Alma Katsu's "Red London"

Alma Katsu is the award-winning author of eight novels, most recently Red London, Red Widow, The Deep, and The Hunger. Prior to the publication of her first novel, she had a thirty-five-year career as a senior intelligence analyst for several U.S. agencies, including the CIA and NSA, as well as RAND, the global policy think tank. Katsu is a graduate of the masters writing program at the Johns Hopkins University and received her bachelors degree from Brandeis University. She lives outside of Washington, DC, with her husband, where she is a consultant to government and private industry on future trends and analytic methods.

Here Katsu shares some ideas for casting an adaptation of Red London:

Casting ideas for Red London has actually been front of mind because--and I can't give details yet--there's been a lot of Hollywood interest. The book is about a British aristocrat married to a Russian oligarch who has made London his home. Russia's invasion of Ukraine forced the UK government to deal with the Russian population, many of them billionaires who had dug into the British economy, Emily thinks her husband is feeling the pressure. In Red London, there's a new Russian president. Putin literally disappeared in the night and the new man says all the right things about making peace, but CIA and MI6 aren't so sure. They want to get Emily Rotenberg to find out where her husband has stashed his billions before the new Russian president can get to it, and they send in CIA officer Lyndsey Duncan to recruit Emily.

Red London is modeled after one of my favorite le Carré books, The Night Manager. It's about sending someone to live in a nest of thieves in order to pull off an operation. My book is part spy novel, part domestic suspense, a little "Real Wives" where you get a peek into the world of the Russian oligarchs.

The main character is Lyndsey Duncan, and I'm still looking for the perfect actress. Jessica Chastain is the type of actress I'd like to see but she's probably afraid of being typecast in spy shows!

There are lots of candidates for the second main character, Emily Rotenberg. Lily James' combination of innocent beauty and vulnerability would be a good match.

I've had an actor in mind for Davis Ranford, MI6 officer who once broke Lyndsey's heart and is now running the task force that's seconded her, since I wrote the first book: Matthew Goode! I don't care who they ultimately cast, Goode will always be Davis in my mind.

I would love to see Janelle Monae or someone like her play Dani Childs, the former CIA officer who is now working in private intelligence and is competing with Lyndsey for Emily's confidence.

Mikhail Rotenberg, a really nasty piece of work, and Pasha Lychnikoff would be a good candidate. He's got the mix of manicured good looks with evil bubbling under the surface.

Visit Alma Katsu's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Hunger.

Q&A with Alma Katsu.

--Marshal Zeringue