If you had a chance to be in the spy business, who would you like to be?
Ian Fleming. He had the best of both worlds—espionage and writing.
If you could bring back one person from the dead?
Chanakya.
A fictional character you would like to date.
The doomed Marianne Beauséjour from Allied. A femme fatale with a conscience is an irresistible combination.
If you woke up and found yourself in a book, which one would it be and why?
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. The atmosphere reminds me of romance at dusk, and I would very much like to follow Daniel Sempere’s wooing of Bea Aguilar. It’s got some amazing complex women—the ethereal Penélope Aldaya, the protective Jacinta Coronado, the clever Nuria Monfort. Julian Carax is a memorable character who in real life would be even more interesting.
Worst pick-up line you have tried.
Pick up the pieces after me?
Best line in a book you’ve read.
‘It was a wrong number that started it, the telephone ringing three times in the dead of night, and the voice on the other end asking for someone he was not.’ City of Glass by Paul Auster.
Your Bulwer-Lytton prize would go to?
‘As a scientist, Throckmorton knew that if he were ever to break wind in the echo chamber he would never hear the end of it.’
Funniest line in a book you’ve read.
‘It wasn’t until I had become engaged to Miss Piano that I began avoiding her.’ Into Your Tent I’ll Creep by Peter De Vries.
The most creepy thing someone has done for you.
Throw a farewell party in a local cemetery when I was leaving town. The spirits were, well, sufficient to get high on.
Favourite fictional spy.
Bernie Gunther.
If you were locked in a lift with Chetan Bhagat and Salman Rushdie?
I would introduce them to each other and get off on the next floor.
What does Salman Khan have that you don’t?
Iulia Vantur.
What do you have that Salman Khan doesn’t?
Signs of an avoirdupois.
What did you not have that Salman Khan did?
Black buck.
A non-fiction book you would recommend.
Highly recommend The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior: Da Vinci, Machiavelli, and Borgia and the World They Shaped by Paul Strathern.
Crime fiction you would recommend.
Alex by Pierre Lemaitre.