Rowland White, Publisher at Orion, has acquired debut thriller writer - and ex-MI6 field operative - Matthew Dunn from agent Luigi Bonomi at LBA in a substantial pre-emptive deal for three books. All three will feature Dunn's charismatic British MI6 field
Debut thriller by ex-MI6 Operator to Orion
Rowland White, Publisher at Orion, has acquired debut thriller writer - and ex-MI6 field operative - Matthew Dunn from agent Luigi Bonomi at LBA in a substantial pre-emptive deal for three books. All three will feature Dunn's charismatic British MI6 field operative Will Cochrane.
The first thriller, titled Megiddo after the codename of the book's villain, has the British spy leading a joint US/UK team hunting an Iranian terrorist mastermind before he's able to launch a devastating attack in the west. The pursuit turns out to be a great deal more personal and desperate than Cochrane could ever have imagined.
The books will be published on White's new imprint, launched next year.
North American rights were sold quickly in a pre-emptive deal, negotiated by Orion, to HarperCollins.
Rowland White says: 'Megiddo was the most exciting new thriller I've seen for years. Dynamic, vivid, assured and astonishingly authentic, I'm sure it marks the both the beginning of a stellar thriller writing career for Matthew and the first appearance of a vividly realised hero, in Will Cochrane, whom readers will want to spend time with again and again'
Matthew Dunn says: "I am delighted to be working with Orion and HarperCollins in the US. The enthusiasm of these two publishers and that of my brilliant, insightful agent Luigi Bonomi, is truly flattering. Megiddo will be the first of many books to come featuring MI6 hero Will Cochrane, a character with whom I hope I can take the spy thriller to new levels of depth, authenticity, adventure and tension. I'm looking forward to working with Rowland and the team at Orion to make a success of Megiddo and the Cochrane novels that follows. "
Matthew Dunn, is an ex-MI6 field operative and, in writing Megiddo, has been able to draw extensively on his own experience, both in this and, subsequently, running his own business in the Middle East.
MEGIDDO by Matthew Dunn will be published in hardback in July 2011.
