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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: 4.08 · 32,139 ratings · 2,447 reviews · 53 distinct works • Similar authors

	No Mercy (Jonathan Grave, #1) 4.03 avg rating — 4,341 ratings — published 2009 — 23 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) 4.09 avg rating — 3,117 ratings — published 2010 — 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
	Friendly Fire (Jonathan Grave #8) 4.35 avg rating — 1,502 ratings — published 2016 — 6 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) 4.16 avg rating — 2,562 ratings — published 2011 — 8 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
	Nathan's Run 4.15 avg rating — 1,777 ratings — published 1996 — 2 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) 4.22 avg rating — 2,422 ratings — published 2012 — 8 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) 4.26 avg rating — 1,021 ratings — published 2018 — 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
	End Game (Jonathan Grave #6) 4.20 avg rating — 1,851 ratings — published 2014 — 8 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
	Total Mayhem (Jonathan Grave #11) 4.42 avg rating — 911 ratings — published 2019 — 4 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) 4.12 avg rating — 1,768 ratings — published 2013 — 8 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 (12 books)
by

John Gilstrap (Goodreads Author)

4.17 avg rating — 23,843 ratings

Nick Of Time (5 books)
by

John Gilstrap (Goodreads Author)

3.83 avg rating — 887 ratings

Victoria Emerson (1 book)
by

John Gilstrap (Goodreads Author)

it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings

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John Gilstrap is now friends with Jeremy
Jul 31, 2020 10:12AM · like
John Gilstrap answered Marcy's question: Well, if anyone from Hollywood ever does one of your books, I'm in line on day #1! When do we expect to see your next book? SCORPION STRIKE will hit the stands on or about July 1, 2018.
Aug 16, 2017 11:27AM · 1 like · like
John Gilstrap joined the groups SSG: Spy/Spec-Ops Group and A Good Thriller
Jun 04, 2015 02:13PM
John Gilstrap made a comment in the group A Good Thriller — Authors Add A Short Biography Here topic " Hi, all. John Gilstrap here. I write thrillers--fourteen of them over the last 20 years. My current series features a freelance hostage rescue special ...more "
Jun 04, 2015 01:02PM
John Gilstrap made a comment on Lee Harvey Oswald and Me: One Degree of Separation " Robert wrote: "Very interesting. Thanks for the story... a great example that the world will open itself to people willing to try. So often, we think ...more "
Mar 20, 2015 12:42PM · see blog post
John Gilstrap is accepting questions on his profile page.
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John Gilstrap rated a book liked it Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury	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
May 24, 2009 09:32PM · 3 likes · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
John Gilstrap rated a book really liked it Ender's Game (Ender's Saga, #1) by Orson Scott Card	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
May 24, 2009 09:32PM · 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

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Mystery/Thriller ...: Your first signed book/author signing event?	64	99	Sep 24, 2009 08:18PM
Pick-a-Shelf: Authors that read like	15	148	Feb 07, 2011 10:37AM
The Seasonal Read...: Fall Challenge 2012: Reading Plans	58	336	Nov 23, 2012 08:20PM
The Mystery, Crim...: Currently Reading? Just Finished?	10142	3938	May 09, 2013 11:36AM

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