Swierczynski's "The Blonde," the movie

The current feature at My Book, The Movie: Duane Swierczynski's The Blonde.

My December 2006 review of The Blonde opens:

If Duane Swierczynski's new book The Blonde hasn't been optioned by a movie producer yet, Hollywood's paid novel readers aren't doing their jobs. And once they do "discover" this book, I hope they'll hire me to write the adapted screenplay. Why? Because the story will make a cracking good movie and the screenplay almost writes itself.

So who would Swierczynski cast in the film adaptation of his novel? He writes:

I didn't have any specific actors in mind when writing The Blonde -- in fact, I think that's a recipe for disaster. Instead of allowing your character to develop his/her own voice and personality, you risk having them all sound like Samuel L. Jackson. Because that's who I could cast in every single role of every single novel or story I've written: Samuel L. Jackson.

I don't even know what my characters look like. I know what makes them tick, but if I try to imagine them, they're kind of vague blurs. I don't like when novelists overdo with character detail; I'd rather imagine my own version.

Read on about the actors who made the grade.

Among the praise for The Blonde:

"Delicious modern punk rock hard-boiled storytelling."
--Greg Rucka

"A hilarious nail-biter, a tour de force."
--Laura Lippman

"Lean as a starving model, mean as a snake, fast as a jet. This guy has got to be the hottest new thing in crime fiction."
--Joe R. Lansdale

"Insanely inventive. This inspired high-concept thriller rockets from climax to climax with an intensity that will leave you breathless. It's like the movie 'Speed' -- only with brains."
--Charles Ardai

Duane Swierczynski is editor-in-chief of the Philadelphia City Paper. Before The Blonde, he wrote The Wheelman, which was nominated for the Gumshoe Award and was optioned for film.

Read more about The Blonde, including an excerpt, at the St. Martin's Minotaur website and at Swierczynski's Secret Dead Blog. Also visit the author's MySpace and Crimespace pages.

See my review of The Blonde.

My Book, The Movie: The Blonde.

--Marshal Zeringue