The Book That Was Written Backwards

The story behind 'Imperfectly Innocent'.

When I say ‘written backwards’ I don’t mean it in a literal sense, but ‘Imperfectly Innocent’, the forthcoming third novel in the Tufton Street series of spy novels, is, in one respect, different to my previous works.

When I started writing ‘The Death of a Smoker’, the first novel in the series, I had a story to tell. Back in the 1990s, I had quite innocently imported a potential germ warfare agent from a country that was not classed as a friendly power. I hasten to point out that I did have a licence to do so. The cold war was barely over but we did have a Russian visitor in the lab, and the head of the division was indeed a former spy. There were a number of events, not least of which was the fax that arrived seven minutes after it was sent, that made me think that I had come to the attention of the security services. It was the beginning of a tale which, when I started, I did not know how it would end. The plot developed in a more or less dynamic fashion, partly based on my own experiences in a small biotech company but mainly based upon my imaginings of what could have been happening in less innocent circumstances.

When it came to writing the closing chapters, I could not find a way of dealing with the unpleasant Mr Quinton Bickley-Morris, and, hence, I allowed him to slip out of the country undetected. That, of course, left the door open for a sequel, which became Unsavoury Business. I wanted to follow the biotech theme but I didn’t want to use the same scientists – how often in reality does lightning strike in the same place? So I searched for an unusual disease that could be used as a bioweapon, but it had to be one with a twist. That’s how I came across hantavirus and the question of could a virus that only kills ten percent of those infected be an effective bioweapon? The answer is no, but the twist was that with this virus the symptoms can take up to six weeks to appear. That led me to the idea that the purpose of terrorism may not be simply to kill, but to induce terror. Once again, I drew upon my own experience and set part of the story in a small scientific instruments company.

I had never planned on writing a trilogy but enough people asked ‘What happens next’ that I took up the challenge of a third in the series. I think it is true to say that when it became known that a third novel was underway, some of my former colleagues in the pharmaceutical industry were a little nervous of where I might set part of this story.

This time I knew where the plot would end, and having an idea of what a twist could be I even had a title ‘Imperfectly Innocent’. Having a title before I started was, I suppose, a second difference to the two previous novels. The main difference, however, was that with the first two novels I knew what the opening would be, and let the plot develop as I wrote. There was no grand plan. This time, however, I had no idea of what the start would be and I knew the plot would have to be constrained in order to reach my increasingly fixed idea of what the ending was to be. In that sense, the novel was written backwards. I had two ideas as to how the storyline might follow on from ‘Unsavoury Business’ and, as it turned out, I managed to incorporate them both. The challenge was how to move from there to the finale.

As I wrote, a theme developed, evidence is one thing but interpretation is another. And, if that evidence changes then the interpretation may well change also. Out of this, a second theme grew, what if not everybody had access to the same information, but only knew a part? And if the not all the characters knew the same part of the evidence, how would that affect their interpretation?

I am not sure how well I succeeded and you will have to wait until the book is published before you can judge me on that score. Hopefully, by then, you will have forgotten about this blog and can just enjoy the story as it unfolds. Did I leave a thread dangling that could be picked up later, or am I just teasing you with the idea? Only time will tell. ‘Imperfectly Innocent’ will be published later this year.