INTRIGUE, espionage and betrayal are the main ingredients of a new wartime thriller which has been penned by a Greenock author.

Cailean McBride, a former Greenock Academy pupil and James Watt College student, has released his first fiction book — ‘Johnny Zero’ — a gripping tale about a gangster who is locked up in Jersey during the German occupation.

Cailean hopes readers will find his title a real page-turner.

He said: “It’s a compelling story, I think.

“The war was a fascinating time with pretty much everybody having to put their lives on hold for the greater good.

“It’s difficult to imagine that happening to the same extent now.” Cailean said his book was inspired by a review he wrote for Ben Macintyre’s Agent ZigZag, the non-fiction story of notorious double agent Eddie Chapman.

Cailean, who grew up in Bawhirley Road and South Street, added: “My book is based on a London mobster boss who ends up being thrown into jail in Jersey when the island becomes occupied by the Germans.

“He offers his services as a double agent for the Germans, so they send him back home to work for them.

“But you’re left wondering if he’s working for Germany or Britain.” The 45-year-old, who has worked as a freelance journalist for newspapers across the UK and Australia, says his late grandfather Robert Alexander was also a big inspiration for the book.

He added: “My grandfather was a firefighter during the Greenock Blitz so I grew up hearing his stories as he was right in the middle of it.

“He was quite well known in the area as he had the butcher shop in Port Glasgow which is now run by my cousin Drew McKenzie.” Cailean has also set up his own ‘micro-publishers’ Calenture Press to produce the book, which is available on Amazon.