Creggs author’s Cold War thriller becomes Amazon bestseller
Creggs author Rob Jones has received global attention for his novel ‘The Cuckoo Asset’.
A Creggs-based author has found international success after his debut espionage thriller spent several weeks among Amazon’s top 30 bestsellers.
Rob Jones, who lives in Creggs and writes under the pseudonym R. Mac Seáin, said he never expected The Cuckoo Asset to attract such attention, particularly from readers in the United States, where he estimates around 95 per cent of sales have come from.
“I certainly didn’t expect it to take off like this!” Rob told the Roscommon Herald.
The novel follows an Irish student who becomes an unwilling participant in an international intelligence operation during the Cold War. Set in Africa, the thriller grew from an unusual incident in Rob’s own life when, as a young teacher in Wales, he found himself the subject of speculation because he had Romanian currency from a holiday during the Soviet era.
“Someone did some research and reckoned that he had some sort of proof that I had some sort of links and that I worked in intelligence in Africa,” he recalled.
“I was just a post-standard young teacher, and I thought about it afterwards, and I thought, wow, that would make a really good story.” That idea stayed with him for decades. Rob began making notes for the book when he was about 25, but the project took around 30 years to complete. It was only after moving to Roscommon that he finally managed to bring the story together.
“I wrote a little bit more, then I came back to it and thought about it,” he said. “It was a nice thing to be able to carry on with. Once I came to Ireland, especially in the winter when the weather's not so great, I was able to sit down and just put it all together, and I really enjoyed it.”
Rob spent most of his life in Wales and worked as a teacher before later becoming a government adviser on bilingual resources. Welsh is his first language, and he says the cultural similarities between Wales and Ireland helped draw him to this part of the country in retirement.
“I chose Ireland because it’s a beautiful country with lovely people. I just love it here,” he said.
Since settling in Creggs, Rob said he has come to love local life, from the friendliness of local people to the atmosphere of a Friday night in Athleague.
“It's just a great atmosphere, it's just lovely,” he said. “The culture here as well is just so similar to the culture that we have in Wales, everything about the place is just superb.”
Despite the book’s success, Rob has kept the news quiet among friends locally. “I'll keep it close to my chest, and then I'll just see how it goes,” he said.
