56 / 76
44
N
ow a full-time author, former journalist
and Great Bedwyn resident Jon Stock
has had an impressive career as the
editor of the
Weekend
section of the
Daily Telegraph
, also as foreign correspondent
for the same paper and a columnist for
The
Week
magazine in India.
He has written seven books, five of them spy
thrillers. His
Daniel Marchant Trilogy
has been
optioned by Warner Brothers, with continued
interest from director McG (
Terminator 4
and
Charlie’s Angels
).
By his own admission, the writing of a book,
although challenging in itself, is only half the
battle. Finding an agent, and a suitable
publisher, are the next Herculean hurdles.
Even then, with all your ducks in a row, you
can’t be sure your book will sell.
Happily for Jon, his thrillers have been well
received and sales figures are impressive.
With
Find Me
coming out in paperback on
September 7, all the signs are positive for
another winner.
Find Me
, published by Head of Zeus, came
out in hardback in February this year. It
ranked number one in the Kobo chart, number
14 in the Kindle chart and, in its first month,
sold more than 10,000 downloads in the UK
alone.
Writing as JS Monroe,
Find Me
is a little
different from standard thriller fare. While it is
indeed a gripping story, it harbours dark and
disturbing twists in its plot, which place it firmly
in the psychological thriller genre, alongside
Gone Girl
and
Girl on a Train
.
The first and possibly most obvious
question to ask Jon is, why the
pseudonym?
Journalist-cum-crime author Jon Stock’s latest offering is a psychological thriller,
written under the pseudonym JS Monroe. HELEN SHEEHAN and LISSA GIBBINS
met up with him in Great Bedwyn, where he lives, to talk about his mindgames
spine-chiller
Find Me
ALL
IN
THE
MIND
Picture: Hilary Stock