Mills

"This is a very obscure novel now, and I’m not quite sure why. Manning O’Brine is a very mysterious figure. I haven’t been able to find out much about him, but he wrote quite a few novels. The central character is a British agent, Mills. It’s a bit in the Len Deighton vein. It starts off with a fantastic scene in Germany. But basically this British agent has decided that he’s had enough, and he’s going to quit. Unfortunately for him, that means MI6 presume he must be a double agent, the CIA get interested and the KGB think he’s got some secret LSD weapon, so he vanishes to Italy and all these spies start chasing him around. It’s almost a travelogue; it’s done in a very calm way. He takes up with, obviously, a beautiful woman, who is a hotel guide in his little village in Italy. In a way he doesn’t really care that much that all these people are chasing after him, but you get this cat-and-mouse chase around Italy. It seems quite sedate, but the tension gradually mounts… Yes, it’s really compelling, and what’s great about it is that the guy clearly knows Italy. There are flashbacks – Mills goes to Italy because he’s been in Italy in the war. So a lot of it becomes about the war. But the descriptions of Italy are just majestic, and so obviously real. My second novel, Free Country, which I’ve just written, is set in Italy, and part of the reason I wanted to do that was because of this novel. Because when you read it you just feel, ‘My God, I want to get on the plane right now and go to Italy.’ And I think that is one of the great things about thrillers when they do that. I love thrillers that take you on a journey and want you to get involved, and I think this book really does that."