David McCloskey and Tim Shipman Discuss The Seventh Floor and the return of Artemis Proctor
In this engaging conversation, The Sunday Times Chief Political Commentator and spy fiction fan Tim Shipman interviews David McCloskey, the ex-CIA analyst turned award-winning spy novelist.
They discuss David McCloskey's journey from a promising debut author to an international expert on espionage, his new podcast ‘The Rest Is Classified‘, and his reflections on the Syria and the fall of Assad. McCloskey reveals more about the actual Seventh Floor at Langley.
The conversation delves into the psychological dynamics of regime change, the challenges of writing fiction versus non-fiction, and the development of McCloskey's protagonist, Artemis Proctor, in his latest book ‘The Seventh Floor'.
David McCloskey reveals more about his latest spy novel The Seventh Floor, exploring themes of character development, the intricacies of espionage, and the influence of literary predecessors such as John le Carré. He delves into the motivations behind his characters, particularly the Russian perspective, and the moral complexities faced by intelligence officers.
The discussion also touches on the challenges of writing about familiar settings, the dynamics of betrayal, and the future of his literary projects, including potential adaptations for film and television.
Watch Tim Shipman's conversation about The Seventh Floor with author and The Rest is Classified Co-Host David McCloskey
Chapters
00:00 The Rise of David McCloskey
02:39 The Podcast: The Rest Is Classified
05:27 Reflections on Syria and the Fall Of Assad
09:59 Will David write non fiction?
11:19 On writing a mole hunt spy novel
13:11 David reveals more about the real life Seventh Floor
15:43 Plot Overview of The Seventh Floor
18:00 New Characters in the Artemis Proctor World
19:33 Character Development and New Faces
20:28 How do you make Artemis more exotic?
24:12 Homage to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
29:21 Exploring the Russian Perspective
32:00 Understanding the Enemy: Russian Worldview
35:26 Setting the Scene: From Russia to America
38:21 Counterintelligence: The Agency's Inner Workings
40:57 Spoilers
48:59 Proctor's Journey: A Character's Evolution
49:54 What is David writing next?
51:17 TV/Movie Adaptations Update
51:52 Jackson Lamb/Artemis Proctor mashup?
What is The Seventh Floor by David McCloskey About?
Six CIA officers. Dear friends and cherished enemies. For a quarter century they have stolen other people’s secrets. Now they must steal each other’s.
A Russian arrives in Singapore with a secret to sell. When the Russian is killed and Sam Joseph, the CIA officer dispatched for the meet, goes missing, operational chief Artemis Procter is made a scapegoat for the disaster and run out of the service. Months later, Sam appears at Procter’s doorstep with an explosive secret: there is a Russian mole burrowed deep within the highest ranks of the CIA.
As Procter and Sam investigate, they arrive at a shortlist of suspects made up of both Procter’s closest friends and fiercest enemies. The hunt requires Procter to dredge up her checkered past in the service of the CIA, placing the pair in the sights of a savvy Russian spymaster who will protect Moscow’s mole in Langley at all costs. What happens when friendships forged by sweat and blood―from the Farm to Afghanistan and the executive “Seventh Floor” of CIA’s Langley headquarters―are put to the ultimate test? What can we truly know about the people we love the most?
Taking readers from Langley to Moscow to Paris and beyond, The Seventh Floor explores the nature of friendship in a faithless business, and what it means to love a place that does not love you back.
Buy The Seventh Floor by David McCloskey
Did you know that one of the UK's top journalists Tim Shipman of The Sunday Times, has a passion for espionage novels? And that he has meticulously curated a compendium of his favorite 125 spy authors for the Spybrary Podcast and Community, all carefully ranked with suggestions on which book to start with from each spy author.
Grab your copy of this invaluable dossier and as a bonus, your enlistment ushers you into the monthly Spybrary Briefing, where we divulge imminent and upcoming spy book releases.
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