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Jan Needle

Goodreads Author

Website

http://www.janneedle.com/

Twitter

janneedle

Genre

Thriller, Historical Fiction, Children's

Member Since

September 2012

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Jan Needle has written more than forty books, including novels for adults and children and literary criticism. He also writes plays for stage, TV and radio, including serials and series like Grange Hill, The Bill and Brookside. His first novel, Wild Wood, is a retelling of The Wind in the Willows with Toad, Rat, Mole and Co as the ‘villains’ - a sort of undeserving rural squirearchy – and the stoats and weasels as heroes. A new version was brought out recently by Golden Duck, with the original wonderful illustrations by the late Willie Rushton.

Although he is currently working on a film of perhaps his most celebrated children’s book, My Mate Shofiq, Jan has recently been concentrating on historical novels about his first and most enduring lo Jan Needle has written more than forty books, including novels for adults and children and literary criticism. He also writes plays for stage, TV and radio, including serials and series like Grange Hill, The Bill and Brookside. His first novel, Wild Wood, is a retelling of The Wind in the Willows with Toad, Rat, Mole and Co as the ‘villains’ - a sort of undeserving rural squirearchy – and the stoats and weasels as heroes. A new version was brought out recently by Golden Duck, with the original wonderful illustrations by the late Willie Rushton.

Although he is currently working on a film of perhaps his most celebrated children’s book, My Mate Shofiq, Jan has recently been concentrating on historical novels about his first and most enduring love, the sea, and a series of extremely gritty thrillers. His aim has always been to transcend standard genre writing, which has sometimes brought him disapproval. The ‘hero’ of his first naval fiction, A Fine Boy for Killing, is a borderline sadist, and life on the frigate Welfare undermines almost every heroic myth popularized by earlier writers. Loved or hated, his novels refuse to be ignored.

His thrillers are also firmly in the ‘noir’ spectrum. The most recent is The Bonus Boys, which features a hard-as-nails investigator called Andrew Forbes and his Scottish lover Rosanna ‘the Mouse’ Nixon, who first appeared in Kicking Off, a chilling warning about the fissile state of Britain’s crumbling prisons. More are in the pipeline, as are additions to a series of novellas about crime, the 18th century navy, and the secret world of spies and spying. Even the possibility that Napoleon escaped from his exile on St Helena is examined. Like many ‘mere conspiracy theories’ it uncovers some extraordinary possibilities.

Jan also attempts, in conjunction with Walker Books, to widen the readership for certain classic novels. They include so far Moby Dick, Dracula, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and The Woman in White, all aimed at a young adult audience . In his spare time, he sails boats and plays a variety of musical instruments.
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Average rating: 3.8 · 1,344 ratings · 135 reviews · 55 distinct works • Similar authors

	Moby-Dick by Jan Needle (Goodreads Author) (Adaptor), Patrick Benson (Illustrator), Herman Melville 3.73 avg rating — 193 ratings — 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
	A Fine Boy For Killing (Sea Officer William Bentley Book 1) 3.73 avg rating — 103 ratings — published 1983 — 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
	The Sea Officer Bentley Thrillers: A naval fiction box set 3.71 avg rating — 51 ratings	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
	Undertaker's Wind (Sea Officer William Bentley Book 4) 3.88 avg rating — 42 ratings — published 2006 — 3 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
	The Wicked Trade (Sea Officer William Bentley Book 2) 3.62 avg rating — 55 ratings — published 1998 — 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
	The Spithead Nymph (Sea Officer William Bentley Book 3) 3.91 avg rating — 44 ratings — published 2004 — 3 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
	El ladrón 3.50 avg rating — 36 ratings — published 1990 — 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
	Wild Wood 4.08 avg rating — 36 ratings — published 1982 — 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
	The Devil's Luck 3.88 avg rating — 33 ratings — published 2013 — 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
	The Bully 3.31 avg rating — 36 ratings — published 1995 — 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

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Jan Needle's Blog

History on the hoof...

The historic history festival is about to get underway, but the book of mine which is up for grabs in the competition - Death Order - only goes back to World War II.

Most of my historic work so far is nautical, although the most recent is a short adventure about Napoleon's supposed attempt to escape from St Helena in a submarine. Crazy though that sounds, there's lot of evidence that it was actual Read more of this blog post »

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Published on April 13, 2016 06:44

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Series by Jan Needle

Sea Officer William Bentley (4 books)
by

Jan Needle (Goodreads Author)

3.75 avg rating — 295 ratings

A Charlie Raven Adventure (2 books)
by

Jan Needle (Goodreads Author)

3.72 avg rating — 53 ratings

Nelson Chronicles (3 books)
by

Jan Needle (Goodreads Author)

3.32 avg rating — 34 ratings

The Size Spies (2 books)
by

Jan Needle (Goodreads Author),

Roy Bentley (Illustrator)

4.10 avg rating — 10 ratings

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Jan made a comment on his status in Hidden Hunters: A WW2 Action-Thriller Omnibus " I have to say, that although Lockdown is still on, The Blood Hound is no longer free! It's only 99p however, and will be available in paperback in a w ...more "
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Jan recommended ROBERT BURNS COMPLETE WORKS ULTIMATE COLLECTION 300+ WORKS All Poetry, Poems, Songs, Ballads, Letters, Rarities PLUS BIOGRAPHY [Annotated] to June Jones ROBERT BURNS COMPLETE WORKS ULTIMATE COLLECTION 300+ WORKS All Poetry, Poems, Songs, Ballads, Letters, Rarities PLUS BIOGRAPHY [Annotated] by Robert Burns	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
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Jan and 16 other people liked Jan’s status update Jan wants to read Hidden Hunters: A WW2 Action-Thriller Omnibus
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Jan rated a book it was amazing Wit, Wisdom and Heart...an Anthology of Southern Short Stories by Rodney Page (Goodreads Author)	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
This book is an extraordinary portrait of the American South told by the people who have lived and died there from the Civil War to the present day. The collection of diverse short stories somehow hang together in the most extraordinary way. Overall, ...more
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Jan and 1 other person liked Brendan Gisby's review of The Sparrow Conundrum: "Squawk! Well, I can tell you that this Kirton fellow has ruffled quite a few feathers among the criminal fraternity here in Aberdeen. I wonder who gave him all the gen on our operations. Which wee birdie spilled the seed? Which cowardly canary tweeted" Read more of this review »
Nov 13, 2019 02:04AM · see review
Jan rated a book really liked it The Bonny Boy (Harry Gilmour #4) by David Black (Goodreads Author)	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
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Jan wants to read Hidden Hunters: A WW2 Action-Thriller Omnibus by Antony Melville-Ross	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
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What's the Name o...: SOLVED. YA? robot/clockwork/windup boy at niagara falls [s]	4	35	Nov 15, 2015 05:53AM
THE WORLD WAR TWO...: Novels of WW2	882	715	Jan 18, 2021 01:21PM

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