Steve Jones reveals touching real-life inspiration behind new book Terminally Kill

Virgin Radio

31 Jul 2024, 12:11

TV presenter Steve Jones has revealed it was one phrase that got the cogs turning on his brand new book, Terminally Kill. 

In the dark comedy, out now, a former policeman Ray ‘Sugar’ Leonard gets mugged on the way home from his chemotherapy group. His training kicks in and his would-be attacker winds up dead. 

He then wonders who else might be equally deserving of such justice. Ray lets slip his new philosophy to the group and it soon becomes clear that he’s not the only one with murder on his mind. 

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Terminally Kill is Steve’s second novel following 2023’s Call Time, and while on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with webuyanycar today (31st July), the F1 pundit revealed that there’s a tiny pinch of reality behind Ray, who was inspired by his own stepfather. 

Going into what triggered his imagination for the “crazy” story, Steve explained to host Nick Grimshaw: “[My stepfather] Ray was diagnosed with prostate cancer a few years back, and I should say right up top, he beat it, which I'm very, very happy to say, but his journey inspired me to write the story. 

“The seed of it came from, one day I was with him. He was right in the thick of what he was going through, a really tough time.”

It turns out that only one sentence pushed Steve into writing the story of Terminally Kill. He elaborated: “[Ray’s] putting on his jacket to go to the supermarket and get some comfort biscuits. He said to me with a wry smile, ‘Nobody better mess with me today, Steve, I got nothing to lose’.”

It was there that the idea seed was fully planted, and Steve took the next two years writing his now published second novel. 

Discussing his return to writing, the T4 host said he found his second book easier to write, adding: “I thought, 'You know what? Maybe I am a writer, so let's see if I can do it again.' I have this great idea gifted to me by Ray, and that one happened really quickly because I had a lot more confidence, I knew what I was doing. It's definitely an easier book to write than the first one, even though it took a lot more research to write.”

On the secret to how he pens his stories, Steve has a very strict regime. He shared: “I write everywhere, all the time. At home, I do morning writing. I write for five hours a day, nothing more, nothing less. Even if I feel like I can continue, I stop and continue tomorrow, because you want to come into it energised.”

On the advice he’d give other novelists, the telly star revealed: “Never have your mobile phone in the room. Get rid of that. Don't have anything that will draw your attention. Phones outside the room. I got my laptop for research. I got my little iPad. I write down in front of me. That's me for five hours and I just knuckle down and get on with it.”

Steve’s new book, Terminally Kill, is out now. 

For more great interviews listen to The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with webuyanycar weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.