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John Gilstrap

Goodreads Author

Born

February 27

Website

http://www.johngilstrap.com

Twitter

JohnGilstrap

Genre

Mystery & Thrillers

Member Since

May 2009

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/goodreadscomjohngilstrap

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A little bit about my background... I've always been a closet-writer. As a kid, I lived for the opportunity to write short stories. I was the editor of my high school newspaper for a while (the Valor Dictus, Robinson High School, class of 1975), until I quit ("You can't fire me! I quit!") over a lofty First Amendment issue that seemed very important at the time. My goal, in fact, was to become a journalist in the vein of Woodward or Bernstein. Okay, I confess, I wanted to be Woodward; Robert Redford played him in the movie, and chicks really dug Robert Redford.

I graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1979, and armed with a degree in American history, I couldn't find a job. I ended up settling for a position with a little-noticed A little bit about my background... I've always been a closet-writer. As a kid, I lived for the opportunity to write short stories. I was the editor of my high school newspaper for a while (the Valor Dictus, Robinson High School, class of 1975), until I quit ("You can't fire me! I quit!") over a lofty First Amendment issue that seemed very important at the time. My goal, in fact, was to become a journalist in the vein of Woodward or Bernstein. Okay, I confess, I wanted to be Woodward; Robert Redford played him in the movie, and chicks really dug Robert Redford.

I graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1979, and armed with a degree in American history, I couldn't find a job. I ended up settling for a position with a little-noticed trade journal serving the construction industry. They called me the managing editor and they paid me food stamp wages. I hated it. About this time, I joined the Burke Volunteer Fire Department in Fairfax County, Virginia, if only to find relief from the boredom of my job. Running about a thousand calls my first year with the department, I was hooked, and the volunteer fire service became an important part of my life for the next 15 years. In the early eighties, hating my job, I went the way of all frustrated liberal arts undergrads—back to graduate school. Earning a Master of Science degree in safety engineering from the University of Southern California, I started down a whole new road. For the next decade and a half, I became an expert (don't you hate that word?) on explosives safety and hazardous waste. Meanwhile, I kept writing. I didn't tell anyone, of course, because, well, you just don't share artistic dreams with fellow engineers. They look at you funny.

My first novel, Nathan's Run, was in fact my fourth novel, and when it sold, it sold big. At a time in my life when things were going well—I was president of my own consulting firm—things were suddenly going very well. Warner Bros. bought the movie rights to Nathan's Run two days after the first book rights were sold, and as of this date, the novel has been translated and published in one form or another in over 20 countries. With Nathan's Run in the can, as it were, I thought I might finally be on to something, but I didn't quit my "day job" until after I sold the book and movie rights to my second novel, At All Costs. I figured that while one-in-a-row might be luck, two-in-a-row was a trend. So, I started writing full-time.

More novels followed, and then a few screenplays. I was living the dream.

But I really didn't like it much. I learned pretty quickly that when you're born a Type-A personality, those extrovert tendencies don't go away just because you're practicing a craft you love. In fact, after just a couple of years of dream fulfillment, I was pretty friggin' bored with the company of my imaginary friends, so I did something that I've never heard a full-time artist do before: I went back to a day job. At first, it was just a matter of reactivating my consulting business, but then, in 2004, I was handed my ideal Big-Boy Job (that's what my wife calls it) working as the director of safety for a trade association in Washington, DC.

And I continue to write. In 2006, Six Minutes to Freedom was published to considerable acclaim. My first (and probably last) foray into book-length non-fiction, SixMin tells the story of Kurt Muse, the only civilian of record ever rescued by the super-secret Delta Force. Thanks to Kurt's cooperation (he is co-author), I gained access to people and places that lifelong civilians like me should never see. The heroic warriors I met during that research turned out to be nothing like their movie stereotypes. These were not only gentlemen, but gentle men, who remained free of the kind of boasting and self-aggrandizement that I was expecting. They were supreme professionals, and very nice guys.

And through them I got the idea for my new series character, Jonathan Grave. He's fo ...more

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John Gilstrap’s books

Average rating: 4.2 · 66,852 ratings · 4,459 reviews · 66 distinct works • Similar authors

	No Mercy (Jonathan Grave, #1) 4.14 avg rating — 7,568 ratings — published 2009 — 32 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hostage Zero (Jonathan Grave #2) 4.15 avg rating — 4,492 ratings — published 2010 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Threat Warning (Jonathan Grave, #3) 4.26 avg rating — 4,085 ratings — published 2011 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Damage Control (Jonathan Grave, #4) 4.33 avg rating — 3,989 ratings — published 2012 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	High Treason (Johnathan Grave, #5) 4.23 avg rating — 3,219 ratings — published 2013 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	End Game (Jonathan Grave, #6) 4.29 avg rating — 3,143 ratings — published 2014 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Friendly Fire (Jonathan Grave #8) 4.40 avg rating — 2,822 ratings — published 2016 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Stealth Attack (Jonathan Grave, #13) 4.39 avg rating — 2,662 ratings — published 2021 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Against All Enemies (Jonathan Grave, #7) 4.15 avg rating — 2,739 ratings — published 2015 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Scorpion Strike (Jonathan Grave #10) 4.36 avg rating — 2,552 ratings — published 2018 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by John Gilstrap…

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John Gilstrap's Blog: Dispatches from the Writer's Trenches

Lee Harvey Oswald and Me: One Degree of Separation

Sixteen months ago marked the 50th anniversary of one of my great research obsessions—the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Last name notwithstanding, I am of Irish Catholic heritage, and in my house growing up, the Pope and President Kennedy were held in equal esteem. When the news came that the president had been killed, my mother was devastated. I was six at the time, and while I couldn’t fully Read more of this blog post »

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Published on March 14, 2015 11:29 • Tags: assassination, jfk, jonathan-grave, national-archives, research

Series by John Gilstrap

Jonathan Grave (16 books)
by

John Gilstrap (Goodreads Author)

4.28 avg rating — 50,456 ratings

Victoria Emerson (3 books)
by

John Gilstrap (Goodreads Author)

4.20 avg rating — 5,649 ratings

Nick Of Time (5 books)
by

John Gilstrap (Goodreads Author)

3.83 avg rating — 1,425 ratings

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John Gilstrap liked Denise's review of White Smoke (Victoria Emerson, #3): "The 3rd (is it the last?) of the Victoria Emerson trilogy and it doesn't wrap up issues, but we do follow her and many of the characters to the 'HILL'. This series literally scares the hell out of me. The premise shows so many meanings and issues...a" Read more of this review »
Mar 02, 2023 09:47AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of White Smoke by John Gilstrap. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — White Smoke by John Gilstrap
John Gilstrap answered Julie Houser's question: I entered a Goodreads giveaway and won a copy of your Lethal Game (Jonathan Grave, #14) on May 21,2022. I never received the book even though it shows it was mailed on June 22. I have requested it several times and asked for help from Goodreads to get it with no luck. I am really excited to read your book. Could you please help me get the copy I won? Thank you. Hi, Julie. I'm sorry to hear this. I actually have no involvement with the logistics of Goodreads giveaways, but I'm happy to see what I can do to help. Please send me an email at john@johngilstrap.com, and I can forward that to my publisher for what See Full Answer
Dec 06, 2022 12:50PM · like

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Quotes by John Gilstrap (?)

“Run,Nathan,run.
Run as if your life depended on it.”
― John Gilstrap, Nathan's Run

5 likes

“Battles are won when warriors make the decisions not to lose.”
― John Gilstrap, No Mercy

3 likes

“.....youth dies when you stop believing that you can affect the hand you're dealt at birth. The reality is, sometimes you just draw shitty cards, and no matter how much you plan, and no matter how hard you work to be good and to go to church and to think the right thoughts, there's nothing in the world you can do to get a reshuffle.”
― John Gilstrap, Even Steven

3 likes

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Our Deadly Author of the Month Poll is open! The three authors receiving the most votes will be our Authors of the Month for Oct., Nov., and Dec. This poll closes Sept. 16.

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Mystery/Thriller ...: Your first signed book/author signing event?	64	110	Sep 24, 2009 08:18PM
Pick-a-Shelf: Authors that read like	15	166	Feb 07, 2011 10:37AM
The Seasonal Read...: Fall Challenge 2012: Reading Plans	58	340	Nov 23, 2012 08:20PM
The Mystery, Crim...: Currently Reading? Just Finished?	10125	3954	May 09, 2013 11:36AM

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