J. J. Connolly is an English novelist. He is known for writing the crime novel ''

Layer Cake A layer cake (US English) or sandwich cake (UK English) is a cake consisting of multiple stacked sheets of cake, held together by a filling such as frosting, jam, or other preserves. Most cake recipes can be adapted for layer cakes; butte ...

'' (2000)'','' which he also adapted into a hit 2004 film of the same name.

Early life

Connolly was born in

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames and the City of London. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshi ...

, the son of Irish parents.

Novels

His first novel, ''

'', was first published in 2000 by Duckworth Press. The book takes place in nineties London and is narrated by an unnamed, 29-year-old drug dealer ("If you knew my name, you'd be as clever as me") who plans on leaving the crime game behind at the age of thirty to live life as "a gentleman of leisure." His retirement plan, however, is made complicated by a large shipment of stolen

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, the Serbian war-criminals who want it back and revenge on anyone they hold responsible for the theft, the unpredictable and often outrageous personalities of his friends, and his boss, kingpin Jimmy Price, who has charged him with the task of recovering the missing daughter of a wealthy socialite. He described the novel as a reflection of experiences told to him; he described himself as "an end-user, a punter." His second novel, ''Viva La Madness'' was published in 2011, and resumes after the first, in which only two characters remain: the unnamed narrator and his partner in crime, Mister Mortimer, AKA Morty. It begins in the Caribbean with Morty attempting to recruit the reluctant narrator back to London and the crime business as a super-salesman and closer for a UK syndicate.

Adaptations

In 2004, ''Layer Cake'' was adapted into a

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

directed by

Matthew Vaughn Sir Matthew Allard Robert Vaughn (legal name Matthew Allard Robert de Vere Drummond; born 7 March 1971) is an English filmmaker. He has produced films including ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'' (1998) and ''Snatch (film), Snatch'' (2000 ...

. Connolly wrote the screenplay for the film, and wanted to portray the character Lucky in the film. Connolly is adapting his second novel, ''Viva La Madness'' for film, where actor

Jason Statham Jason Statham ( ; born 26 July 1967) is an English actor. He is known for portraying tough, gritty, or violent characters in various action thriller films, and has been credited for leading the resurgence of action films during the 2000s and 2 ...

was expected to star, rather than

Daniel Craig Daniel Wroughton Craig (born 2 March 1968) is an English actor. His accolades include two National Board of Review Awards, in addition to nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and three Golden Globe Awards. ...

. In 2015, it was announced the novel would be adapted as a television series.

References

External links

Official website

Duckworth Publishers - author page with photo

Duckworth Publishers about ''Layer Cake''

Duckworth Publishers about ''Viva La Madness''
English crime fiction writers Living people Writers from London English people of Irish descent English novelists Year of birth missing (living people) {{England-writer-stub