'The Influencer' by David McCloskey - The Story on Christmas Day
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 25 December 2025
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this special Christmas Day episode we have an exclusive, brand-new story from acclaimed author, and former CIA analyst, David McCloskey. Commissioned for The Sunday Times Review, it's read for us by the author.
Before she met Painter, before the CIA came calling, Natalie Perkins had no secrets, only followers, likes, and a hope of online fame. But now, 'retired' from the spotlight and living quietly in Nebraska, Natalie holds a secret that could change everything. When Painter reappears, Natalie is thrust back into a world of espionage and deception.
Read by: David McCloskey.
Producer: Dave Creasey.
Photo: Tom Barnes for Sunday Times Magazine.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From the Times and the Sunday Times, this is the story on Christmas Day. |
| 0:09.6 | We hope you're having a wonderful time. If you're on your way to see family or if you've managed to nip out for a walk, or maybe you're already mid-clear-up. But either way, we thought you might want some company. |
| 0:23.4 | So we've prepared a proper Christmas treat view. For this special episode, we have a brand-new, |
| 0:30.6 | exclusive short story called The Influencer, written and read by the Sunday Times bestselling author David McCloskey. |
| 0:39.7 | Known for his books such as The Seventh Floor, Moscow X and Damascus Station, which is a cracking |
| 0:45.7 | read, not only is David a bestselling author, but he's also a former CIA analyst, who uses |
| 0:52.7 | his unique insight into the world of espionage to create incredibly |
| 0:57.1 | authentic spy thrillers. So, enjoy and Merry Christmas. My name's David McCloskey. I'm a former |
| 1:07.4 | CIA analyst turned spy novelist. I'm also the co-host of a podcast called The Rest is Classified. |
| 1:14.2 | With my co-host, Gordon Carrera, we talk about all things espionage. |
| 1:21.3 | I write spy novels that really attempt, I think, to deal authentically with the setting that they are, |
| 1:30.8 | they're in, right? So if I write a book set of the Syrian Civil War or the present day, |
| 1:36.1 | conflict, shadow war between Israel and Iran, I try to reflect the realities of that conflict, |
| 1:43.1 | the setting, the place as much as possible. The other thing |
| 1:46.4 | I really try to get spot on as much as possible in my novels is the tradecraft. I think, you know, |
| 1:53.2 | it's fun to get into a world where the characters are actually CIA case officers who actually do things that CIA case officers do. |
| 2:04.1 | They don't run around all the time with a gun. |
| 2:06.6 | They are out there in the business of finding, assessing, recruiting human spies. |
| 2:30.7 | Yeah, so the idea for the influencer came from a desire to contrast two characters in a story. |
| 2:37.0 | On the one hand, we have a CIA case officer, an older one who's quite good at the job, but kind of on his way out and has spent most of his career recruiting Russians, kind of an old |
| 2:44.6 | school guy. And then on the other hand, we have this, you know, quite modern, quite capable, |
| 2:50.6 | but kind of having a rough spell |
... |
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