The Night Manager: A Novel

"So The Night Manager and Single & Single are kind of a pair. Each of them is about somebody going voluntarily into a dangerous situation as an undercover figure to root out wickedness, to block bad action in the world. And it follows the person on the ground, as well as, at the same time, the activity of the people in the political apparat and the security apparat. The success or failure of that activity is a sort of judgement on whether our society is capable of justice, because the rules have to be there for everybody. It doesn’t matter if you are supremely wealthy, you still have to be governed by the rule of law. If not, you no longer have a democracy. Then, also, in both of these stories is the question: What can you do as the spy? How far can you go? And will you fall in love with the universe of this wicked person whose life you are invading? Because, of course, the bad guys have a great time, you know? This is something mission critical about the post-Cold War stories. In the Cold War stories, Karla represents, very clearly, the inhumanity of the Soviet machine. Whatever virtues may have been sought in the Soviet project, what it became was very destructive. Karla is the representation of the inhumanity of that system, as is the Wall. They are one and the same. But when you come into The Night Manager , you’re seeing the very human bad guys. Richard Roper, portrayed by Hugh Laurie in the TV show, is vastly compelling. The idea that you would go to a Richard Roper party… You can absolutely see how everyone would have a great time and be seduced by this wicked man. Again, you’re coming down to the line where the dividing line between good and bad evaporates and you are left in the grey zone, an area where you can’t tell whether you’ve crossed over the line because you are so close. The line is everywhere."