Q&A with Kyle Mills

 

 

 

Kyle Mills is the author of the new novel Fade In. His many other books include nine novels in Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp series. Mills lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Granada, Spain. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write Fade In, and how did you create your character Fade?

 

A: Fade was a character I originally created more than 20 years ago. I wanted to bring a unique voice and perspective to the genre. While he certainly has all the expected deadly skills, he’s also the child of Syrian immigrants who has a complicated relationship with America and a moral compass that doesn’t always point north.

 

Q: How did you research the novel, and did you learn anything that especially surprised you?

 

A: The book is very much about runaway technology and the rise of an extremely powerful elite class—both from politics and the ultra-wealthy. It was a fascinating, but also terrifying, subject to look into.

 

What surprised me was that it’s all much worse than I imagined. Human society seems to be headed for a ditch and I’m not sure there’s anything we can do about it.

 

Q: The Kirkus Review of the book called Fade “a badass operator whom even a coma can’t stop.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: Well, he is that, but also so much more. A loyal friend, pop psychologist, occasional manic depressive, practical joker, and maker. The fact that killing is his great talent is something that he hates about himself.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the story?

 

A: That we are being attacked from all sides, and it will take an incredible amount of vigilance from the average person to prevent the world from collapsing into a dystopian techno-autocracy.

 

Unfortunately, the level of control that the elites have over us is likely insurmountable. They know everything about us and control everything we see, hear, and read. With AI, that will get exponentially worse over the next few years.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: The next book in the Fade series. He’s a reluctant hero but maybe the only one who can save us.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb