My wife says I was too stubborn to fail, although she softens the barb with a quick, “and too talented,” before I make a face. And as someone who has been by my side for going on a quarter century now, she knows just how difficult the journey has been and how, if it wasn’t for that stubborness, it would have been so much easier to quit.
Instead, my chest is puffed proudly as I announce that my debut novel SWITCH is finally available in paperback from Penguin Canada this week. Munro’s Books — where I hope you’ll all join me for a signing party on Saturday, July 9 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. — already has it on display at the front of the store, and Chapters, Bolen Books, etc., have plenty of copies on hand. Despite fantastic online reviews and praise from fellow thriller authors such as Lee Child: “a terrific thriller, I loved it”; Ken Bruen: “think Harlan Coben on speed”; Tess Gerritsen: “a terrific novelist”; Rick Mofina: “Switch crackles with suspense and is as tense as a switchblade opening in a dark alley”; and Linwood Barclay: “Grant really knows how to make a story move,” it’s been a longer journey than many people realize.
It took 20 years from the time I first set out to write what I hoped would be my first novel until SWITCH was accepted by Random House in the UK. It was the sixth novel I wrote (not including two young-adult books); the second one after I landed a good agent; and the first to get that all-important ‘Yes’ that made up for the hundreds of ‘No’s before it.
Shortly after it was accepted in the UK, Heyne bought the German rights and Penguin came onboard for Canada. Since then, it has been translated into Russian and Chinese. My second book, No Cry For Help, has just been released in the UK and Germany to great reviews, but Penguin is waiting to see how SWITCH does first.
It’s difficult to know exactly what it is that makes people believe in their dreams even when the odds make it seem implausible. Whether it’s stubborness, faith or plain insanity, it is definitely something very . . .
well, human.
I hope you’ll pop down to see me at Munro’s on Saturday and pick up a copy of the thriller that even A-Channel’s Adam Sawatsky couldn’t put down after reading the first page. (See the review on Page 18) I promise you a smile, a free bookmark and a personalized autograph. And if you have any questions, I’ll do my best to answer them, too. M