Goodreads asked Lloyd Richardson:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Lloyd Richardson This is a two-part answer. It has been my ambition since high school to write fiction. However, I decided many years ago that I would not write until I had something to write about, based on life experience. I did not see how, as a 20-something, I had much to convey. In terms of writing in the spy genre, while in the Foreign Service, I frequently observed that friends who were not in the Service believed I was working for the CIA in any event, and denial only increased their suspicions. I decided then to write about the often-unappreciated role of intelligence professionals in the development and implementation of US foreign policy. That became an imperative for me after 9/11. While I waited, I continued to work on developing my expository style by writing as a lawyer, as well as writing foreign policy articles and related book reviews.

As for this particular story, it is the second in a trilogy of Adam Chin spy thrillers. After watching the Obama Administration make hash of US foreign policy for six years—and then desperately seeking a “deal” with Iran to make itself look good—I think it is obvious that this president and his cronies have absolutely no clue that we live in a dangerous world. When the most dangerous thing you have ever done in your life is to hang around the faculty lounge, I guess you think that talk solves everything. Too bad it doesn’t work like that.

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