Ken Follett — Welsh Author born on June 05, 1949,

Kenneth Martin "Ken" Follett is a Welsh author of thrillers and historical novels who has sold more than 150 million copies of his works. Many of his books have reached number 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list, including Edge of Eternity, Fall of Giants, The Key to Rebecca, Lie Down with Lions, Triple, Winter of the World, and World Without End... (wikipedia)

There is no point in asking a man a question until you have established whether he has any reason to lie to you.
For success, the author must make the reader care about the destiny of the principals, and sustain this anxiety, or suspense, for about 100,000 words.
People are much more complicated in real life, but my characters are as subtle and nuanced as I can make them. But if you say my characters are too black and white, you've missed the point. Villains are meant to be black-hearted in popular novels. If you say I have a grey-hearted villain, then I've failed.
With hindsight, we see that the Soviet Union never had a chance of world domination, but we didn't know that then.
I want to tell a story that makes the reader always want to see what will happen next.