"Every writer wants to be believed," John
le Carre once told an
interviewer. "But every writer knows he is spurious; every fiction
writer would rather be credible than authentic."
Here's a paradox at the heart of spy fiction. As readers, we crave not
authenticity but the sense of it. Real-life espionage is, for the most
part, boring: a lot of waiting, meetings, monotony. An authentic account
would be mind-numbing. We want the ring of authenticity, not the real
thing.
-- Joseph Finder. "The Spy Who Came in From Headquarters" [review of the
book BREAKING COVER By Stella Rimington.]
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/31/books/review/breaking-cover-stella-rimington-wolf-of-sarajevo-matthew-palmer.html