Author and screenwriter Anthony Horowitz natters at a pace similar to one of his plots - his words bursting out like a machine gun. Then, just as suddenly, it stops, as if the magazine had been emptied abruptly.
Horowitz brims with a youthful enthusiasm that seems slightly at odds with his 55 years, although he easily looks 10 years younger with his boyish face.
Clearly, such qualities have helped him attract a horde of teenage fans. Many will recognise him as the creator of the successful Alex Rider novels, named after the teenage spy the series is centred on, one of which leaped onto the screen in the 2006 movie, Stormbreaker.
Others will know him for Necropolis, the fourth novel in his Power of Five fantasy series, recently released in paperback. It is set partly in Hong Kong, which holds a special place in Horowitz's memories because this is where he married his wife, Jill, 22 years ago.
'We chose Hong Kong because all the registry offices we wanted to get married in London were booked up,' he says with a shrug.
On a visit to meet fans at the annual Book Fair, Horowitz says that as an outsider, he found Hong Kong intriguing because it struck him as a 'bubble' environment.