By Roger Lytollis

Last updated at 11:09, Friday, 24 April 2009

Sitting at home in Abbeytown, tapping at his computer keyboard, happy endings flow from Matt Hilton’s fingers.

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Problems pile up and rain down. But by the final page, the good guy always wins.

If only real life was so obliging.

Matt is well versed in the difference between fact and fiction. Twelve months ago he gave up his job as a police constable when he earned a record-breaking publishing contract. His decision was made easier by the knowledge that he could create justice more easily on the page than on Cumbria’s streets.

The 43-year-old made international headlines when publisher Hodder & Stoughton picked his manuscript, Dead Men’s Dust, from the slush pile of the hopeful and the hopeless.

The company awarded Matt a contract worth £800,000 for five novels. This is believed to be the largest sum ever awarded to a debut thriller writer in the UK.

Dead Men’s Dust is published next month. The book and its sequels feature an uncomplicated hero called Joe Hunter. In Dead Men’s Dust he travels from Manchester to America on the trail of a serial killer. Ex-military, expert martial artist, Joe Hunter dishes out justice to those the law cannot reach. “Some may call me a vigilante,” says Hunter. “I think I’ve just got problems to fix.”

So, Matt Hilton, ex-policeman who thought about joining the army in his youth, Ju-Jitsu fourth dan, is there much of you in your fictional problem fixer?

“I think he’s a fitter and more charismatic version of myself. I come from that discipline where you help people that are in need. I think of Joe as a Robin Hood-type character. The lone samurai. He’s got that sense of honour and justice.

“It’s all about good overcoming evil. Joe is a metaphor for fighting bullies or people who would try to hurt your friends or family. Violence is a means to an end, not there for its own sake.”

In his four years as a police officer Matt was on the front line of law and order, mainly in Maryport and Flimby. “It was hard work. You never seemed to have done enough. I joined the police to help people. I’ve been on jobs where you’ve helped the person and they’ve turned on you, physically and verbally. I felt a bit disillusioned. Maybe I went into it with rose-coloured spectacles.”

Matt admits there were times when he would have liked to tear off the badge and dispense instant justice, Joe Hunter style.

“Some people might find it a bit strange that an ex-police officer would be writing about a vigilante. It flies in the face of the police force. You had to go by the book.

“At times I was frustrated that the criminal element had lost all respect for the police. Sometimes I was thinking ‘You just need a good slap.’ But I would never succumb to violence, I’m too disciplined for that. I just thought that if the rule book was thrown out, the criminals wouldn’t be treating me like that. That had some influence on me writing about Joe Hunter and how he would react, as he wasn’t under any constraints.”

Before joining the police in 2004 Matt had worked in security for 18 years in Carlisle city centre. He started as a store detective then investigated organised gangs, helping set up radio links between shops.

As a police constable he primarily responded to 999 calls and was fed a diet of violence, theft and road accidents. “In security and the police you sometimes had to get physical to deal with people. I’ve chased people down the street hundreds of times. Luckily in over 1,500 incidents I was never seriously injured.

“I met some lovely people as well. And colleagues were supportive. It was exciting. Every day was a new adventure. You’re riding on adrenaline half the time.”

But turning 40 made Matt question where his life was going and whether he should try again to fulfil his long-held ambition of becoming an author. An avid reader and writer since growing up on Raffles Avenue and attending Morton School, Matt had been submitting work to agents and publishers for 10 years. He had “enough rejection slips to paper the living room with.” But success in writing competitions gave him the confidence to keep trying.

“I saw there was a gap in the market for a British action hero, but largely set in the US. I’ve always been attracted to the crime genre. I’ve always preferred the American style. It’s faster, more cinematic. More private investigator than police procedural.

“I had been writing stand-alone books before realising that a character who could carry a series would be more attractive to publishers. I try to write breathlessly, so there’s a hook at the end of every chapter. I’m quite an organic writer. I see scenes rather than plot things.”

The first copies of Dead Men’s Dust have been delivered to the Hilton residence. Matt is still getting used to holding it and seeing his name in big gold capitals on the cover.

The book has been translated into German, Italian, Bulgarian and Romanian. There are editions for Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA and there has been interest in film rights from a Hollywood studio.

“Oh, it’s fabulous,” says Matt. “I’m overawed by it. It’s the culmination of a dream. When I heard about the publishing deal it was as if people were talking about someone else. I was waiting for the punchline. It didn’t come. There was no big celebration. I think I was too overwhelmed.”

Happy times for Matt and his wife Denise. But the pleasure is tempered by the death of Matt’s biggest fan; his daughter Megan.

She died in 2006 after binge drinking at a house party in Scotland, where she had recently moved to begin a sport and fitness course.

“Megan was the first person who read the book,” says Matt. “She encouraged me to send it off. She was my biggest fan, basically. She was happy-go-lucky. Fun. Very sport-minded. She wanted to go into the military and then be a personal trainer.

“Megan had just turned 17. She didn’t drink, she didn’t smoke. She went to a birthday party. There was a little bit of peer pressure. She went to bed. She was sick in her sleep. And she passed away.

“It was a shock. A terrible shock.”

Dead Men’s Dust is dedicated to “my beautiful girl” with the message “I miss you dearly, Megs. Your energy, I know, goes on. When the time is right, I will see you again.”

Megan’s death was another factor behind Matt’s determination to succeed as a novelist.

To prove Megan right because she believed in him. To get away from the depressing reality of children binge drinking which hit him hard every day as a policeman, especially after his daughter died.

“I saw kids getting drunk and I knew what could happen to them and their friends. Go out and enjoy yourself. But why do you have to get in such a state?

“I found therapy in my writing. I could get lost in a fantasy world. It allowed me a space between myself and what was really going on.”

Now Matt’s writing is reality. The Joe Hunter books are due to be published every six months in the UK and Matt has just finished the rough draft of book four.

He’s too busy for spending sprees, even if he was that way inclined. “People think suddenly I’m an almost-millionaire. I’m not. The money comes in stages. And tax takes half of the top line. I’ll be happy if I can pay off my mortgage and give myself and my wife a decent life. I’m not one to rush out and buy a sports car.”

Whatever Matt might not be, he is an optimist. Megan’s death and the soul-sapping things he saw in the line of duty have not knocked his belief that the good guy will still be standing on the final page.

“I think people need to be re-educated in what’s right and wrong. Good manners and respect.

“When good people stop putting up with bad people’s actions the world will be a better place. That can be on a small scale or a global scale. It’s just having the courage to do it.”

Matt Hilton will be reading from Dead Men’s Dust and signing copies at Waterstone’s, Carlisle, on Wednesday May 13 from 6.30pm. The book is published on May 14.

First published at 05:09, Friday, 24 April 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk