I’ve just emailed the final version of the next book, “An American Spy,” to my editor and agent. As I mentioned before, this one has taken over a year and a half to write, and the feeling of letting it go is bittersweet. On the one hand, I’m thrilled to get this monster off my back, but on the other there’s that authorial itch that tells you it’s still full of errors that—with just a couple more days—can be made right. But that’s why they make copyeditors, first-pass pages, and page proofs. So I’ll get to those later.
For those of you who know the trilogy, beginning with “The Tourist” and continuing through “The Nearest Exit,” I’ll verify here that it’s still a trilogy—“An American Spy” marks the conclusion to the story. As is my tendency, however, the ending is very much open-ended, and sometime in the future I may return to the story of Milo and Tina Weaver, their daughter Stephanie, and their various co-characters. Not yet, though. I’ve spent nearly five years with them, and it’s time to make some new friends.