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Nick Rippington
ALLi Author Member
Location: United Kingdom (the)
Genres: Commercial Fiction, General Fiction, Thriller
Skills: Performance/Spoken Word, Press/Media Interview, Reading/Literary Event, Self-publishing Workshop/Training, Speaking Engagement/Lecture
NICK RIPPINGTON is one of the victims of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal you never hear about.
Having proudly taken his dream job as the newspaper’s Welsh Sports Editor, he was made redundant with two days notice when Rupert Murdoch closed down Europe’s biggest-selling tabloid six years ago.
On holiday at the time, Nick was never allowed back into the building, investigators seizing his computer to learn the secrets of his Fantasy Football teams.
Handed the contents of his desk in a black bin bag in a Wapping car park, Nick was at a crossroads – married just two years earlier and with a wife and 9-month-old baby to support.
After a lifetime in journalism, Nick’s option were limited, but one thing he had been eager to do since leaving school was publish a novel. With rejection slips piled high from traditional publishers and agents in the spare room, he decided it was time to be serious about his ambition.
Luckily it was at a time when self-publishing was booming and companies like Amazon were making becoming an author much more attainable. Having hit on an idea for a UK gangland thriller taking place against the backdrop of the Rugby World Cup, four years later he produced Crossing The Whitewash.
The book was praised by many, and received five-star reviews on both sides of the pond, and though he has found his way back into journalism, he now has the writing bug.
Almost two years after Crossing The Whitewash, he has now produced the second in the Boxer Boys series, a prequel called Spark Out, which was released in paperback on July 1 and for Kindle on July 10.
Married to Liz, Nick has two children – Jemma, 35, and Olivia, 7. A Bristolian at heart, he lives near Ilford, Essex.
Nick Rippington's books
Crossing The Whitewash
Gangland London collides with rugby-mad Wales in the build up to the World Cup. Football Prodigy Gary Marshall and best mate Arnie Dolan battle adversity and rival gangs as part of the Boxer Boys, who are based on a tough estate in East London. Then a series of life-changing events tear their worlds apart. Eight years later Arnie wants to renew their friendship and has a life-long secret to impart. So where is Gary? And why would he prefer the past to stay in the past?
Also available as an audio book with Audible, Crossing The Whitewash received an honourable mention in the genre category of the 3rd Writers' Digest self-published eBook awards.
Spark Out (Boxer Boys Book 2)
ONE A GANGSTER, THE OTHER IS A SOLDIER... WAR IS ABOUT TO CHANGE TWO BROTHERS LIVES FOREVER
MAURICE ‘BIG MO’ DOLAN is prone to headaches and there is one main cause: his family. He believes eldest son Chuck, 7, needs toughening up, his wife Beryl is too lenient, his career-criminal father has no respect for him and he is about to lose his younger brother Clive to the army.
There is light at the end of the tunnel, though. With Margaret Thatcher’s government backing initiative and suggesting people get ‘on their bikes’ to find work, Mo believes it is the perfect time for him to expand his business... into armed robbery.
As he plans the ultimate raid to drag him out of the poverty trap, he believes his fortunes are bound to get better... but with the Falklands War just around the corner they are about to become a whole lot worse.
Spark out, the second book in the Boxer Boys series, is a prequel to Crossing The Whitewash
Dying Seconds (Boxer Boys Book 3)
Killer, rapist, drug dealer and all-round bad boy Arnie Dolan is back – and this time he’s in a wheelchair. Ousted from his gang, it looks like his time at the top of the criminal underworld is over... but if you think that, you don’t know Arnie.
Meanwhile, things are looking much brighter for his former best mate Gareth Prince. The sports reporter has landed a promotion on his newspaper, the Sunday Tribune Despatch, scooped a major award and moved in with girlfriend Anjie and son Max. A life free from Arnie seems to be just what the doctor ordered.
That is until tragedy strikes to rock both their worlds. Thrust back together, they form an uneasy truce in an effort to find the person responsible for a shocking murder. But soon they encounter hostility both home and abroad as the Brexit debate rages and hooligans go on the rampage in Marseille. And as the mystery deepens it leads them to question everything they thought they knew...
This book is the third in the Boxer Boys series and is published on Kindle on December 14 and on paperback from various outlets