Jack Grimwood

View Reviews of books by Jack Grimwood

Countdown with ...

Jack Grimwood

Jack Grimwood, aka Jon Courtenay Grimwood, was born in Malta and christened in the upturned bell of a ship. He grew up in the Far East, Britain and Scandinavia.

Apart from novels, he writes for national newspapers including The Times, Telegraph, Independent and Guardian.

Jon has twice won the British Science Fiction Association award for best novel, with Felaheen and then End of the World Blues. His novel, The Last Banquet, published under the name Jonathan Grimwood, was shortlisted for Le Prix Montesquieu 2015. His work has been translated into 15 languages. Nightfall Berlin is his second thriller after Moskva.

He is married to the journalist and novelist Sam Baker. They divide their time between Winchester and Paris.

Interviewed 07 July 2018

Ten words to sum up your working life to date ...

All the information you need can be given in dialogue. (Elmore Leonard)

Nine things you can see from where you're sitting ...

Jade Buddha, pair of Chinese lion dogs, mandarin’s seal, Indian chest, camel bone table, laptop, books (lots of books), painting of my grandmother as a girl, the cat.

Eight minutes to prepare a meal. What's it going to be ?

Penne arrabbiata with fresh pasta, olive oil, chilli flakes, fresh garlic, fresh basil and a tablespoon of tomato purée. Best one I had was in the backstreets of Venice.

Seven people you'd like to go for a drink with ...

Eleanor of Aquitaine, Genghis Khan, Ludwig II of Bavaria, Anna Akhmatova, Frida Kahlo, the cat from Master & Margarita, my wife (some weeks it feels like we barely cross).

Six things you can't live without ...

Something to write with, somewhere to walk, Chablis, a decent kitchen knife, a decent saucepan, space.

Five favourite words ...

Pangolin, liminal, numinous, mandible, ostrogoth.

Four places you'd run away to ...

Edinburgh, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo; walking cities all of them.

Three books you've bought recently ...

John Connolly’s The Woman in the Woods, Donna Leon’s The Temptation of Forgiveness, James Lee Burke’s Robicheaux.

Two things that make you rant ...

Brexit, social media.

One thing you'd tell your teenage self ...

Everything’s source material, even this...