The Recruit
The spy game has a brand new player . . .
Sarah Black is startlingly smart and super frustrated . . . while her fellow fresh graduates are signing away their souls to square mile internships, she is sabotaging civil service exams and beating any chess opponent who dares face her. Surely there has to be more to life?
Enter, Michael.
Enigmatic, suave, and looking for a new recruit to his band of elite spies. His offer is irresistible, and Sarah leaps into the world of international espionage without hesitation.
But when Michael hears rumours of a catastrophic attack on an oil pipeline in the Caucasus, he whisks Sarah from London to Georgia with a new identity, a meagre brief and no backup.
Thrown into a hostile environment where nothing is as it seems, and no one can be trusted, Sarah must learn the rules of the game quickly, just to survive.
But is she really a player, or merely a pawn?
Behind the scenes
The King's Pawn was inspired by my time living and working in the South Caucasus, based in Tbilisi.
All three countries of the South Caucasus - Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan - are fascinating. But it was with Georgia that I fell head over heels in love.
I wanted to capture the magic of the place - its spectacular landscapes, the overwhelming hospitality of its people, its delicious food and wine and its hair-raising roads.
While I was there, an assassination attempt was made that could have changed the course of history - but no one has ever heard of it. The official story is that the attack was foiled solely by blind luck. I invented Sarah's story to help that luck along.
Rogue Agency
Sarah Black is back and - with or without her MI6 handlers - is hungry for revenge.
Scarred from her exploits in Tbilisi, she still has unfinished business in the murky world of global espionage. Namely the mastermind behind the foiled attack and the man who always seems to be one move ahead.
Tracking her foe to the civil war in Sierra Leone, where he is financing the ruthless rebel leader, Papa Kortu, Sarah uncovers an even deadlier masterplan.
Cut off from MI6, Sarah goes rogue in a lawless land where everyone is either aggressor or victim.
But will bringing her foe to justice really be enough to satisfy her need for vengeance? And which agent is really pulling the strings?
Behind the scenes
Rogue Agency was based on the real historical events that led up to the end of the civil war in May 2000. The events described at the end of the book were the crucial turning point that weakened the RUF, allowed peace to be restored to Freetown, and eventually led to peace being declared in January 2002 after over a decade of civil war.
By the time I was there in 2007, it was hard to imagine that such brutality had existed such a short time before. But below the surface, you knew that everyone had borne witness to its horrors.
Code Black
Sarah has always believed in Michael, the formidable spymaster who heads The Pelicans - an unofficial unit that operates beyond rules, oversight and conscience. Under his guidance, she has learned that success belongs to those willing to make impossible choices. But as Sarah rises through the ranks, she begins to wonder whether ambition has cost her more than she realised.
Her latest mission draws her into the orbit of Chen Xiaochang, a shadowy businessman linked to a global network supplying nuclear material, technology and expertise to the highest bidder. Pursuing him from London to North Korea and Hong Kong, Sarah finds herself navigating a world of shifting loyalties, false identities and enemies who are never where they seem.
At home, a newly elected government is pushing a powerful social control app that threatens civil liberties, backed by the ruthless and politically ambitious Beverley. When Sarah’s father is caught in the crossfire and Sarah herself becomes the target of a smear campaign, the mission turns deeply personal. With her career under threat, she must continue the chase while fighting to clear her own name.
As tensions between China and the West escalate, a plot to destroy a British warship could ignite an international crisis. To stop it, Sarah must decide who she can trust - her oldest mentor, her own instincts, her former enemy or no one at all.
Behind the scenes
I lived in Beijing from 2005 to 2007, a time of extraordinary change in China as the world woke up to the re-emergence of a long-dormant superpower. I was endlessly fascinated by China - the culture, the architecture, the cuisine, the history - but forever felt like an outsider, guessing at what was happening and feeling quite lost most of the time. It was the perfect setting for Sarah's hall of mirrors adventure.