Leo Black was originally a character conceived for television. I pitched a version of his story a few times and was met with the smiles and rejections that us screenwriters never get used to. But had I somehow smuggled him through to production, I have no doubt he would have emerged as a neutered and tamed or at least as a troubled and conflicted version of his true self. When you talk to the men and now women who have served in the Special Forces you soon become aware that they are a race apart: people who switch from combat to tucking up their children at night without missing a beat. They’re also intelligent, civilized, measured and unassuming. People with nothing to prove and sure of their place in the world. Now that’s interesting.
So, thank you to the executives who said no. For once, you were right. Leo Black belongs in print.
Far greater thanks are due to Rowland White, my very patient editor at Penguin, and to Ariel Pakier for all her input on the story. Thanks also to my agent, Zoe Waldie; my wife, Patricia, for her incisive observations; and to Tony for giving me so much valuable inside information.