Ralph Hammond Innes CBE (15 July 1913 – 10 June 1998) was a British novelist who wrote over 30 novels, as well as works for children and travel books.
During the war, further books were published, including Wreckers Must Breathe (1940), The Trojan Horse (1940) and Attack Alarm (1941), the last of which was based on his experiences as an anti-aircraft gunner during the Battle of Britain at RAF Kenley.
Unusually for the thriller genre, Innes' protagonists were often not "heroes" in the typical sense, but ordinary men suddenly thrust into extreme situations by circumstance.
The protagonist generally is forced to rely on his own wits and making best use of limited resources, rather than the weapons and gadgetry commonly used by thriller writers.
[4] In 1978, Hammond Innes was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to literature.