Cook, Troy

PERSONAL:

Married; children: a son.

ADDRESSES:

Home—CO. E-mail—webmail@troycook.net.

CAREER:

Writer, screenwriter, and movie director. Worked on eighty feature films; director of the film The Takover, c. 1994. Previously worked as a child actor and as an assistant manager at McDonald's; also worked at a movie theater and owned a house painting company.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Silver Evvy Award for best novel and Allbooks Review Web site Editor's Choice Award, both for 47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers.

WRITINGS:

(And producer and director) Phoenix (screenplay), 1995.

47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers (novel), Capital Crime Press (Fort Collins, CO), 2006.

ADAPTATIONS:

47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers has been optioned for film.

SIDELIGHTS:

Before turning his attention to writing, Troy Cook worked in the movie industry for many years, writing and directing films. In an interview conducted by Norm Goldman and posted on Cook's home page, the author noted: "I learned a lot about storytelling from making films. A great script has the reader visualizing the story—and has great dialogue. And a great novel benefits from those same traits. So I tried to apply that set of skills to write a good book."

Cook's debut novel, 47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers, tells the story of a father-daughter bank-robbing team. Tara has been robbing banks with her dad since she was a little girl. She finally decides to quit when the pair is running from both the police and former partners seeking revenge. The separation from her father, who is homicidal, is further complicated by her interest in Max, the son of a sheriff. David Pitt, writing in Booklist, called 47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers an "intriguing first mystery." Paula Scardamalia, writing on the Foreword Magazine Web site, noted: "The author … deftly forges several plotlines together in this debut novel, while creating characters that precariously walk the border between the believable and the absurd."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, August 1, 2006, David Pitt, review of 47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers, p. 47.

Library Journal, October 1, 2006, Barbara Hoffert, review of 47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers, p. 38.

ONLINE

Armchair Interviews,http://www.armchairinterviews.com/ (May 15, 2007), Elysabeth Eldering, review of 47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers.

Foreword Magazine,http://www.forewordmagazine.com/ (May 15, 2007), Paula Scardamalia, review of 47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers.

Mysterious Musings Web log,http://juliabuckley.blogspot.com/ (December 1, 2006), Julia Buckley, "Troy Cook Is a Highly Effective Writer with a New Movie Deal," interview with author.

Troy Cook Home Page,http://www.troycook.net (May 15, 2007).