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TPQ: What are you currently reading?
TK: At the moment I’m defending a murder trial, so for the last eight weeks or so I’ve been reading witness statements, interview transcripts, 999 calls and everything else that goes with it. It’s my first trial back since the COVID-lockdown so it’s been intense and has required me to focus on something other than books for a while. It’s also shown me how lazy I became after a whole summer at home!
Before this trial took over my life (temporarily!), however, the most recent book I had read was Going Back. The third in Neil Lancaster’s action packed Tom Novak series. Like everything Neil writes, it’s just my kind of book; dripping with realism and as gripping as hell! If you like your action-thrillers to drag you along with them, give it a go.
TPQ: Best and worst books you have ever read?
TK: The best book I have ever read is Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Utterly unique and really quite mad, It’s just the perfect book. Honestly, if you get me started we’ll be here all day. The worst book I have ever read? I once read a page of 50 Shades of Gray over someone’s shoulder on the Central Line in London. Just one page. In fact, I’m pretty sure I didn’t even get to the end of that. And That was all it took for me to know just how bad that...’thing’... really is.
TPQ: Book most cherished as a child?
TK: I think this has got to be Odysseus: The Greatest Hero of Them All by Tony Robinson and Richard Curtis. I had never read anything about Troy or the Ancient Greeks or mythology before I was given this book, and I absolutely loved it. It sparked a lifelong passion for mythology of all types - I am still fascinated by religion, both ancient and those that still exist now - whilst being, at the same time, a hilarious and thrilling read for a little boy. I can’t wait until my son, Joseph, is old enough to read it for himself.
TPQ: Favourite Childhood author?
TK: Roger Lancelyn-Green. Absolutely hands down. The brilliantly hilarious ‘Odysseus...’ was my gateway drug into mythology, but it was the books of Roger Lancelyn-Green that became the addiction. I was obsessed with everything he wrote. The Greek Myths. The Myths of the Norsemen. The Tale of Troy. The Gods and Goddesses of Egypt. And most of all, The Legend of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table. I can’t tell you how many times I read them and how incredible an effect they had on my development. I absolutely would not be who I am today if I had not found these books.
TK: I think this has got to be Odysseus: The Greatest Hero of Them All by Tony Robinson and Richard Curtis. I had never read anything about Troy or the Ancient Greeks or mythology before I was given this book, and I absolutely loved it. It sparked a lifelong passion for mythology of all types - I am still fascinated by religion, both ancient and those that still exist now - whilst being, at the same time, a hilarious and thrilling read for a little boy. I can’t wait until my son, Joseph, is old enough to read it for himself.
TPQ: Favourite Childhood author?
TK: Roger Lancelyn-Green. Absolutely hands down. The brilliantly hilarious ‘Odysseus...’ was my gateway drug into mythology, but it was the books of Roger Lancelyn-Green that became the addiction. I was obsessed with everything he wrote. The Greek Myths. The Myths of the Norsemen. The Tale of Troy. The Gods and Goddesses of Egypt. And most of all, The Legend of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table. I can’t tell you how many times I read them and how incredible an effect they had on my development. I absolutely would not be who I am today if I had not found these books.
TPQ: First book to really own you?
TK: Definitely The Winner by David Baldacci. Until I was 17 years old, I had no idea that thrillers even existed. My mythology obsession had driven my adolescent reading, and from them on I was guided by school so all I ever seemed to read were the classics. Which were obviously wonderful books, but I’m not going to lie and say that I loved them. Then, when I was 17, my Uncle gave me a copy of The Winner. I had no idea what to expect, but what I discovered when I read it was my future. By the time I had finished, I was determined to be a thriller writer. Of course I was also determined to be a heavyweight boxer and a criminal barrister, so it took a while, but it all ended up okay!
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A Berlin Book Tower in memory of the Nazi book burning. |
TPQ: Favourite male and female author?
TK: It’s got to be Baldacci for the guys! It’s hard to look beyond the man who sparked my interest in the whole thing, and to be honest he remains - on his day - the best thriller writer in the business. He’s not perfect. They are not all world beaters. But when he does it right, nobody does it better. And to this day I still haven’t read a thriller to match The Winner.
For female authors, I’ve got to go with Judith O’Reilly. Judith has written two thrillers - Killing State and Curse The Day - which together make the Michael North series (so far), and they are both absolute belters. Definitely one of my favourite series writers right now, she writes utterly gripping, genuinely nerve-wracking action conspiracy thrillers which are up there with the very best of them. The next time they are looking for someone to take on a Bond (the books, I mean, not the films; Judith is way too short to replace Daniel Craig, no matter what she tells you...) Judith’s name should be first out of the hat.
TPQ: A Preference for fact or fiction?
TK: Neither. I am genuinely completely neutral. Or, more accurately, I am genuinely completely and equally addicted to both. I couldn’t live without either and usually - at least when I’m not totally wrapped up in a long, intense trial - I read a novel (most often a thriller) and a factual book (most often history) at the same time.
TPQ: Biography, autobiography or memoir that most impressed you?
TK: I think it’s hard to be impartial about a biography/autobiography as it’s hard to get beyond whether or not you like the subject. If you’re reading one of them, you’ll always prefer it to be about someone you like.
My answer, then? Biography: Ali, by Jonathan Eig. Simply because it’s the best written book about one of my two all-time heroes, Muhammad Ali.
And ...
Autobiography: Born to Run, by Bruce Springsteen. And Not just because it’s written by and about the other of my two all-time heroes, but also because when I read it I realised that the E-Street bastard can even Write better than I can!
TPQ: Last book you gave as a present?
TK: The last book I gave as a present was Killer Intent, my very first thriller. One of the other barristers in the trial I am defending at the moment found out that I was also an author (I’m not sure how; I use a different name) and was very kind and interested about it, and so I gave him a signed copy of my first book. I have yet to hear his review!
TPQ: Book you would most like to see turned into a movie?
TK: Well it has to be one of my own, doesn’t it? Surely? And so I’m going to say that it’s the dark, Las Vegas-set, boxing world noir that I haven’t actually written yet. It’s coming, though. Just as soon as I find the time. And when it does, I’m going to write the script at the same time as I write the book.
Oh, and if the answer can’t be one of my own, then I want to see a movie of the first Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser. Actually, a series of high-budget, feature length HBO shows based on the whole series. And I want to write it!!
In Italian.
Which will absolutely never happen!!
TPQ: Any author or book you point blank refuse to read?
TK: David Walliams. I will say no more...
TK: David Walliams. I will say no more...
TPQ: A book to share with somebody so that they would more fully understand you?
TK: Is it possible to give them pretty much every book I have mentioned so far? Other than Walliams? Because that might be the answer.
TK: The last book I gave as a present was Killer Intent, my very first thriller. One of the other barristers in the trial I am defending at the moment found out that I was also an author (I’m not sure how; I use a different name) and was very kind and interested about it, and so I gave him a signed copy of my first book. I have yet to hear his review!
TPQ: Book you would most like to see turned into a movie?
TK: Well it has to be one of my own, doesn’t it? Surely? And so I’m going to say that it’s the dark, Las Vegas-set, boxing world noir that I haven’t actually written yet. It’s coming, though. Just as soon as I find the time. And when it does, I’m going to write the script at the same time as I write the book.
Oh, and if the answer can’t be one of my own, then I want to see a movie of the first Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser. Actually, a series of high-budget, feature length HBO shows based on the whole series. And I want to write it!!
TPQ: A "must read" you intend getting to before you die?
TK: This one is hard, because I have read everything I want to. I’m not one for delayed gratification; when I hear about it, I read it. So it will instead have to be something pretty specialised that I’d love to have studied but for which I have never had the time or expertise or language skill. And so, relying on the fantasy of ‘I’ll get smart enough to read it first’, I’m going for The Divine Comedy by Dante.
TK: This one is hard, because I have read everything I want to. I’m not one for delayed gratification; when I hear about it, I read it. So it will instead have to be something pretty specialised that I’d love to have studied but for which I have never had the time or expertise or language skill. And so, relying on the fantasy of ‘I’ll get smart enough to read it first’, I’m going for The Divine Comedy by Dante.
In Italian.
Which will absolutely never happen!!
⏭ Tony Kent is a bestselling thriller writer, a criminal barrister and a former champion heavyweight boxer. He writes the Joe Dempsey / Michael Devlin series that started with Killer Intent. The third in the series - Power Play - was released in 2020.
Sean Mallory comments
ReplyDeleteDavid Walliams - I know what you mean about his books but his audio books are amazing ... listened to everyone of them in the car when the kids were younger and I have to say I loved them ... once even went as far as to take a longer route to my destination just to hear the end of the story ... brilliant books for listening too while driving with a car load of kids, a couple of bags of their favourite sweets, soft drinks and they never budged the whole time ... Roald Dahl was another, James and the Giant Peach was particularly brilliant but Michael Morporgu just didn't quite cut it and Anthony Horowitz and the Alex Rider series was at a different age ... right I'm raving here now about when the kids were kids!
Must look out for those thrillers you mention and the mythology books ... interested in those too ... might even try one of your own - Killer Intent - "... in this high-octane legal thriller ..." let me ask, did you write that review:):)?