by Nick Cook
Martyn Forrester, another great friend and writer, was also very helpful early on in the story, as was the eminent psychiatrist and physician Professor Gordon Turnbull, whom it has been my privilege to know for over a decade.
Jeannie BB kindly provided very helpful ‘US back-up’, Mike M was constantly on hand with his own unique brand of sage and strategic advice, and James and Sara and the team at Plastic gave very generously of their time (and bottom line) in putting together a phenomenal ‘teaser’.
For her behind-the-scenes support, my heartfelt thanks to our angelic friend Celia and her amazing ‘hit list’, and to our many other friends who provided me with ‘weekend refuge’ when I wasn’t writing in my urban eyrie: Susie C-T, the Swinburnes, David and Mary, Eddie and Amanda and, of course, Fiona and Baz.
Andrew and Jane, Ian and Zuhra, Sue Q, Sal, the DGs, Sophs and Jonathan, Micci and Lee, the DWs, and Foxy were – and still are – a source of huge support; as were – and are – Kevin, Gavin and the Optima team. Huge thanks, too, to my friends Robert M. Knight and Maryanne Bilham Knight for their extraordinary and wonderful photographs.
And a special thank-you to Chris – without question, the world’s greatest bank manager.
I am indebted to Susan and Tom for – respectively – their knowledge of international conferences and negotiating safe passage through Iron Dome, as well as a number of people – many going back to my Jane’s days – who helped to provide The Grid’s technical underpinnings.
And I couldn’t have gone on this journey without the love and help of some very special people who very sadly are no longer physically with us: my father, my step-parents, Sylvia, Baz, and Giles.
To that end, I must also thank Ingo Swann, the original remote viewer; also his sister, Murleen, and niece, Elly, for welcoming me into their lives. It has been a huge joy and a privilege getting to know you.
I could not have written The Grid without having first read a great deal about remote viewing and the nature of consciousness. I am indebted to many authors for their insights, though none more than Hal Puthoff and Paul H. Smith. The latter’s Reading the Enemy’s Mind is a truly remarkable account of the RV program from its inception, which is why I acknowledge him – and the book – on page 197.
For a starter on consciousness and the physics of reality, I strongly recommend the works of the person who got me started: Ervin Laszlo.
On the publishing front, The Grid wouldn’t exist but for the incredible team at Transworld: Bill Scott-Kerr, Janine Giovanni, Eloisa Clegg, Sally Wray, Ella Horne and the many unseen others who pulled it together across editorial, marketing and design. A big thank-you, too, to Steven Maat at Bruna; my foreign rights agents, Nicki Kennedy, Sam Edenborough and Jenny Robson at ILA; and – at The Soho Agency – to Mark Lucas, my agent and friend of more years than I want to admit to. Mark, I owe you: first, for not batting an eyelid when I ran the idea past you, but most of all for the care, love and attention you invested in it – and therein, huge thanks to Mindy, too.
Nor, of course, would The Grid exist but for my family: my extraordinary and wonderful mother, Hilary, my equally wonderful sister Kate and brother James – and their amazing partners and children.
And finally, to Ali, Lucy and Will. Thank you, too. My love for you guys knows no bounds.
THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING
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Transworld is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
First published in Great Britain in 2019 by Bantam Press
an imprint of Transworld Publishers
Copyright © Nick Cook 2019
Nick Cook has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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ISBN 9781473544338
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