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Adam Plantinga Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Adam Plantinga
J. LaForce

Adam Plantinga

How to pronounce Adam Plantinga: PLAN-tin-guh

Adam Plantinga Biography

Adam Plantinga's first book, 400 Things Cops Know, was nominated for an Agatha Award and won the 2015 Silver Falchion award for best nonfiction crime reference. It was hailed as "truly excellent" by author Lee Child and deemed "the new Bible for crime writers" by The Wall Street Journal. His second book, also nonfiction, is Police Craft. Plantinga began his career in law enforcement in 2001 as a Milwaukee police officer. He is currently a sergeant with the San Francisco Police Department assigned to street patrol. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, daughters, and Chow Chow named Ziggy. The Ascent is his debut novel.

Adam Plantinga's website

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Interview

Adam Plantinga discusses The Ascent with Vicarious Thrills.

Please tell us about your debut novel.

The Ascent is a thriller about a down-on-his-luck former Detroit cop, Kurt Argento, who is on a road trip out west when he runs afoul of a corrupt small town sheriff's department and put in a maximum security prison on fabricated charges. Julie Wakefield, a grad student who happens to be the governor's daughter, is about to take a tour of the prison. But when a malfunction in the security system releases a horde of inmates, a fierce struggle for survival ensues. Argento must help a small band of staff and civilians, including Julie and her two state trooper handlers, make their way from the bottom floor to the roof to safety. Standing in their way are six floors of the most dangerous convicts in Missouri.

I've read that only 4% of the people who start a novel, finish writing it. Why do you think you beat the odds?

Old mule stubbornness. Also, writing is my main hobby. I don't fish or play cards or collect stamps. So I write. My day job as a police patrol sergeant in San Francisco supplies me with a steady stream of material that I was motivated to work into a book. I was also set on writing the kind of novel that I like to read.

Was your debut novel the first book you wrote? (Any prior efforts ...

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Books by this Author

Books by Adam Plantinga at BookBrowse
The Ascent jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Adam Plantinga but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Shane Bauer

    Shane Bauer

    Shane Bauer is a senior reporter for Mother Jones. He is the recipient of the National Magazine Award for Best Reporting, Harvard's Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, Atlantic Media's Michael Kelly Award, the ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The Ascent

    Try:
    American Prison
    by Shane Bauer

  • Curtis Dawkins

    Curtis Dawkins

    Curtis Dawkins grew up in rural Illinois and earned an MFA in fiction writing at Western Michigan University. He has struggled with alcohol and substance abuse through most of his life and, during a botched home robbery, ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The Ascent

    Try:
    The Graybar Hotel
    by Curtis Dawkins

We recommend 3 similar authors

View all 3 Read-Alikes

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