Category: Books

Morning lovelies!

Today, I am delighted to be able to reveal the cover Black 13 by Adam Hamdy! Adam is the author of the Pendulum trilogy, one of my favourite book series of the last few years!

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About the author:

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British author and screenwriter Adam Hamdy works with studios and production companies on both sides of the Atlantic. 

He is the author of the Pendulum trilogy, an epic series of conspiracy thriller novels.  James Patterson described Pendulum as ‘one of the best thrillers of the year’, and the novel was nominated for the Glass Bell Award for contemporary fiction, and chosen as book of the month by Goldsboro Books and WH Smith Travel.  Pendulum was also selected for the BBC Radio 2 Book Club.  

Prior to embarking on his writing career, Adam was a strategy consultant and advised global businesses in the medical systems, robotics, technology and financial services sectors, experience that has given him a useful insight into many industries.

Adam has a law degree from Oxford University and a philosophy degree from the University of London.  He is a seasoned rock climber,skier and CPSA marksman.

Adam is a co-founder of Capital Crime. He is also the membership coordinator for the ITW Debut Authors Program.

About the book:

An exiled agent. A growing threat. A clandestine war.
The world is changing beyond recognition.
Radical extremists are rising and seek to enforce their ideology globally.
Governments, the military and intelligence agencies are being outmanoeuvred at every step. Borders are breaking down. Those in power are puppets.
The old rules are obsolete. To fight this war a new doctrine is needed.
In a world where nothing is at it seems, where trust is gone, one man will make the difference.
Meet Ex-MI6 agent and man in exile, Scott Pearce.
It’s time to burn the espionage rule book.
Watch Pearce light the fire.

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Before I show you all the cover, Adam kindly answered some questions for me!

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’m an author and screenwriter. Apart from three years living in Cairo between the ages of eight and eleven, I was born and raised in London. My wife and I moved to Shropshire a few years ago, where we now live with our three children. Having been a city boy most of my life, I’m a convert to the health benefits of living in the countryside and can often be found jogging along country lanes, or scaling cliffs in the Peak District and the Welsh mountains.

How did you end up becoming an author?

My parents struggled financially, so I wanted a career that was stable and lucrative and decided to study law at university. I found law quite dry and uninspiring, and after my degree became a management consultant. The sudden and unexpected death of my father caused me to re-evaluate my priorities and I decided to pursue my passion for writing. Amy and I left London, expecting it to take two years or so before I’d make any money from writing. It took ten.

I started off screenwriting because I was more comfortable with the form and was daunted by thought of writing a book, but in 2010, I decided to confront my fear and wrote a novel called Battalion. A big publisher was interested, but ultimately passed, so I self-published the book and it got nice reviews, which encouraged me to try again. The same thing happened with my second book, a dark paranormal thriller called Phase, and then I wrote Pendulum, which was the book that really changed things for me.

We went through some tough times during those ten ‘hardship’ years, but it’s been worth it, and not just for me. Amy’s also been writing and has fulfilled a lifetime ambition to become an author. She has a thriller, Remember Me, coming out with Orion in November.

How would you describe your writing to anyone who hasn’t read your books?

Like getting on a rollercoaster. I try to write action-packed books that will entertain readers and leave them a little breathless. I’m also fascinated by the issues raised by big social changes and weave them into my stories. Pendulum is all about the Internet and how it’s changed the way we interact. My new book, Black 13, is about the rise of the far-right and how espionage has changed beyond recognition.

Your forthcoming book, Black 13, rewrites the espionage thrillers as we know them. What made you decide to tear up the rule book with this one?

Black 13 is the first book in a new series that introduces readers to Scott Pearce and Leila Nahum. Pearce is a disgraced MI6 operative who’s on a quest to clear his tarnished reputation. Leila is a former M16 contractor, a fiercely independent Syrian refugee who’s haunted by the loss of her family. Black 13 sees them partner to take on a far-right conspiracy.

The book was inspired by my personal experiences during and after the 2016 EU referendum. I noticed a number of strange connections between disparate people and groups on social media and started mapping them. I took my research into the real world and went to a number of political meetings and protests on both sides of the divide, and talked to members and leaders of far-right and far-left groups, and people in law enforcement and intelligence.

One of my most surreal experiences was sitting in a Supermax prison next to a former member of a far-right group and hearing him say wistfully, ‘It’s all political now. Everything we were saying in the 80s and 90s, it’s all in the mainstream now. And there’s big money involved.’

That’s a pretty good summary of the landscape of Black 13.

One of the things I’m hoping to do with Black 13 and the Scott Pearce series is to showcase how intelligence has changed. Digital technology has given governments and private organisations the ability to manipulate populations. The Internet has democratised espionage work. We can all start and spread propaganda. Private citizens and corporations can and do employ intelligence organisations to carry out successful surveillance, intimidation and covert operations. Imagine what a well-resourced intelligence organisation can achieve in a world where they can reach billions of people directly.

Placing powerful digital tools in private hands and removing the filter of national media has put us all on the front line of contemporary espionage and I’m hoping the new Scott Pearce series will show the link between what happens on the street and what goes on in the corridors of power, and how covert operations affect us all in a very real and dangerous way.

Did you find it difficult to switch from the high-octane Pendulum trilogy universe to Black 13? 

Black 13 and the Scott Pearce series is every bit as high-octane as the Pendulum trilogy. Scott Pearce is a man who’s been trained for hostile environments and I really put him through his paces. And as for Leila…she’s inspired by three people I know. She’s been through things that would ruin many of us and struggles with a painful disability, and the events of Black 13 thoroughly test her, but she has a core of steel. I believe in pushing characters to their limits and letting the story unfold through action. It brings us back to the question about writing style. Black 13 is another rollercoaster, so readers will need to buckle up.

You’re also one of the co-founders of the newly created Capital Crime Festival, can you tell us what to expect?

David Headley and I founded Capital Crime last year and are hosting our first festival in London in September. We’ve brought together some of the world’s best crime and thriller authors in a huge celebration of the genre. It’s two-and-a-half days of marvellous events, screenings and parties and we’re trying to make it as inclusive and accessible as possible. We’ve got discount schemes for librarians and people on low incomes and are running initiatives to help people travelling alone connect with others. We want people to come to Capital Crime to spend time with their favourite authors and discover new ones, but most of all we want fans to have a wonderful and entertaining experience.

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Are you guys ready to see the cover?

Take a look at this beauty….

I am BEYOND excited to read Black 13, and that cover is just perfect! If you want to pre-order your copy (published by Macmillan in 2020), just click the link below!

Black 13 by Adam Hamdy