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Friday 16 February 2007
The Accident Man - Your feedback
Posted by Tom Cain at 10:44
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Casturbation 1: Samuel Carver
Someone told me the other day that there's a word for authors making up imaginary casts for the imaginary films of their not-so imaginary books ... casturbation.
In my case, the film-rights to The Accident Man have been optioned by Paramount, so there is, in theory a chance that it might actually appear, assuming that the studios actually admit that they make money from DVDs and the internet and that writers – you know, the people that actually think of all the stuff that executives couldn’t create in a million years – deserve a slice of the action their imaginations have generated. That way the writers’ strike can end and film-making can begin.
So, there is some point in casturbating a while …
And let’s start with Sam Carver.
As I told Clayton Moore on Bookslut [http://www.bookslut.com/features/2008_01_012147.php]
the original model for carver was Daniel Craig (this was before he’d been cast as Bond, I hasten to add). But now that he’s otherwise engaged, I’d suggest …
Clive Owen: cool, saturnine, British, tough, but just a fraction too old, perhaps?
Christian Bale: a genius, British-born, but he’s already being Batman, and he may just be too chilly, too other-worldly for Carver
Ioan Gruffudd: possibly too elegant, but an excellent actor (and we’ll draw a veil over Fantastic Four!)
And my – perhaps unlikely favourite …
Edward Norton: in person, a nerdy-looking guy with a receding chin, but an actor who has the ability to become a totally different, and totally persuasive character onscreen. I like the fact he doesn’t look like a super-smooth action hero (like Matt Damon in the Bourne franchise), and he could certainly give Carver the complexity that would make his predicament genuine and interesting.
Jason Statham: if they do it as a lowbrow, mid-budget, wham-bam action flick, he’s a cert.
And finally, improbably … Tom Cruise
No, I didn’t really envision the pint-sized Scientologist when I was creating Samuel Carver, but Cruise did unknowingly play a vital role in choosing the title for this book and, perhaps, film.
After two years of faffing about with a series of terrible, clunking names for the book, I simply took a long list of cool-sounding words along to the PizzaExpress restaurant in Arundel, West Sussex, where I regularly lunch with my mate Mitch Symons. Then we arranged the words in random combinations, seeing which looked best.
Finally, we performed the clinching test. In solemn, mock Hollywood tones, one or other of us would intone, ‘Tom Cruise is …’ followed by the possible title.
And so it came to pass: Tom Cruise is … The Accident Man.
In my case, the film-rights to The Accident Man have been optioned by Paramount, so there is, in theory a chance that it might actually appear, assuming that the studios actually admit that they make money from DVDs and the internet and that writers – you know, the people that actually think of all the stuff that executives couldn’t create in a million years – deserve a slice of the action their imaginations have generated. That way the writers’ strike can end and film-making can begin.
So, there is some point in casturbating a while …
And let’s start with Sam Carver.
As I told Clayton Moore on Bookslut [http://www.bookslut.com/features/2008_01_012147.php]
the original model for carver was Daniel Craig (this was before he’d been cast as Bond, I hasten to add). But now that he’s otherwise engaged, I’d suggest …
Clive Owen: cool, saturnine, British, tough, but just a fraction too old, perhaps?
Christian Bale: a genius, British-born, but he’s already being Batman, and he may just be too chilly, too other-worldly for Carver
Ioan Gruffudd: possibly too elegant, but an excellent actor (and we’ll draw a veil over Fantastic Four!)
And my – perhaps unlikely favourite …
Edward Norton: in person, a nerdy-looking guy with a receding chin, but an actor who has the ability to become a totally different, and totally persuasive character onscreen. I like the fact he doesn’t look like a super-smooth action hero (like Matt Damon in the Bourne franchise), and he could certainly give Carver the complexity that would make his predicament genuine and interesting.
Jason Statham: if they do it as a lowbrow, mid-budget, wham-bam action flick, he’s a cert.
And finally, improbably … Tom Cruise
No, I didn’t really envision the pint-sized Scientologist when I was creating Samuel Carver, but Cruise did unknowingly play a vital role in choosing the title for this book and, perhaps, film.
After two years of faffing about with a series of terrible, clunking names for the book, I simply took a long list of cool-sounding words along to the PizzaExpress restaurant in Arundel, West Sussex, where I regularly lunch with my mate Mitch Symons. Then we arranged the words in random combinations, seeing which looked best.
Finally, we performed the clinching test. In solemn, mock Hollywood tones, one or other of us would intone, ‘Tom Cruise is …’ followed by the possible title.
And so it came to pass: Tom Cruise is … The Accident Man.
ACCIDENTAL TRIVIA
The Accident Man is a work of pure fiction. But it is inspired by real events, places and facts. So here are some ... WARNING! There are spoilers (ish) in what follows ...
- It is possible to sabotage a helicopter using a screwdriver, hacksaw and Blu-Tack, just as Samuel Carver does in the opening chapter. It is also possible to mix C4 explosive and lubricating oil to create explosive putty, as Carver does when he first arrives in Paris.
- Although no year is specified in the book, all the research was based on the fact that Princess Diana was killed on 31 August 1997. For example, the Gulfstream V in which Carver flies from New Zealand to Paris, via Los Angeles, was not officially introduced until September 1997. It was, however, air-certified in April 1997, so it is conceivable that a group as powerful as the Consortium might have obtained a plane ahead of its public launch. The flight described between new Zealand and Los Angeles would have been – just! – within the jet’s range.
- The geography of Paris is exactly as described in the book. There are, for example, steps at the front of the Palais de Tokyo which would be climbable by a skilled rider on a Honda XR-400 (1997 model) trail-bike, like the one ridden by Carver. The fight between Carver and Kursk in the sewer museum at Les Egouts takes place in tunnels and chambers open to any visitor and they can also see the giant wooden ball with which Kursk attacks Carver, not to mention the winding metal steps up which Carver then escapes.
- In the admittedly unlikely event that even Grigori Kursk were tough enough to survive being blown up by an explosive charge, not to mention being swept away by a flood of sewage, the Paris sewer-network would deposit him just were he emerges, somewhere near the junction of the Boulevard Berthier and Avenue de Clichy, by the SNCF railyards.
- The bus-stop where Carver first encounters Alix exists, while the flat on the Ile St Louis which Carver booby-traps and the ‘hotel particular’ where he and Alix confront Max and his men are both adapted versions of genuine locations. The night-club off the Boulevard de Sebastopol where they hide out is a (heavily) fictionalised version of the famous ‘Bains Douches’.
- The train-timetables between France and Switzerland and the bus-routes within Geneva are all closely based on genuine schedules.
- The street on which Carver lives in the Old Town of Geneva is a fictional creation. But the cafĂ© owned by his friend Freddy is based on a tiny place on Grand Rue, next to an antiquarian bookshop which displays its goods on open shelves in the streets, in the very style that Alix finds so surprising. The Irish pub where Carver fights Kursk’s heavies was inspired by the experience of walking past Flanagan’s in the Rue du Cheval Blanc and realising, with a smile, that nowhere on earth was immune to Guinness and shamrocks. But it isn't intended to be Flanagan's.
- The management of the Hotel Beau Rivage, on the Quai du Mont Blanc are owed an apology for the use of their beautiful and deeply respectable establishment as the backdrop for such sleazy, honey-trapping activities as the ones that Alix and Carver get up to with the ill-fated banker, M. Leclerc! And I should point out that their bookings system is in fact far too secure for a real-life Thor Larsson to hack into it as he does in the book.
- The drugs used to create the correct combination of emotional warmth, disorientation, disinhibition and sexual arousal in M. Leclerc were hypothetically prescribed by a genuine doctor. Readers are, however, strongly advised not to try them at home, either individually or in combination.
- The flight-plan and cost (at 1997 prices) of a private flight from Biggin Hill to Sion are both accurate.
- The effects of prolonged torture by an electro-shock device like the belt used on Carver certainly involve muscle-spasm, incapacity, extreme pain and, if prolonged for too long, potential heart-failure and death. They can also include involuntary loss of bowel and bladder-control and memory-loss. Extreme mental stress can also induce a ‘fugue’ state in which a subject becomes totally dissociated from their usual identity, adopting another persona.
- It is possible to sabotage a helicopter using a screwdriver, hacksaw and Blu-Tack, just as Samuel Carver does in the opening chapter. It is also possible to mix C4 explosive and lubricating oil to create explosive putty, as Carver does when he first arrives in Paris.
- Although no year is specified in the book, all the research was based on the fact that Princess Diana was killed on 31 August 1997. For example, the Gulfstream V in which Carver flies from New Zealand to Paris, via Los Angeles, was not officially introduced until September 1997. It was, however, air-certified in April 1997, so it is conceivable that a group as powerful as the Consortium might have obtained a plane ahead of its public launch. The flight described between new Zealand and Los Angeles would have been – just! – within the jet’s range.
- The geography of Paris is exactly as described in the book. There are, for example, steps at the front of the Palais de Tokyo which would be climbable by a skilled rider on a Honda XR-400 (1997 model) trail-bike, like the one ridden by Carver. The fight between Carver and Kursk in the sewer museum at Les Egouts takes place in tunnels and chambers open to any visitor and they can also see the giant wooden ball with which Kursk attacks Carver, not to mention the winding metal steps up which Carver then escapes.
- In the admittedly unlikely event that even Grigori Kursk were tough enough to survive being blown up by an explosive charge, not to mention being swept away by a flood of sewage, the Paris sewer-network would deposit him just were he emerges, somewhere near the junction of the Boulevard Berthier and Avenue de Clichy, by the SNCF railyards.
- The bus-stop where Carver first encounters Alix exists, while the flat on the Ile St Louis which Carver booby-traps and the ‘hotel particular’ where he and Alix confront Max and his men are both adapted versions of genuine locations. The night-club off the Boulevard de Sebastopol where they hide out is a (heavily) fictionalised version of the famous ‘Bains Douches’.
- The train-timetables between France and Switzerland and the bus-routes within Geneva are all closely based on genuine schedules.
- The street on which Carver lives in the Old Town of Geneva is a fictional creation. But the cafĂ© owned by his friend Freddy is based on a tiny place on Grand Rue, next to an antiquarian bookshop which displays its goods on open shelves in the streets, in the very style that Alix finds so surprising. The Irish pub where Carver fights Kursk’s heavies was inspired by the experience of walking past Flanagan’s in the Rue du Cheval Blanc and realising, with a smile, that nowhere on earth was immune to Guinness and shamrocks. But it isn't intended to be Flanagan's.
- The management of the Hotel Beau Rivage, on the Quai du Mont Blanc are owed an apology for the use of their beautiful and deeply respectable establishment as the backdrop for such sleazy, honey-trapping activities as the ones that Alix and Carver get up to with the ill-fated banker, M. Leclerc! And I should point out that their bookings system is in fact far too secure for a real-life Thor Larsson to hack into it as he does in the book.
- The drugs used to create the correct combination of emotional warmth, disorientation, disinhibition and sexual arousal in M. Leclerc were hypothetically prescribed by a genuine doctor. Readers are, however, strongly advised not to try them at home, either individually or in combination.
- The flight-plan and cost (at 1997 prices) of a private flight from Biggin Hill to Sion are both accurate.
- The effects of prolonged torture by an electro-shock device like the belt used on Carver certainly involve muscle-spasm, incapacity, extreme pain and, if prolonged for too long, potential heart-failure and death. They can also include involuntary loss of bowel and bladder-control and memory-loss. Extreme mental stress can also induce a ‘fugue’ state in which a subject becomes totally dissociated from their usual identity, adopting another persona.
22 comments:
Cancel all appointments, free up your diary and set the Sky+ box for that ‘must-see’ show, because once you pick up The Accident Man you just might not be able to put it down!
If you like your thrillers to be fast-paced, adrenaline-fuelled, suspenseful and intense, The Accident Man will deliver; with a generous helping of romance, torture and controversy thrown in for good measure. From its high-octane opening to the emotionally-charged climax, this book takes the reader on a heart-stopping rollercoaster ride of highs, lows and ‘what-ifs’.
With its engaging lead character - cut from the same cloth as Bond, Bauer and Bourne - and a conspiratorial plot that’s so realistic and so close to home that you actually find yourself questioning “the truth”, The Accident Man has the perfect page-turning ingredients to become an instant classic.
Sam Carver has the makings of a wonderful new hero in thriller fiction, a fabulous blend of Jack Reacher/James Bond (with the highly appealing image of Daniel Craig at the back of one's mind). I read The Accident Man in one sitting - perfect entertainment and gripping reading based on a clever conspiracy theory about the princess whose story still preoccupies us. In Tom Cain's The Accident Man a new star is born.
The Accident Man is a book not to be started late at night because you just won't be able to put it down! So be warned before settling down to read it!
Fast-paced from start to finish with a great twist at the end. Lets hope this is just the beginning of Sam Carver's character and his future adventures.
Don't miss out on the oppurtunity to read this superb book!
Absolutely brilliant!
A shotgun in the arm for the Thriller Genre. Forget the Diana furore that will undoubtedly ensue upon publication, for once you begin 'The Accident Man' you are in the hands of a master storyteller. Tom Cain has pulled off a 'Daniel Craig', breathing new life into a genre that can take years to master. Jack Reacher, Nick Stone and Jason Bourne had better watch their backs - Carver is the real deal.
When this gets to number one, it will be neither a conspiracy or an accident.....
Addictively unputdownable, The Accident Man signals the debut of a major new talent. Don't miss out!
Being a working mum of small children my reading time is very limited. Very occasionally I read a book that makes me abandon my parental responsibilities completely as I am so absorbed and desperate to read on. Accident Man was one of those books. I thought the plot was great, the style was easy and flowing and the pace was gripping - reminiscent of how I felt about Da Vinci Code. I was completely absorbed and desperate to find out more. Even when I knew 'who done it' the pace didn't let up for a second. Fantastic book! I'll certainly be recommending it to my friends!
I think I'm the only person in the civilized world who doesn't think Diana was murdered - but what a brilliant plot for a thriller. And it delivers on every front. Thoroughly enjoyable . . . fasten your seat-belts !
I'm about 70 pages from the end and it's absolutely brilliant! The pace is breathtaking and the leading character Carver reminds me of a British version of Jack Reacher.
Janet Thompsett
A rollicking read from start to finish. I was exhusted when I finished but then it was 2.45am!!Great ending.
‘Audacious, authentic, full of tension and tradecraft . . . maybe it’s true and maybe it isn’t, but either way it’s a great thriller read.’
This is an excellent read, one of the best books I have read in a long time. Great job of keeping the reader fascinated, right to the last page.
I read Tom Cain’s "The Accident Man" on a flight from Capetown to London Heathrow and within minutes after take-off I found myself being swept along by the narrative with the same power and velocity that the Rolls Royce engines on the wings were carrying me through the sky.
Sam Carver is a highly trained killer but the fact that he only practises his skills on those who deserve to die makes him more a pest controller than an assassin. He is a man with humour and humanity, with style and immense courage. I liked him from the first page, and shared his suffering and his ultimate triumph.
Alexandra Petrova is a magnificent woman; surpassing beautiful, clever and enigmatic. Is she going to kill Sam as she was paid to do, or will she come to love him? The suspense is agonizing.
The villains are marvellously treacherous and beastly. They richly deserve what Sam and Alexandra deal out to them. The plot is fascinating, the pace never slows up, the crosses are double and triple, the twists and turns kept me guessing all along the way.
This is the best first thriller I have read since "The Day of the Jackal", and that was a long time ago. With one mighty bound Tom Cain has vaulted over Archer and Grisham and stands close on Freddy Forsyth’s tail.
Forget the man on the grassy knoll, this is the best conspiracy thriller you will ever read.
Think Jack Reacher, think James Bond, think outrageously fanciable lead character with a wild streak and you get Sam Carver. While it seems impossible to gauge exactly what it is about the protagonist in The Accident Man that makes him just so desirable, it's an easy task when it comes to the book itself. This is thriller writing at its very best: gripping, emotive, action-packed and full of suspense. It's an absolutely amazing read which you simply cannot afford to miss.
After all, if it's exhilarating enough to prise me away from my usual shopping- and shoe-fuelled reads, it's a genuine treat for anyone. I'm just dying to find out where the story goes from here! Congratulations on a truly fantastic novel.
Brilliant.
Tom Cain could be the next Frederick Forsyth.
Just to echo -
The Accident Man is an excellent Thriller, blew me away.
Features on this book and writer to follow at THE RAP SHEET, SHOTS AND CRIMESPREE
Best Regards
Ali Karim
www.shotsmag.co.uk
www.therapsheet.blogspot.com
www.januarymagazine.com
www.crimespreemag.com
www.deadlypleasures.com
http://www.booksnbytes.com/reviews/_idx_ak_all_byauth.html
The Accident Man is a brilliant, heart-thumping thriller that will have you gripped to the last page.
Sam Carver is an irresistable hero; Reacher-meets-Bond is an image to keep you awake long after you've finished the book!
I read the accident man the second after my husband put the book on the side, i was hooked into the story from the firs chapter, what a dream man is Samuel Carver....., and Alex is deadly pretty woman with everything that earthy moman do not have and would give the world to have part of her beaty.
Cuptivating story.
Must read book, the best fast moving thriller/ violent action.
Niso
I haven't read a (fictional) book in years but having seen a poster at the train station, I bought your book and read it in every spare moment I had. It was phenomenal. The story grips you from the first chapter! You've got me back into reading thrillers!
You have a great talent, I look forward to your next book! I really do hope (having read your blog) that it will be made into a movie..
Thanks!
As you will have already seen from KUMB, both the wife and I thoroughly enjoyed this fast moving and enthralling book.
It's interesting your references to Ludlum because we are both Ludlum fans and whilst it is 'in the style' of the old master it is nowhere near a copy of it.
Everything is believable, if a little far fetched at times, which is why it is so good. It fuels your imagination on a subject quite close to a lot of people.
Well done, and C'mon you Irons :-)
Well we got there in the end and I hope it was worth the wait! Our review follows...
… a perfect thriller.
A powerful consortium of wealthy and influential men has employed Samuel Carver to eliminate a known terrorist target in a classic ‘black’ operation. At least, that’s what they have told him. With skilled, military precision he sets about the mark, but it all soon starts to unravel. Finally, having completed his job and forced the car carrying his target to crash at speed in a tunnel in Paris, he realises that he has been set up. Worse still, someone is now trying to eliminate him in order to cover their tracks.
It’s Sunday 31st August 1997 - and the target turns out to be the Princess of Wales. Now Carver knows he’s in big trouble.
Having shaken off one of the two assassins paid to eliminate him in the Paris sewers, Carver manages to hook up with the second, the stunning Russian courtesan, Alix, in an unlikely alliance. Can they trust each other? Soon both are on the run and trying to unravel the tangled trail of deceit that surrounds them.
Who are the secretive members of the consortium and why did they want the Princess dead? Is someone else pulling the strings behind the scenes? Along the way Carver and Alix encounter a ruthless Russian oligarch, dangerous hired thugs, corrupt high-ranking British government advisers, MI5, MI6 and a lot more besides…
Is Alix all she seems - and will Carver live to tell the tale?
Review
With an impressive list of literary fans heralding this book pre-publication (Wilbur Smith, Lee Child and more…) much was expected of The Accident Man – and, boy, does it deliver! This novel reads like a masterclass in thriller writing. It start with a brilliant opening hook; adds some great characters, exotic locations, a tough-guy hero, a stunning female lead, some really nasty bad guys, a few mysterious twists and turns to the plot and… well, what more could you ask?
The really interesting thing about The Accident Man is that, despite being based around the death of the Princess of Wales, the actual event of her death is peripheral to the main storyline and, in fact, she is never named. The entire focus of the plot is on Carver as the main protagonist. He’s the classic British hero. Strong, super-efficient and outwardly unemotional - yet with a core of decency and emotional attachment that belies his macho front. If Carver returns – and I really do so hope he will - he could just turn out to be a Bond for our times.
Reading The Accident Man is an exhausting, exhilarating and utterly enjoyable experience. That Cain manages to gain, and maintain, our sympathies for Carver – the hired assassin responsible for the death of the Princess of Wales – is quite a feat in itself. Yes, it’s escapist stuff, yet somehow entirely believable. I strongly urge you to read this book. It’s a perfect thriller.
Rating *****
Review AC
A breathtaking book, I enjoyed every part of it. Just the right combination of details and action so it keeps you on the edge. The characters were very skilfully developped making it very easy to get carried away.
A new classic.
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