Photo by Photographique Studio
Duncan Ritchie is the author of the new novel The Truth Chamber. A former investment banker, he lives in Tasmania, Australia.
Q: What inspired you to write The Truth Chamber, and how did you create your character Liam?
A: I have always been fascinated by the human capacity for deception and self-interest. Politics is fertile ground for both. Media, and now social media, add high-octane fuel to the mix, rewarding politicians for distorting reality for their own ends and enabling them to acquire power.
That dynamic was what I saw at work behind Brexit and the rise of Trumpism in 2016. At the time, I was working for a Japanese bank in Singapore. A seed was planted.
Fast forward to 2022. I watched an interview with UC San Diego professor Barbara F. Walter discussing her book How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them.
What caught my attention was that she had applied to the US an analytical tool traditionally used by the CIA to assess risks of instability and civil war in hot spots around the world. The risk analyst in me came alive, and I started filling notebooks with “what ifs”; they became the foundation for The Truth Chamber.
I had a clear vision of Liam’s character early on. “Liam’s Lament” was the first chapter I wrote for the book and has remained largely intact through the rewrites and edits.
I used a real-life admiral with a similar career trajectory as a loose model for Liam, but I wanted Liam to be from Boston with Irish roots. I also gave him a complicated backstory and a few skeletons in his closet.
It was also important that Liam not be reduced to a caricature of an ex-military man—either defined by PTSD or cast as an invulnerable alpha-male stereotype.
I wanted his strength and restraint to feel authentic, while still allowing the reader to feel his grief (after the losses of his wife and son) and his doubt as he confronts the moral ambiguities that underpin The Truth Chamber.
Q: Did you need to do much research to write the novel, and if so, did you learn anything that especially surprised you?
A: I had to do a tonne of research. As a non-American, I had a lot to learn about America’s founding and history. I wanted to ensure my representations of America’s past and politics, and of an emerging fascist leader, were broadly accurate.
I read around 50 books on fascism, the history of race relations in the US, the Constitution, the Supreme Court, the role of money and religion in politics, and, of course, language and the art of deception.
I also did a six-week tour of the US over the 2024 election, visiting key sites in the novel; I volunteered for the Harris campaign in Atlanta and knocked on doors—an eye-opening experience in itself.
The thing that surprised me most was discovering that most Confederate political and military leaders were never held accountable for seceding from and waging war against the Union.
It made me wonder how much of America’s later political culture—and some of its enduring problems—may have been shaped by a recurring reluctance to hold powerful white men accountable.
Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: I had the book’s title long before I had even written a single page. It percolated up as I was reading and researching in the months before I started writing.
It was born of the role propaganda and disinformation play in politics, and also of the complicity of consumers of media and social media. There appears to be a disengagement from critical thinking.
I wondered what it would take to break through an echo chamber, and how people might react when confronted with the truth. That question eventually inspired both the title and one of the central devices of the novel.
Q: Especially given the upcoming elections, what do you hope readers take away from the novel?
A: The view looking into America from outside is very different from the view most Americans have of their country. America’s democratic mythology has often been more flattering than the reality. My goal was to hold up a mirror to America, then tilt it forward slightly—a warning: “This is where you could be heading.”
When I started working with my editor, Sam, I told him that I wanted to tell stories that make people think about real-world issues and potentially see them from a new perspective. One of my reviewers said that I had “crafted a novel that demands reflection long after the final page.” If I have done that, I have succeeded.
With elections fast approaching, I hope readers will look beyond partisan loyalties and consider the long-term health and preservation of America’s democratic institutions—the very idea of America, even. I think America is approaching an inflexion point. We could know which path America has chosen before the year is out.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I spent most of 2026 learning the publishing business and preparing for The Truth Chamber’s release on 1 September, which hasn’t left me much time to write.
But I did just wrap up an essay on what I describe as America’s crisis of democratic legitimacy, the nonfiction companion to The Truth Chamber. In it, I’ve attempted to synthesise some of the research behind the novel and apply my risk-analysis lens to the current state of American democracy. I hope to publish that in September.
In the meantime, I’m kicking ideas around in my head for a second novel. But it’s still early days on that front.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I have a Malinois called Aletheia (Alé), who was the model for Liam’s pup, Senna. I talk to Alé in much the same way Liam talks to Senna, which is probably why she thinks I’m mad.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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