My sincere love and gratitude to my parents, Kamal and Mick, for their continuing support.
Immense thanks to my agent, John Jarrold, who has been both consul and oracle; without his deeply valuable guidance and belief, this book would never have reached publication.
Peter Lavery, possibly the smartest man alive, and with a pencil in his hand, certainly the most ruthless. My deep gratitude to him, and also to Julie Crisp for helping to shape this book into something better.
Thanks to: Graeme Harris, for the late-night conversations; Robert Thompson for the crucial advice; James Long for the wide-ranging discussions. And a special thanks to George Mann, good friend and sounding board.
And many writers continue to inspire and influence me, and I’m doubtlessly in debt to them all; but they are too numerous to mention here.