Keith Hollihan's "The Four Stages of Cruelty," the movie

Now showing at My Book, The Movie: The Four Stages of Cruelty by Keith Hollihan.

The entry begins:

The Four Stages of Cruelty is set in a maximum security penitentiary, but its protagonist and first-person narrator is a female corrections officer. Kali Williams is as professional, efficient, jaded, and tough as any of her male co-workers but she also has a strong sense of right and wrong. Her voice showed up in my third draft of this book, and took over the story. To me she embodied the whistleblower who can no longer abide the corruption and systematic abuse around her.

To me, the role calls out for a strong female lead. Vera Farmiga showed that blue collar realism in Debra Granik’s Down to the Bone. Michelle Monaghan had the integrity and sensitivity to go with her toughness in...[read on]

Read an excerpt from The Four Stages of Cruelty, and learn more about the book and author at Keith Hollihan's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Four Stages of Cruelty.

Writers Read: Keith Hollihan.

My Book, The Movie: The Four Stages of Cruelty.

--Marshal Zeringue