Matthew Quirk Books

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Matthew Quirk is a New York Times bestseller who writes thrillers. Before dedicating his life to novels, Quirk worked for The Atlantic. The position was educational because his focus was crime and terrorism, which taught him everything he needed to know about politics, foreign affairs, espionage, and every other element that appears in his books.

The author does extensive research about the places, people, and events that feature in his stories. He mastered that skill while working as a journalist. Additionally, he wasn’t nearly as precious about his manuscripts and ideas as other aspiring writers.

When he worked at The Atlantic, the publication received thousands of submissions each year, and only a few appeared within its pages. Quirk had to compete with the best writers in the world to get his stories in the magazine.

That meant pitching hundreds of ideas and discarding them whenever they fell short. The author applies that ruthless mindset to his books.

Quirk writes thrillers because he grew up watching films like ‘Jaws’ and ‘Die Hard,’ not to mention reading the works of Elmore Leonard, Raymond Chandler, and Patricia Highsmith. He describes his novels as action-driven thrillers.

The author encourages aspiring writers to read as voraciously as he did. You can’t surprise modern audiences unless you know what came before. You must stand on the shoulders of past giants, building on the foundation they planted and subverting the expectations they created.

Quirk learned as much from bad writing as he did from good writing because it showed him what he shouldn’t do. It took him eight years to complete his first manuscript. He approached a dozen agents and they rejected it.

The advice they gave Quirk showed the author that he was suited to writing books that differed from what he initially wanted. Because of the flexibility he had nurtured at The Atlantic, the author discarded his first manuscript and wrote a second one in nine months. ‘The 500’ changed everything for him.

Quirk believes that aspiring writers can achieve similar success if they are malleable. Unfortunately, some of them struggle because they refuse to heed the advice of industry experts. Quirk is glad that he gave up on his first manuscript despite working on it for seven years. His career has flourished as a result.

The author prefers to outline his books. His favorite aspect of writing is that stage where he steps away from the computer and goes on long walks while refining scenes in his imagination. He enjoys giving his brain the freedom to tell stories.

That can’t happen when he’s sitting in front of a screen. During the early stages of his career, the author wrote obsessively. Because he had a full-time job, Quirk would write from early evening to 3 AM.

These days, he sets a daily word count. Having a defined target gives the author an excuse to take a break whenever he achieves his goal. He believes that boundaries are important for every novelist. Otherwise, they can easily lose themselves in their manuscript.

Matthew Quirk Awards

Quirk has received nominations for Anthony and Edgar Awards.

Matthew Quirk Books Into Movies

‘The Night Agent’ became a Netflix TV show of the same name starring Gabriel Basso.

Best Matthew Quirk Books

The author is fond of Micheal Crichton because he wrote the novelist a letter after reading ‘Jurassic Park.’ He was nine at the time, and Crichton wrote back. Quirk’s best books include:

The Night Agent: Peter Sutherland’s father lost his career and then his life after they accused him of selling secrets to the Russians. So the FBI Agent was surprised when he landed a position in the White House Situation Room.

Now he has a conspiracy on his hands. It all began with a phone call from a terrified young woman with a message suggesting that a Russian mole had infiltrated the U.S. government. What hope does Peter have of finding the mole when he can’t trust anyone?

Hour of the Assassin: Nick Averose had a crucial job. He would assess the security of the government’s most important officials by posing as an assassin and attempting to overcome their defenses. He never expected things to go so wrong.

Averose had entered the study of the former CIA director without tripping any alarms. Unfortunately for Averose, someone got there before him and killed the man. Now Nick is on the run because everyone thinks he did the dirty deed.

When Does The Next Matthew Quirk book come out?

Matthew Quirk doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is Inside Threat / Code Black and was released on June, 13th 2023.

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