like these days, anything is possible. so i can write about anything and people will say, yeah, i think i read that in a ne

authors always get asked, is there an amos decker out their? bits and pieces of him.ements would be fascinating. he is like a big guy, he ticked everybody off, he is socially awkward, but people love this guy. how do you make sure people love him? you make him vulnerable, human, make it known he is socially awkward and make them realise he is not the person he used to be so you feel sympathy, because he is trying to do better and he can't. crime often now is more about forensics. there is a fascination with forensics but your character is a nod almost to an old school approach to policing. forensics have approach to policing. forensics have a part to play. he is with the fbi. but there are elements of old school police work in the way he operates. he isa police work in the way he operates. he is a dogged old school detective. like columbo. he misses nothing. he recalls frame by frame, to see if there is an incongruity. something somebody said, something that does not match up and suddenly a solution occurs to him. he is a quirky guy. he is almost the easiest character