John Gilstrap graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1979, and armed with a degree in American history, couldn't find a job. He ended up settling for a position with a little-noticed trade journal serving the construction industry. They called him the managing editor and they paid him food stamp wages. He hated it. He soon joined the Burke Volunteer Fire Department in Fairfax County, Virginia, if only to find relief from the boredom of his job. Running about a thousand calls his first year with the department, he was hooked, and the volunteer fire service became an important part of his life for the next 15 years.
In the early eighties, hating his job, he went back to graduate school. Earning a Master of Science degree in safety engineering from the University of Southern California, he started down a whole new road. For the next decade and a half, he became an expert on explosives safety and hazardous waste. Meanwhile, he kept writing.
Gilstrap’s first novel, Nathan's Run, was in fact his fourth novel, and when it sold, it sold big. Warner Brothers 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. It wasn’t long before he sold the book and movie rights to his second novel, At All Costs.
In 2006, Six Minutes to Freedom was published to considerable acclaim, telling 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), John gained access to people and places that lifelong civilians rarely see. The heroic warriors he 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 John got the idea for his new series character, Jonathan Grave. He's former Delta, released from the Army under circumstances that will be revealed over time, and now he's a freelance hostage rescue specialist. He's the finest friend you could ever have, and the worst enemy. No Mercy, the first entry in the series, hit the shelves in June of 2009, with Hostage Zero following in 2010 and Threat Warning in 2011. If fans like him, and if they enjoy his adventures, there'll be many more to come.