Author’s Note

For as long as I can remember I’ve felt a burning desire to write books – but it took me till well into my 30s to discover why, and into my 40s for my work to resonate more broadly. I know now that my life’s purpose is to share messages about the extraordinary opportunity for transformation available to people like us who may believe ourselves to be ordinary. A discovery, I suppose, better made late than never!

In the meantime, what of the thrillers I published in my 30s, which continue to turn up online, sometimes at crazily inflated prices? They have nothing to do with inner development. With dark themes and some very sinister characters, and mostly set in London where I lived and worked, it’s as though they belong to a different lifetime. Which, in a way, they do. But learning the craft of the novelist was a vital part of my journey back then, as it continues to be.

A survey of loyal readers suggested that I should re-release this early writing – prefaced by an Author Note that the work belongs to a different time and place. No Tibetan lamas appear in this story. Nor will you glean any startling insights into the nature of reality – at least, not by design.

Conflict of Interest was my very first published novel and I remember the day it was launched, walking through the bookstores of Charing Cross Road in London like a proud, first-time father, making sure it was on display.

Subsequently, sitting in front one of my lamas, I asked him, ‘Geshe-la, is it okay for me to write books that are only for entertainment?’

The question was a big deal for me – it’s better not to ask your teacher something unless you’re willing to abide by the answer, whatever that may be. Otherwise, why ask?

I remember him looking at me in the clear morning light, with that kind forbearance that the wise have when asked something blindingly obvious. ‘If people enjoy,’ he shrugged, ‘then no problem.’

So years later, from out of the vault, this earliest of thrillers. I hope you enjoy!