Local writer, bike racing enthusiast (as competitor & spectator) and Oliver’s Mount Fan Group co-ordinator Joel kindly chose us as one of the stockists for his debut fiction title John Willis.

We were already fans of Joel from his earlier book Daley Mathison: Forget Me Not! - a biography written to celebrate the life of the much-loved and missed road racer from Stockon.

His latest book is Joel’s first foray into fiction which he describes as a supernatural humorous espionage thriller and “a bit different” to his previous work (although road racing definitely still plays a big part in the plot and setting). 

Here’s the synopsis:

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐥, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐨 𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤.

𝐀 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥. 𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐲, 𝐚 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐱𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐬, 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬, 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥.

𝐔𝐩 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐬. 𝐀 ‘𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠’, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚-𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝. 𝐋𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐠𝐮𝐲𝐬. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝐇𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧: ‘𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬’. 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐉𝐨𝐞, 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬. 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡, 𝐢𝐟 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞! 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧? 𝐓𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬. 𝐍𝐨, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐝𝐨, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐥.

𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐲, 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬.

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧? 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫.

Joel generously donates 10% of the proceeds from sales of John Willis to the Joey Dunlop Foundation.