Goodreads asked R. Munro:

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

R. Munro "Terror in the Ranks" was actually based on a short I wrote as a reaction to a terrorist attack in France. Actually, it's all too easy to label it a "terorist" attack, when in reality it was a psychopath who'd been enabled by an excuse of religious conflict. If it were a true religious conflict, it would have been an attack on a religious institution (such as the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center cathedrals of commerce in New York), not a bunch of innocent bystanders celebrating a national holiday in a seaside town. I happen to like France a very great deal, and enjoyed my time there. Attacking the place just rang so wrong that it upset me more than I was prepared to accept. Not being able to do anything practical, my next step was to write, but rather than write about France, I chose to write about something closer to home. I think a lot of people forget terrorism isn't the exclusive domain of Islamic extremists, and it's important to look closely all around, especially at the monster within. From there I built an elaborate conspiratorial framework which is as absurd as any James Bond novel, but instead of some impossibly capable front-man like James Bond, I gave it a seriously flawed hero, foul mouthed, physically damaged, always tired and cranky, but nevertheless passionate and doggedly determined. It's a story of contrasts, and also unusually it's set in Australia, a country where I might live, but also a country capable of far more than a lot of other countries might reckon. Besides, James Bond has never made it here ;)

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