Grass is the incredible story of Phil Sparrowhawk, a working-class boy with gambling in his blood. He enjoyed an incredible run of luck, but finally rolled the dice once too often. With his large capital base, he launched a business importing clothes. Enter Howard Marks, who introduced him to the far more lucrative world of drug smuggling. Phil struck out on his own and from his new base in Thailand became involved in many large-scale cannabis deals, while at the same time developing highly successful legitimate businesses. The winning streak came to an end when the US Drug Enforcement Agency closed in. Phil's fortune was promptly confiscated and he spent the next four years in two of Thailand's most notorious jails before being extradited to the US, where he served further time in a series of penitentiaries.
Phil Sparrowhawk is married with a grown-up daughter and now lives quietly in the Surrey countryside. Martin Knight and Martin King have co-written the bestselling terrace culture classics Hoolifan and The Naughty Nineties, and have also worked on On the Cobbles with Jimmy Stockin and Ossie, the autobiography of football legend Peter Osgood.