• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Humphrey Hawksley

Author, commentator and broadcaster

  • Home
  • About
  • Journalism
  • Books
  • Humphrey’s
    Diary
  • Blog
  • Contact
    & Photos
  • Rake Ozenna Thrillers
  • Future History
  • International Thrillers
  • Non-Fiction
  • All Books

Fix the Threat Before it Strikes

20th May 2021

EDITOR’S PICK

Lethal tech and oncoming catastrophe: Humphrey Hawksley on MAN ON FIRE

“Brass-knuckled international intrigue for readers who still pine for the world of James Bond”

Kirkus Reviews


A tense firefight on the Russian-American border heralds the start of a terrifying high-stakes mission for special forces agent Major Rake Ozenna in this gripping espionage thriller.

Here, Humphrey reveals the terrifying real-life research and inspiration behind this page-turning read.

Five years ago, I was on a panel at an international security conference in Seoul, South Korea, spellbound as a former director of America’s Central Intelligence Agency explained lethal technology about which I was totally unaware.

 A couple of years later, we met up again at a similar conference and I asked what, if anything, had been done to lessen the risk.  He shook his head in despair. Nothing.

 When mapping out Man on Fire, I checked in defence and security circles to discover that not only had nothing much been done, but also that things had got far worse.

As we all know, computers are advancing at a formidable pace changing all our lives, mostly for the better and making us over-reliant on electronic networks. They are also producing new styles of warfare whether it be cyber-attack, space or something else.

Working with specialists, I fictionally constructed a threat from this technology in a way that could drive us back to the stone age.

This is the weapon of Man on Fire.

I got a real buzz out of turning the germ of the idea that crossed my path at that conference into a fictional story, deeply embedded in research.

L–R (top): Humphrey researching Rake Ozenna; A Little Diomede native hunter (credit: Poulomi Basu); Humphrey on Rake’s home island, Little Diomede. L–R (bottom): Keeping watch on Russia (credit: PB); returning from Walrus Hunt on Little Diomede; the US-Russia border

Growing up, I learned so much from fiction. I had no concept about the birth of Israel until I read Leon Uris’ Exodus. Similarly, Arthur Hailey taught me about hotels and airports, and James Michener about Hawaii, Poland and 1970s travelling with sex, drugs and music in The Drifters.

Man on Fire is the third thriller in my series featuring Rake Ozenna, a hard-as-nails native American soldier from the remote Alaskan island of Little Diomede that sits right on the border with Russia.

One part of him wants to be with his fellow islanders and a landscape as remote, inhospitable, dangerous and beautiful as anywhere on Earth. Another part needs the murky world of espionage and war.

Rake follows orders. He doesn’t dwell on problems. He fixes them. He handles international duplicity as he would dangerous erratic weather patterns around his home island.

I was delighted when that master of thriller writing, Nelson DeMille, said of Rake, “He’s smart and tough, and we’re glad to have him on our side.”

It was heartening, too, when asked onto another security panel, a note came through from one of the organizers and thriller fan, saying, “Thank you for Rake Ozenna. I now know a hell of a lot more about those islands on our border with Russia.”

But I got the biggest kick and worry, just before writing this piece, when there happened to be a security webinar on the weapon Rake is facing in Man on Fire.

Yes, the situation is even more precarious than when I started writing it.  The common theme from those in the know is that it has to be tackled with the utmost urgency.

Maybe they should take a leaf from Rake’s book and just go out and fix it before catastrophe strikes.


“A gripping story … This is not just a page-turner; it is also a wake-up call”

SIR OLIVER LETWIN, former British Minister of State for Government Policy


“Fast-paced … Chillingly real”

DR PETER VINCENT PRY, Director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security


~ MAN ON FIRE launches in the UK in hardback on 29 April ~

~ The worldwide eBook launches 1 June ~

~ The US hardback launches 6 July ~

Amazon UK / Amazon US

Please share this:

 

 

 

Lethal tech and oncoming catastrophe: Humphrey Hawksley on MAN ON FIRE

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: Joining the Dots

Primary Sidebar

For enquiries and further information

To contact Humphrey:
[email protected]

Before sending your email address please read our GDPR Compliance Statement and Privacy Notice to reassure yourself that we are looking after your data responsibly.

Categories

  • Events (207)
  • Joining the Dots (27)

Archives

Follow Humphrey on Twitter

Humphrey Hawksley Follow

Journalist, Host (Goldster Bookclub), Host (Democracy Forum), Author of the Rake Ozenna Thriller Series | Asian Waters, the struggle for the Indo-Pacific

HumphreyHawk
23 Jan

Inside Story with Humphrey: Gregg Hurwitz Live from Riverstone https://www.humphreyhawksley.com/event/inside-story-with-humphrey-gregg-hurwitz-live-from-riverstone/

Reply on Twitter 1617497955899949056 Retweet on Twitter 1617497955899949056 8 Like on Twitter 1617497955899949056 17 Twitter 1617497955899949056
Retweet on Twitter Humphrey Hawksley Retweeted
22 Jan

The very Bestest of the Year of the Rabbit to friends, visitors, followers, critics, editors, readers, audience, authors @Goldster, @democracy_forum, @severnhouse @canongatebooks @thrillerwriters @The_CWA @ukUPF @chelseaartsclub @nlclondon and all. Have as good as one as can be.

Reply on Twitter 1617123598933581824 Retweet on Twitter 1617123598933581824 16 Like on Twitter 1617123598933581824 47 Twitter 1617123598933581824
22 Jan

The very Bestest of the Year of the Rabbit to friends, visitors, followers, critics, editors, readers, audience, authors @Goldster, @democracy_forum, @severnhouse @canongatebooks @thrillerwriters @The_CWA @ukUPF @chelseaartsclub @nlclondon and all. Have as good as one as can be.

Reply on Twitter 1617123598933581824 Retweet on Twitter 1617123598933581824 16 Like on Twitter 1617123598933581824 47 Twitter 1617123598933581824
Load More

Footer

Search site

Connect with Humphrey

  • E-mail
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Join Humphrey’s mailing list

Subscribe

Email Humphrey

For general enquiries and bookings for events:

[email protected] and [email protected]

Copyright © 2008–2023 Humphrey Hawksley · All rights reserved · Site Terms, Cookies and Privacy · GDPR Compliance Statement · Website by LiT Web Studio