Dorian Silk is an agent with British Intelligence.
He is a rebel in a department of sheep, or so he seems to believe. While he has considerable respect for his seniors in the field, there is less than none for those in the head office who never venture out into the real world.
A man in his mid 30's, Silk has been traveling the world for nearly eight years as an agent prior to the start of the recorded adventures. During that time, he spent a good amount in the Middle East where he made predictions of how things would go. When his bosses disagreed, he wrote a book on it under a penname and was later proven right. He did the same thing in North Africa when he was transferred there. proving again his ability to grasp the local situation and his inability to get management to believe him.
He is described by an associate as being quick-tempered, impetuous, and not one to suffer fools gladly. He is also quick to react and quite handy with a gun as needed.
Note: Harvester's habit of naming his books in the Silk series with the word 'Road' truly got its start with Dragon Road in 1956, a novel about an agent in the Burma area named Kenton. The two characters are quite different, though.
Note: Harvester wrote almost a prequel to the series the year before the first Silk novel was released. "The Chinese Hammer" stars an agent by the name of Heron Murmur operating in China near the Bhutan region. The connection to Silk is the fact that Murmur's immediate supervisor is a man named Swann would was also the supervisor for Silk during his first few missions.