The Scarlet Papers: The Times Thriller of the Year 2023

According to the papers, he had unwittingly committed the cardinal sin of being pale, male and stale. None of the above seemed likely to change in the immediate future.

Death was funny like that. It lingered like an hourglass, grains of sand slipping through with unstoppable momentum. Pleasures must be seized, opportunities taken.

‘Check the statute book, Professor. The Coroners and Justice Act 2009.’ ‘Refresh my memory.’ ‘Clearly prohibits any monetary gain by the description of a crime. Little thing called an “exploitative proceeds order”. Mainly ex-cons looking to cash in. But it comes in handy for us spooks now and then.’

‘A hot war’s better than a cold one. At least everyone knows the score.’

The secret war, the scientific struggle, depended on that. Spying was a performance and the costume, the voice, the initial entrance were as vital as the lines themselves.

Max maintained eye contact. For the first time in years, he felt fully alive. There was something magnetic about trying to outwit an opponent, using every ounce of intelligence to create a real-world effect.

‘The sun has gone over the yardarm,’

The first twenty years of life, he was starting to realize, were all external. Spots, grease, hormones – the bumpy ride to adulthood. The next twenty were all internal, far more difficult to catch.

All of us shapeshifters, eternally mutating.