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Jon Stock

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For those of a similar name, see John Stock (disambiguation).

Jon Stock
Born (1966-05-12) 12 May 1966 (age 59)
England
Pen nameJ.S. Monroe
OccupationAuthor, columnist
NationalityBritish
GenreSpy thriller
SpouseHilary Stock
Children3

Jon Stock (born 12 May 1966 in England) is a British author and journalist. Between 1997 and 2017, he wrote six spy novels under his own name: The Riot Act (1997); The Cardomom Club (2003); Dead Spy Running (2009); Games Traitors Play (2011); Dirty Little Secret; To Snare a Spy. He has also written five psychological thrillers under the pen name J.S. Monroe: Find Me (2017); Forget My Name (2018); The Other You (2020); The Man on Hackpen Hill (2021); No Place to Hide (2023). He has written one work of non-fiction: The Sleep Room: A Very British Medical Scandal (2025).

Early life and family

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Stock was educated at Sherborne School in Dorset and at Magdalene College, Cambridge. He lives in Wiltshire with his wife Hilary Stock, a fine art photographer; they have three children.[1] He has three brothers, one of whom is Andrew Stock, a past president of the Society of Wildlife Artists.[2][3]

Journalism

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After working for some years as a freelance journalist in London, Stock moved to India, where he was a columnist for The Week and, from 1998 to 2000, a foreign correspondent for The Daily Telegraph in New Delhi. He also lived in Cochin, Kerala.[1] On his return to England, he worked for The Daily Telegraph and was the editor of the Weekend section of the paper from 2005 till 2010.[4] He left the paper in January 2010 to complete a trilogy of spy thrillers and returned in March 2013 to edit the paper's online books channel, before rejoining the staff as Weekend editor in June 2014.[4] He left the paper in October 2015 to pursue his writing career.[5] From 2020 to 2023 He was the Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at Mansfield College, University of Oxford.[5]

Bibliography

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The Riot Act (1997) was published by Serpent's Tail and short-listed by the Crime Writers' Association for its best first novel award.[1] It was published in France by Éditions Gallimard in 2002 as Lutte Des Casses as part of its Série Noire imprint.[6][7]

The Cardamom Club (2003) was published by Blackamber (later part of Arcadia Books) in the UK, and by Penguin Books in India in 2004.[1]

Dead Spy Running (2009), published by Blue Door, was the first book in the Legoland trilogy.[8]

Games Traitors Play (2011), published by Blue Door, was the second book in the Legoland trilogy.[9]

Dirty Little Secret (2012), published by Blue Door, was the concluding book in the Legoland trilogy.[4][8]

Stock had signed a three-book deal in July 2008 with Blue Door, a HarperCollins imprint, for "a good six-figure sum", according to The Bookseller.[10][11] The spy novel series, known as the Legoland trilogy, all feature MI6 officer Daniel Marchant.[8] While researching for Dirty Little Secret he came across the Seraj, an Iranian fast attack craft based on the high-performance British speedboat, the Bradstone Challenger.[12] Stock wrote a detailed article in the Daily Telegraph,[13] on how the Iranians plan to use it as a fast attack boat against the United States Navy in any future conflict in the Strait of Hormuz.[13]

To Snare a Spy (2017) was published by The Nare Hotel Co Ltd.[14] It is a spy thriller featuring protagonist Noah, a teenager who learns of a Russian mole in the British government.[15]

Find Me (2017) was written under the pen name J.S. Monroe and published by Head of Zeus.[16][17] It was published in the UK in February 2017 and by Harlequin MIRA in the US in March 2017.[18][19] Find Me is a 'high concept' psychological thriller featuring Jar, a young Irish writer, who is convinced that his girlfriend, who committed suicide five years ago at university, might still be alive.[16] Publishers Marketplace has mentioned Find Me as having "notes of Harlan Coben's Tell No One and Ian McEwan's Sweet Tooth".[20] Find Me had been translated into 14 languages by 2017.[21][22][23]

Forget My Name (2018) was published by 'Head of Zeus under the pen name J.S. Monroe.[23] This book is about a woman who loses her memory, and only remembers her home address, and has lost all her IDs after her bag is stolen.[24]

The Other You (2020) was published by Head of Zeus under the pen name J.S. Monroe. It is a psychological thriller about a super recogniser called Kate, who suspects that her partner has been replaced by his doppelgänger.[25]

The Man on Hackpen Hill (2021) was published by Head of Zeus under the pen name J.S. Monroe and is the third novel to feature DI Silas Hart, head of Swindon CID. A suspense thriller, it begins with the discovery of a dead body in the middle of a mathematical crop circle in Wiltshire.[26]

No Place to Hide (2023) was published by Head of Zeus under the pen name J.S. Monroe. A psychological thriller, it is about a successful doctor in London whose life and marriage implode when his past as a medical student catches up with him.[27][28]

The Sleep Room: A Very British Medical Scandal (2025), published by The Bridge Street Press, was Stock's first work of non-fiction.[29] The book is about British psychiatrist William Sargant and his experimental treatment of women in the 60's and 70's at St Thomas' Hospital in London. As well as accessing Sargant's papers at the Wellcome Collection and recently released documents at National Archives in Kew, Stock contacted survivors of Sargant's experiments and the book includes their testimonies.[29][30]

Movie deal

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Warner Bros. acquired the movie rights to the Dead Spy Running franchise in October 2008 to make the first of a proposed three-movie franchise.[31] They signed on Charlie's Angels director McG to direct the movie along with Stephen Gaghan to write the screen play.[31][32] In September 2012 Warner Brothers announced that they had hired Adam Wingard to direct, and Simon Barrett to rewrite the screenplay of Dead Spy Running.[33] In 2014, McG bought the movie rights with his own company, Wonderland Sound and Vision.[34][35]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Jon Stock". Arcadia Books. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
  2. ^ "OSS Reception at The Royal Arcade Gallery". Old Shirburnian Society. 21 November 2017.
  3. ^ "Dorset Lives – Stock pictures". Dorset Life. August 2011.
  4. ^ a b c "Jon Stock". gamestraitorsplay.coms. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  5. ^ a b Jon Stock Novelist, Non-fiction writer Royal Literary Fund 24 August 2022
  6. ^ "Jon Stock". Éditions Gallimard. Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
  7. ^ "Collection SÉRIE NOIRE [p. 74]". Éditions Gallimard. Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
  8. ^ a b c Legoland Trilogy Goodreads.com, 18 November 2014.
  9. ^ "Games Traitors Play". Harper Collins. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  10. ^ "The Blue Door Opens". HarperCollins. Archived from the original on 1 August 2008. Retrieved 28 August 2008.
  11. ^ "Janson-Smith opens Blue Door". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 2 August 2008. Retrieved 28 August 2008.
  12. ^ "Iran's new super-fast naval gunships", CNN Security Clearance – CNN.com Blogs, 24 August 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  13. ^ a b Jon Stock, "Little boat, big danger: how a British-made speedboat has become a weapon in Iran's standoff with the US", The Telegraph, 20 August 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  14. ^ To Snare a Spy Goodreads.com 25 April 2017
  15. ^ The country house hotel by the sea... The Nare 25 April 2017
  16. ^ a b "'Sensational' thriller to HoZ". The Bookseller. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  17. ^ "Authors". Janklow and Nesbit. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  18. ^ "Find Me". Head of Zeus. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  19. ^ "London Book Fair Briefcase 2016". Book Brunch. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  20. ^ "Publishers Marketplace – Publishers Lunch". Fresh Picked Deals. Archived from the original on 14 August 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  21. ^ J.S. Monroe Amazon 31 October 2017
  22. ^ "NEVER FORGET J. S. Monroe page 19" (PDF). Bardon Chinese Media Agency. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  23. ^ a b Jon Stock Goodreads.com 8 August 2018
  24. ^ Forget My Name Goodreads.com 8 August 2018
  25. ^ The Other You Goodreads.com 9 January 2020
  26. ^ The Man on Hackpen Hill Amazon UK 5 March 2021
  27. ^ No Place to Hide Head of Zeus 23 August 2022
  28. ^ No Place to Hide GoodReads 23 August 2022
  29. ^ a b The Bridge Street Press acquires Stock's 'chilling' psychiatric exposé The Sleep Room in major pre-empt The Bookseller 18 January 2023
  30. ^ Stock, Jon (29 March 2025). "'He still features in my nightmares': how a sinister psychiatrist put hundreds of women in deep, drug-induced comas". The Guardian.
  31. ^ a b Borys Kit (23 October 2008). "Director McG is 'Spy' guy for action franchise". Reuters. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
  32. ^ "Stephen Gaghan Adapting Dead Spy Running". Comingsoon.net. 19 February 2009. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  33. ^ Mike Fleming Jr, "Warner Bros Sets Director Adam Wingard And Scribe Simon Barrett For ‘Dead Spy Running’", Deadline, New York. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  34. ^ Nellie Andreeva and Mike Fleming Jr, "McG's Wonderland Now A Monied Company", Deadline Hollywood, 25 June 2013.
  35. ^ "McG's Wonderland Sound and Vision Gets a Little 'Fractured'", The Tracking Board, 17 April 2014.
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