Thursday 8 March 2018

Joseph Knox interview

Image result for the smiling man joseph knox
Joseph Knox - Author of Sirens and The Smiling Man
Joseph Knox garnered critical and commercial acclaim when Sirens was released in early 2017, he returns with the second in his Aidan Waits series this time Waits is investigating the mysterious death of a man in the fourth floor of a disused hotel whilst tackling a variety of professional and personal obstacles.

In spite of his busy media schedule this week, his publishers Transworld Books granted me some time with Joseph on the day of his book release.


  • When you set out the first book ‘Sirens’ – did you have the plot for the sequel in mind already or did it come to you following the success of the first novel?

I was asked to write a short story for the Waterstones edition of Sirens, and it took place a little after the events of that book. As the story came to an end I realised that someone awful was watching Aidan, and that he was unaware of it, and I knew then that would inform the next book…



  • Was there a temptation to keep Waits fighting his demons/addictions or was the journey of sobriety necessary to character development/arc?

There’s nothing more tedious than watching a character learn a lesson in one book and then be re-set back to normal in the next. Aidan will keep moving forward as long as I’m writing him. Also – his idea of sobriety is just to stop popping pills. Hopefully as long as he can keep drinking he’ll stay sane…

Image result for the smiling man joseph knox


  • Do you know someone like Waits or is he a collage of people?

He reminds me of one guy I know.


  • I was struck by the warmth of the book, it is set in summer and I found that atmosphere radiating off the page, was that deliberate?

That’s very nice to hear, thank you. It was intentional to go for that as a reaction against the deep freeze of Sirens. Probably the same reason Aidan got off speed. I didn’t want to write the same book twice.


  • How many drafts did you go through?

Agh, impossible for me to say I’m afraid. I rewrite every time I re-read, which is a lot, and when I was hacking at The Smiling Man I worked 20 hours a day for six months. I’d often re-write a scene several times before I let myself get up and leave. Lots and lots of drafts.

That's a lot of writing - ''I worked 20 hours a day for six months' 


  • Did you lay out the plot or follow the Lee Child way of writing it as it comes to you and Waits?

As with Sirens I had a kind of tone, a kind of atmosphere that I was writing towards, but I’m afraid I don’t plan. Maybe my life would be easier, but I think the books, or certainly the characters, would feel less natural.


  • What noir have you been reading lately? Anything else you recommend? 

Not what anyone else would really call noir, but my idea of it certainly (as it pertains to tone, language, atmosphere, weirdos and doom), Ottessa MoshFegh’s short stories, Homesick For Another World.


  • Will we be seeing Waits again soon?

I’m working on the next Aidan novel as we speak. After that, I don’t know…


  • Do you have a wish to write in a different genre?

 Not really. A lot of crime writers seem to come to the genre having crapped out of what they really wanted to do – but for me it’s true love. I feel like Smiling Man is so different to Sirens, and my idea for book three is so different again, that I can keep pushing forward and challenging myself in this genre. It helps that they take place in a kind of heightened noir-ish landscape where anything and anyone seems possible.



 The Smiling Man is out from Doubleday Press now in Hardback

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