Anthony Mazzorana asked Olen Steinhauer:

I was wondering who your influences are/were in the spy genre. People compare you to LeCarre which I'm sure is cool even if you're not a huge fan yourself. Who are your preferred espionage novelists, if any?

Olen Steinhauer Well, le Carre is the reason I write espionage fiction, so it's no insult when I'm compared to him. However, after a few years all writers would prefer to be judged on one's own merits rather than in comparison with one of the masters. So it's a double-edged sword.

My influences are from the same period: Charles McCarry, Len Deighton, and Frederick Forsythe's "Day of the Jackal."

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