With the publication of 'The Mentor' and 'The Judas', the young British novelist, Steve Jackson, has put danger back into spy fiction.
If you love the BBC TV series Spooks then you'll love Steve Jackson. If you don't you'll still love Jackson's work because he writes gripping, humorous, invariably cynical, often violent, information packed sentences that move the story along at an alarming pace.
Background
Steve was born in Arbroath, Scotland, in the late 1960s. At the age of ten his family moved to Stroud in Gloucestershire. According to Steve the move south wasn't a happy experience. " My teenage years were fairly miserable - I was one of the shortest kids in the class; I had a Scottish accent nobody could understand; no matter what I did I didn't seem to fit in. I found my escape in books and music." After leaving school he became a journalist.
First Novel
By the age of thirty Steve had written his first novel, with a " beginning, a middle and an end", which is what all writing classes taught; and in those days he did what all budding writers did - he bought a load of envelopes and sent his manuscript off to several publishers, who sent them back with an additional piece of paper - the rejection slip.
Steve didn't give up, instead he changed his tack, sending out one synopsis after another instead, one of which was about a serial killer who steals his victim's eyes. Now that got some interest.
But it took another three unpublished novels before he had the idea for The Mentor.
The Mentor
As Steve says, The Mentor " came out of necessity. Betty Schwartz, who used to be Hodder and Stoughton's submissions editor, contacted me to say they were looking for a big British thriller and did I have any ideas. After a ton of rejections I wasn't about to say no. So I came up with the prologue and first chapter, and they loved it..."
And so they might because it's masterful writing that reinvigorates the genre, getting very close to a reality that includes the bombing of the London underground (the publication of the novel had to be postponed because of the actual London bombings in 2005), and this time not by religious nut cases but by someone closer to home. As a result MI6 agent, Paul Aston, is sent to investigate, which ends up marking him out as a target. It's gripping relentless stuff.
Ideas
Steve Jackson was asked recently where he gets his ideas from. " For me, ideas fall into two broad categories: 'solutions' and 'bolts from the blue'. The first. Jimmy needs to come up with a wad of cash because there are some nasty guys itching to remodel his kneecaps if he doesn't. Solution: he holds up a petrol station. The 'bolts from the blue', however, are a different matter. These are the moments where the planets come into perfect alignment and an idea just seems to appear from nowhere, bathed in golden light and perfectly formed."
The Judas
And with The Judas the planets are most definitely in perfect alignment, with the novel a step back to the best of Ian Fleming, but also a step further back still to John Creasey and Eric Ambler - or even further back still to Sapper's Bulldog Drummond.
The Judas starts off with the severed hand of a retired MI6 officer turning up in Rome. Suddenly Aston finds himself in danger. Nothing is ever quite what it seems, with an assassin seemingly around every corner.
The writing is splendid:
" Shattered bottles lined the back of the bar, the stink of spirits and cordite hung sharp in the air. The three bottles directly behind Valerio were still intact. Valerio was rooted to the spot, his face drained of colour..."
That is Ian Fleming drained though a 21st century filter to come out as pure Steve Jackson, rich and full of literary Vitamin B.
Steve's new novel, The Watcher, will be published by Harper/Collins later in 2008
Sources:
Steve Jackson's Official Website
Interview on BBC Radio Hereford & Worcester, 2007
Steve Jackson - The Mentor &The Judas
