What Book did writer and former CIA analyst David McCloskey read by candlelight in one

Thriller writer David McCloskey

What Book…

…are you reading now?

An advance copy of John Lechner’s terrific history of the Wagner Group and the rise of private armies, Death Is Our Business.

It’s gripping and superbly researched, featuring interviews with dozens of Wagner members.

It’s remarkable to consider that the couple of hundred years hiatus on mercenary armies is now over, that nation states won’t be the only entities fielding military firms in the decades to come.

This is one of those non-fiction books that gives this spy novelist ideas. It’s full of great material.

…would you take to a desert island?

A huge tome on survivalism, ideally with pictures and charts to help me sort through everything I’d need to stay alive.

Now, if this book is meant for reading, I’m looking for comfort, and also something fairly long to pass the time, and that’s either the Bible or Watership Down.

Consumed by candlelight: McCloskey read A World Lit Only By Fire in one sitting 

…first gave you the reading bug?

William Manchester’s A World Lit Only By Fire (inset). Oh, sure, I’d been reading lots before I found this book in my dad’s office during a snowstorm that was going to take down our electricity. 

And sure, I believe that some of its claims have been discredited or questioned since. 

But this history of medieval Europe on the cusp of the Renaissance and the great sea voyages of the 15th and 16th centuries was the first book I consumed, by candlelight, in one sitting. 

Ever since, I’ve been after books like that.

…left you cold?

I’ll confess to scratching my head on the definition of ‘cold’ here. Is this a book that left me feeling cold, e.g. deeply moved by its sheer emotional force? If so, that’s Gates Of Fire by Steven Pressfield.

It’s a brutal and beautiful story of life and death, war and peace in ancient Sparta, and at its centre is one of the best depictions of brotherhood I’ve ever read.

Now, if ‘cold’ suggests I had a difficult time with the thing, and maybe even didn’t get close to finishing because it was so miserable, I’d have to say Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick.

If this Q&A finds its way to Mrs Kvikstad, my lit teacher in secondary, I’ll have no choice but to admit that I did not finish it! In fact, I barely started.

There, I’ve finally said it! And I’ve got to say, it feels good to come clean.

The Seventh Floor by David McCloskey (Swift Press £20) is available now from the Mail Bookshop