"Jim Grant and Me..."

An Essay by Colin Campbell

Jim Grant isn’t a badass, tough-as-nails cop. He’d rather talk you down instead of get into a fight. He isn’t a tough guy, he just gets into tough situations. If you were to ask how the character came to me I’d say, Jim Grant is me. Apart from the getting into tough situations part. I used to avoid tough situations like the plague.  Back when I served with the West Yorkshire Police.

Grant has certainly struggled to find a quiet life since he transferred to the States. Partly that’s because he always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time but mostly it’s because he won’t take no for an answer and he never backs down. His theory is; people are less likely to hit a man who’s smiling at them. Even less likely if he can get them to smile back. And if they’re smiling they’re less likely to see it coming when he slaps them, smacks them and brings them to justice.

Taking Grant back to his roots in Snake Pass just goes to prove the point. He was never any good at turning a blind eye, even when that’s exactly what he told young Jamie Hope to do when he was off duty. Because if you’re a badass tough-as-nails cop you’re never off duty. Oh, did I say Grant wasn’t one of those. I must have been joking.

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