It’s hard to believe that it’s been twenty years since my first encounter with Salam al-Fayed. When I created the character, I intended to write only one book about him. In fact, that was the whole point—that Fade was wholly and irretrievably doomed.

When I typed the last page, I believed he was dead. And for years he was. But neither I, nor many of my readers, could completely shake him. I began to wonder if maybe he’d survived and was lying dormant, waiting for the right moment to be resurrected. I started jotting notes about him on Post-its and when the drawer I stored them in overflowed, I knew it was time.

In a world that’s become chaotic and unstable, Fade seemed like the right hero. He’s smart and deadly, but with a cynical world view and a tendency to get in over his head. A man who can be dragged by the same unpredictable currents as the rest of us.

It’s easy to be nostalgic for a simpler time—an era when right, wrong, good, and evil were clear cut and had widely accepted definitions. Those days are gone and I’m starting to wonder if they’ll ever return. Runaway technology, partisan politics, a rising hyper-wealthy class, and geopolitical turmoil are rearranging our lives on a fundamental level and at breakneck speeds. As Fade so eloquently puts it, the world is like a clown car blundering into Camp Crystal Lake. And if that’s the case, is there still time to turn it around?

When I was a kid, I devoured mountains of books about the skirmishes between East and West. Later, the Soviet Union fell and the danger it posed was replaced by that of Islamic extremism. Now the threats are more complex. More insidious. It’s a strange new world in need of a strange new character.

It’s been a lot of fun reconnecting with Fade and using him to try to make sense of the storm swirling around us. More and more, I feel like we’re headed for a ditch. And while Fade might not be the savior we want; he might be the one we need.