American spy author PAUL VIDICH talks to Paul Burke about his fascination with the Cold War and  about his new Moscow set thriller THE MERCENARY.  The fourth in the George Mueller series, published by NO EXIT PRESS, all are available now.

THE MERCENARY:
A CIA mole in the KGB, codename Gambit, is willing to trade top secret weapons intelligence for ex-filtration to the West. When Station Chief George Mueller is compromised the CIA send Alex Garin to rescue Gambit. But they are soon second guessing that decision, is Garin trustworthy, after all his father was Russian? Garin and lover Natalya are caught up in a deadly game being played out between the CIA and warring factions inside the KGB. Is the spy with a Russian heart and an American head hero or traitor?

Paul discusses his motivation for writing spy fiction, there's a huge nod to John le Carré's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, and honourable mentions for Charles McCarry and Freddie Forsyth's The Day of the Jackal.

Paul's own family history is bound up with the Rockefeller Commission into MKUltra, the illegal CIA psychological warfare programme. His government scientist uncle Frank Olson was murdered, committed suicide or fell to his death from a New York hotel room in the 1950s depending on which account you believe.

Paul also explains why all corporations are like the CIA.
 
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Paul Burke twitter @paulodaburka

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