117 ratings | 10 reviews | avg rating:4.48

Jan Needle’s Followers (32)

Jan’s Bookshelves

to-read (34)
currently-reading (0)
read (113)

Jan’s Friends (447)

Arun Ellis

315 books | 1,500 friends

Linda Gillard

55 books | 582 friends

Doug Greene

1,183 books | 519 friends

Laura Macmillan

4,153 books | 22 friends

Rachel

644 books | 13 friends

Ann Macdonald

838 books | 9 friends

Jan Ruth

371 books | 1,429 friends

Karen

187 books | 94 friends

More friends…

Jan Needle

Goodreads Author

Website

http://www.janneedle.com/

Twitter

janneedle

Genre

Thriller, Historical Fiction, Children's

Member Since

September 2012

edit data

Jan Needle has written more than forty books, including novels for adults and children and literary criticism. He also writes plays for stage, TV and radio, including serials and series like Grange Hill, The Bill and Brookside. His first novel, Wild Wood, is a retelling of The Wind in the Willows with Toad, Rat, Mole and Co as the ‘villains’ - a sort of undeserving rural squirearchy – and the stoats and weasels as heroes. A new version was brought out recently by Golden Duck, with the original wonderful illustrations by the late Willie Rushton.

Although he is currently working on a film of perhaps his most celebrated children’s book, My Mate Shofiq, Jan has recently been concentrating on historical novels about his first and most enduring lo Jan Needle has written more than forty books, including novels for adults and children and literary criticism. He also writes plays for stage, TV and radio, including serials and series like Grange Hill, The Bill and Brookside. His first novel, Wild Wood, is a retelling of The Wind in the Willows with Toad, Rat, Mole and Co as the ‘villains’ - a sort of undeserving rural squirearchy – and the stoats and weasels as heroes. A new version was brought out recently by Golden Duck, with the original wonderful illustrations by the late Willie Rushton.

Although he is currently working on a film of perhaps his most celebrated children’s book, My Mate Shofiq, Jan has recently been concentrating on historical novels about his first and most enduring love, the sea, and a series of extremely gritty thrillers. His aim has always been to transcend standard genre writing, which has sometimes brought him disapproval. The ‘hero’ of his first naval fiction, A Fine Boy for Killing, is a borderline sadist, and life on the frigate Welfare undermines almost every heroic myth popularized by earlier writers. Loved or hated, his novels refuse to be ignored.

His thrillers are also firmly in the ‘noir’ spectrum. The most recent is The Bonus Boys, which features a hard-as-nails investigator called Andrew Forbes and his Scottish lover Rosanna ‘the Mouse’ Nixon, who first appeared in Kicking Off, a chilling warning about the fissile state of Britain’s crumbling prisons. More are in the pipeline, as are additions to a series of novellas about crime, the 18th century navy, and the secret world of spies and spying. Even the possibility that Napoleon escaped from his exile on St Helena is examined. Like many ‘mere conspiracy theories’ it uncovers some extraordinary possibilities.

Jan also attempts, in conjunction with Walker Books, to widen the readership for certain classic novels. They include so far Moby Dick, Dracula, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and The Woman in White, all aimed at a young adult audience . In his spare time, he sails boats and plays a variety of musical instruments.
...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Jan Needle questions, please sign up.

Combine Editions
Jan Needle’s books

Average rating: 3.8 · 1,975 ratings · 176 reviews · 72 distinct works • Similar authors

	Dracula [Adaptation] by Jan Needle (Goodreads Author) (Adaptation ), Bram Stoker (Original Author), Gary Blythe (Illustrator) 3.88 avg rating — 425 ratings — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Moby-Dick by Jan Needle (Goodreads Author) (Adaptation ), Patrick Benson (Illustrator), Herman Melville 3.66 avg rating — 210 ratings — published 2006 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Nelson Chronicles 3.60 avg rating — 186 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	SEA OFFICER BENTLEY ADVENTURES BOOKS 1-4 the complete series of gripping historical naval thrillers 4.12 avg rating — 138 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Fine Boy For Killing (Sea Officer William Bentley Book 1) 3.76 avg rating — 144 ratings — published 1983 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Sea Officer Bentley Thrillers: A naval fiction box set 3.91 avg rating — 115 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Wicked Trade (Sea Officer William Bentley Book 2) 3.76 avg rating — 76 ratings — published 1998 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Wild Wood 4.08 avg rating — 63 ratings — published 1982 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Spithead Nymph (Sea Officer William Bentley Book 3) 3.88 avg rating — 65 ratings — published 2004 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Undertaker's Wind (Sea Officer William Bentley Book 4) 3.93 avg rating — 58 ratings — published 2006 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Jan Needle…

2 posts
Jan Needle's Blog

History on the hoof...

The historic history festival is about to get underway, but the book of mine which is up for grabs in the competition - Death Order - only goes back to World War II.

Most of my historic work so far is nautical, although the most recent is a short adventure about Napoleon's supposed attempt to escape from St Helena in a submarine. Crazy though that sounds, there's lot of evidence that it was actual Read more of this blog post »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on April 13, 2016 06:44

View all 2 posts »

Series by Jan Needle

Sea Officer William Bentley (4 books)
by

Jan Needle (Goodreads Author)

3.84 avg rating — 458 ratings

A Charlie Raven Adventure (2 books)
by

Jan Needle (Goodreads Author)

3.66 avg rating — 65 ratings

Nelson Chronicles (3 books)
by

Jan Needle (Goodreads Author)

3.39 avg rating — 66 ratings

The Size Spies (2 books)
by

Jan Needle (Goodreads Author),

Roy Bentley (Illustrator)

4.07 avg rating — 15 ratings

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. YA? robot/clockwork/windup boy at niagara falls [s]	4	35	Nov 15, 2015 05:53AM
What's the Name o...: Books written by male authors who have feminine or gender neutral names	38	1116	Feb 03, 2025 10:28AM
THE WORLD WAR TWO...: Novels of WW2	1063	851	Nov 28, 2025 03:03PM