Twisted Reasons and The Third Man

Carol Reed’s The Third Man, based on Graham Greene’s wonderful story, is my very favorite movie. So my move to Vienna in 2004 brought the pleasure of breathing the cultured and exotic atmosphere of the former Imperial capital where Greene’s gripping thriller unfolds. Although much has changed since the immediate post-War era when the film was turned amidst bomb-ravaged ruins, the lingering sense that this city never gave up its role as an entrepȏt of espionage, of East/West intrigue, of nefarious underworld activities, still surfaces in the beautiful cafés, concert halls and churches that dot this city.

It was because of this enthusiasm for the characters of Holly Martin and Harry Lime and the plot that Greene spins around them that I conceived of writing Twisted Reasons―and indeed, the first part of my thriller pays tribute to Graham Greene’s. But instead of having hero and anti-hero play out the 'whodunit' in the world of trading tampered drugs, I placed my antagonist, Adam Kallay, and my protagonist, Greg Martens, in the middle of the heist of some highly enriched uranium from one of the former secret Soviet atomic cities. As the story took a life of its own, I saw that the book could serve as the perfect instrument to explore the lingering devastation caused by Soviet experimentation with nuclear technology and the bomb.

I therefore hope that the reader will find in Twisted Reasons not just the excitement and suspense of a good yarn, but also some learning about a subject that is less familiar to Western audiences.