For spy novelists, Trump-Russia allegations are a potential gold mine, but also a minefield
Trump controversy proving both a rich vein of inspiration and frustration for writers challenged, amused and angered by the cloud of suspicion hanging over US president and his team
“The plot line was an American presidential candidate who has a secret that’s so bad it would ensure his or her impeachment, and the only person who would know the secret is Vladimir Putin,” says Matthews, a prize-winning author best known for his Red Sparrow thrillers.
Matthews set the novel aside, but he’s in no danger of running out of ideas.
With US law enforcement and the US Congress looking into possible ties between Trump advisers and Russians during the 2016 campaign, spy novelists have been challenged, amused, angered and inspired. The cold war ended decades ago, but writers now see a new wave of possible plot twists and plots to avoid, whether the reported Russian contacts of such former Trump campaign officials as Paul Manafort and Carter Page, the Trump dossier compiled by British intelligence or the firing of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn over phone conversations with the Russian ambassador.
“I wake up every morning and I think, ‘Thank heavens for Vladimir Putin’,” says Matthews, whose next book, The Kremlin’s Candidate, will centre on the “tried and true” story of a Russian asset in the CIA. “He’s a great character and his national goals are the stuff for spy novels: weaken Nato, dissolve the Atlantic alliance, break up the European Union.”