As a young man, Geoff qualified as an accountant and he took a contract in Brazil where he lived and worked for five years and where he first learnt to speak Portuguese. He then moved back to the UK and he had a lot of contact with Portugal and Spain as he was in the ceramic tile business so a lot of the supply came from Portugal, keeping his contact with the Portuguese speaking world. In 1988 he got a job as an accountant in the Algarve and that was what initially brought him to Portugal. His home is now in Albufeira and he says “Portugal is the best possible place to live”.

He has always been interested in writing and has written for most of his life, although originally not novels because with a career he did not have the time to dedicate the hours needed to spend writing a full-length novel. He wrote articles, short stories and a couple of plays. It was only in 2010 that he really became serious about writing full-length novels when he gave up full time work.

Geoff Cook’s latest novels are Deaf Wish, published in 2019 and The Last Rights, released this February, where both are very much linked to Portugal as he explains: “Deaf Wish is the story of a lonely, old man who believes an invitation to his son’s wedding in the Douro will provide him with an opportunity to seek a reconciliation with the family he abandoned sixteen years earlier for a younger woman and a new life in southern Spain. His decision to stay in Portugal brings disastrous consequences for his entire family and exposes the truth surrounding the death of the woman he sacrificed everything to be with.”

In contrast, “The Last Rights is the story of a Holocaust survivor who carries with her the secret surrounding the greatest robbery and criminal conspiracy of all time. A fugitive from justice as an alleged collaborator, she is living in the Algarve when a Lisbon bank finally decides to close its safe deposit facility with ramifications that will not only expose her, but trigger a series of financial and political ramifications with international implications.”

Additionally, he has already started writing his next book set in the UK called “Penny come quick” with the title being cockney rhyming slang for confidence trick. Suspense runs through most of his books and on the subject of Thriller’s, what really inspired him initially is Frederick Forsyth’s book “Day of The Jackal” because he was “amazed that anybody who could write about something where it had distorted history but nevertheless everyone knew what the end of the story but how included the thrills and suspense into such a story to him was a marvel.” Since then, he has followed all the prestigious authors and he also said “there are a lot of incredible female writers in the UK writing this genre, like The Girl on the Train.”

Geoff Cook’s books are available on Amazon, Waterstones and on Kindle. If you would like to contact him and keep up to date on his latest books you can do so via his website https://www.geoff-cook.com/. Additionally, if anyone is interested in signed copies, he of course can accommodate this from the Algarve.

Author

Following undertaking her university degree in English with American Literature in the UK, Cristina da Costa Brookes moved back to Portugal to pursue a career in Journalism, where she has worked at The Portugal News for 3 years. Cristina’s passion lies with Arts & Culture as well as sharing all important community-related news.

Cristina da Costa Brookes