The Defector

Self-interest or selflessness? This is the dilemma at the heart of The Defector - can Martin Cormac turn his back on his ruthless past as a currency trader, a player, and do the right thing?

Looking for answers in a succession of sleazy bars, Cormac meets Janac, the man who will convince him to play the ultimate game, where the stakes are not just his own life – but that of the woman he loves.

The novel was originally inspired by the crash of various financial markets in the late eighties and early nineties. And with boom once again turned to bust, this seemed a particularly good moment to dust off The Defector and get it into the new formats available on the internet.

Published by Century and HarperCollins ANZ.

Translated into Dutch as De Inzet by Uitgeverij Luitingh-Sijthoff.

Translated into German as Gnadenloses Spiel by Delius Klasing.

Translated into Japanese as The Delivery.

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Reviews

‘An excellent drug-smuggling thriller.’

The Bookseller

 

‘This is a remarkable thriller – chillingly violent, full of tension and with a very original ending.’

Publishing News

 

‘New British fiction writer Mark Chisnell will have to go a long way to top his debut.’

Bristol Observer

 

‘A fabulous and brilliantly written story.’

Peterborough Evening Telegraph

 

‘This thriller moves at huge pace, mixing philosophical debate with breathless action. The culmination of the game will astound you.’

Trade-a-boat

 

‘Compelling, hard to put down but not for the squeamish or faint-hearted.’

CityMix Auckland

 

‘The novel has an evil storyline, with little relief and with great tension created, particularly around the yacht chase.’

Hawkes Bay Today

Writing The Defector

The Defector started life as one idea – perhaps most books do – unfortunately, it was an ending. A game of the Prisoner’s Dilemma, played for life and death stakes. I’d come across the Prisoner’s Dilemma while studying philosophy, it was dreamed up by scientists at the American RAND Corporation think-tank back in 1950, and got its name from the story told to illustrate the idea. It still has a hold on the public imagination.

Two prisoners are held in solitary confinement, both accused of collusion in the same crime. They are each given the chance to turn State's evidence to assist in the conviction of the other. If they both choose to remain silent, they will each be convicted for one year. If they both choose to turn in the other, they will be convicted for three years each. However, should one of them remain silent and the other turn State's evidence, the squealer will go free and the other will do five years.

In Prisoner's Dilemma terminology squealing to the authorities is called defecting, while remaining silent is known as cooperating. The problem for each player is whether or not they can trust their fellow prisoner to remain silent – to cooperate. If they can, both of them get off lightly. But if one player, with both their interests at heart, decides to cooperate and remains silent, while the other defects and squeals, then the co-operator ends up in jail for five years whilst the defector gets away completely. That would seem a pretty bad deal if you were the co-operator. So, the thinking goes, wouldn't it be better to squeal - just in case? But if both prisoners are thinking the same thing they both end up in jail for three years instead of one - if only they could have kept quiet.

Such is the train of thought leading to the most frequent result of a one-shot Prisoner's Dilemma in modern western society - mutual defection. It’s a central metaphor for our interpersonal behaviour. Take the case of an unmanned barrier on a railway system with no ticket inspectors. Hop over the barrier and you get a personal gain - you save the fare. But if enough people do it, eventually the rail company has to put the fares up - and everyone who pays will suffer for the free ride the barrier hoppers are getting. In Prisoner's Dilemma terms the freeloader is defecting - putting his personal welfare ahead of the group interest. While the ticket buyer is cooperating, hoping that everyone else will do the same and prices will stay down.

Boom Turned to Bust...

It was the crash of various financial markets in the late eighties and early nineties - and the inexorable Prisoner’s Dilemma logic of everyone selling to defend their own position that forced those crashes to happen – that gave the final spur to write the book. But in The Defector I wanted to take the Prisoner's Dilemma to the other extreme. What if the choices involved were life and death? And what if the lives belonged to people you knew and someone you loved?

I thought the game of Prisoner’s Dilemma-cum-Russian Roulette that I had in mind for the final chapter would make a fabulous ending. Unfortunately, I started with no idea of what went before. It took eight drafts of the book to figure it out – slowly growing the lives of Martin, Kate and Scott. But it did give me plenty of opportunity to learn the craft of writing novels on the way. I’ve read about other writers going through this learning process with different books, rather than the same one - but I was so convinced by the story as it developed that I stuck at The Defector.

It’s a book with an idea: that Games Theory in general, and the Prisoner’s Dilemma in particular, are relevant to our behaviour in society. And I hope that it will leave the reader with something to think about. At the same time, it should appeal to anyone who enjoys a thriller, with plenty of action, a desperate love triangle and Martin’s struggle for redemption in the eyes of his former girlfriend.

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