Alex Shaw's Total Blackout is shortlisted for the 2021 Best Published Novel award.

When the lights go out… British MI6 agent, and former SAS trooper, Jack Tate is trying to escape his past when he witnesses a terrorist attack of unthinkable scale. An electro-magnetic pulse knocks out the US power grid, killing anything with a computer processor, throwing the whole country into darkness. 

Under the cover of the blackout, a clandestine operation aims to assassinate prominent public figures on US soil. Looting and violence spreads across the country. And Jack Tate’s past comes back to haunt him. As the only intelligence operative on the ground, he is hurled into a mission that will put him – and the people he loves – in immediate danger. With the fate of the United States on the line, only he can prevent the horror of a new world war. 

About the Author:

Alex spent the second half of the 1990s in Kyiv, Ukraine running his own business consultancy before being head-hunted for a division of Siemens. The next few years saw him doing business for the company across the former USSR, the Middle East, and Africa. Most recently he has spent several years in Doha, Qatar. 

Alex is an active member of the International Thriller Writers and the Crime Writers' Association. He is the author of the international bestselling Aidan Snow and Jack Tate thrillers and the forthcoming Sophie Racine series. His writing has also been published in several thriller anthologies. He is commercially published by HarperCollins (HQ) in English and Luzifer Verlag in German. 

Alex, his wife and their two sons divide their time between homes in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sussex, England and Doha, Qatar. Follow Alex on twitter: @alexshawhetman or Instagram @alexshawthrillerwriter or find him on Facebook. Alex is represented by Justin Nash of The Kate Nash Literary Agency, @JustinNashLit.

WNSF: What does adventure writing mean to you? Would you have considered yourself an adventure writer before being shortlisted for the Prize?

Alex: An adventure to me is a journey made exciting, memorable, compelling and unique. Adventure Writing in my opinion is writing about such journeys. I have always been a fan of writing that transports me as a reader in time and place. There’s nothing more I like than reading an exciting story which takes place in unique or hitherto personally unexplored location. 

Before being shortlisted for the Prize I would have considered myself an adventure writer because in each of my stories I try to use action and narrative to explore new locations. My protagonists are propelled into journeys, both physical and psychological, and in the course of this either foiling a plot, solving a crime or learning something about themselves. 

WNSF: Are there any particular books or authors which have made a lasting impact on you? 

Alex: There are a number of books and authors which have excited me and given me flashes of unique cultures, customs and locations which I would have otherwise not have experienced. These include Jake Needham’s Singapore and Thailand set thrillers, Jørn Lier Horst’s Norwegian crime fiction, Michael Ridpath’s Icelandic mysteries, Lee Child’s US set Reacher series and the globe-trotting espionage thrillers from Mark Greaney, Tom Wood and Stephen Leather.   

Q: Can you tell us about any adventurous experiences in your life? Have they influenced you as a writer or your writing?

Alex: I have always loved to travel, so after graduating I wanted to work overseas. I took a job in Kyiv, Ukraine. On arriving in 1996, I was instantly submerged in an exciting and completely different world. On my first day in the country, I met my future wife. We got married seven years later and have now been together for twenty-five years. Newly independent Ukraine was a nation emerging from the shadows of the former Soviet Union, yet no one was writing about it. Kyiv had been the third largest city of the former USSR but was overlooked. This is what made me decide to start writing thrillers set in and around Ukraine. 

After living in Ukraine for several years I moved back to the UK and started working for a subsidiary of Siemens in an international sales role. This job saw me travelling all over Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and the former USSR. These places and experiences I banked and developed further in my writing. 

In 2017 my wife was offered a position in Qatar and this move saw the family becoming ex-pats. We lived in Doha for three years and during this time explored the country, region and the far east. These experiences, as well as my earlier ones have made their way into my writing and hopefully enriched it and made it more unique. 

WNSF: Can you tell us about a particular relationship between two characters in your novel and how you made it feel genuine? 

Alex: In Total Blackout the relationship between Jack Tate and his brother Simon Hunter is integral to the success of both the plot and Tate’s mission. Their relationship is quite complex and I’ve used techniques such as flashbacks to childhood memories and ‘in jokes’ between them to show this. Although Tate is not Hunter’s brother by birth he is in every other way. I’ve explored their shared childhood: holidays, family routines and then shown the brothers as adults watching enjoying the same things. I’ve mentioned how both are different and yet the same in their beliefs and ideals, and hopefully I’ve imparted the love they have for each other which drives the novel. 

Q: A strong sense of place is vital to any great adventure story. What role does research play in your writing? How did you make your setting feel realistic? 

Alex: If I am using a setting, I have visited or lived in, I use personal experience and memory. If it’s a place I can get to then I try to write at least part of the novel on location. It’s amazing how much more we notice about a place if we just sit, observe and then write. If the location I am using is one I’ve not or can’t get to then I’ll ‘cheat’ and use online tools such as Google Earth and Streetview to get a feeling for the place. I try to virtually walk the route of any journey and take note of any interesting aspect. I’ll throw in historical references, information from local tourist boards and speak to people who know the area. Fingers crossed that my readers can’t tell when I have or have not been to a place! 

WNSF: What would you consider the upsides, and the downsides, are of being an author?

Alex: One of the biggest upsides of being an author is the creative freedom to explore new characters and worlds. It’s the chance to tell an untold story, explore a forgotten crime, investigate a theme, impart knowledge and live a new location whilst all the while attempting to entertain and inform the reader. I also love interacting with readers and hopefully inspiring others to write. The greatest downside I find of being an author can be the solitary nature of writing. Even if I’m writing on location, I’m an observer and alone in public.