...of an interrogator

Mundt said nothing. Leamus became used to his silences as the interview progressed. Mundt had rather a pleasant voice, that was something Leamus hadn't expected, but he seldom spoke. It was part of Mundt's extraordinary self-confidence perhaps, that he did not speak unless he specifically wished to, that he was prepared to allow long silences to intervene rather than exchange pointless words. In this he differed from professional interrogators who set store by initiative, by the evocation of atmosphere and the exploitation of that psychological dependency of a prisoner upon his inquisitor. Mundt despised technique: he was a man of fact and action. Leamus preferred that.

[The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, le Carre, J.]