Hollywood comes calling for Adrian McKinty's The Chain

Hollywood comes calling for Adrian McKinty's The Chain

Australian crime writer Adrian McKinty went to have a "few pints of the black stuff" at Dublin House, his local pub in New York last night. That might not be unusual for him, but this time he had something particular to celebrate: a massive deal with Paramount Pictures for the screen rights to his new thriller, The Chain, that could earn him significantly more than one million dollars.

Adrian McKinty says the offer from Paramount is very cool.

Adrian McKinty says the offer from Paramount is very cool.Credit:Joe Armao

McKinty's book won't be published until next month, but has been getting massively positive pre-publication reviews from crime writers such as Don Winslow, Tana French and Val McDermid and early readers on social media. Publishing rights have been sold to 35 countries.

McKinty, who shifted from Melbourne's St Kilda to the United States when his academic wife, Leah Garrett, took up a position there, said the seven-figure sum would only materialise if Paramount made the film. "If nothing happens, so be it. But it's really cool and I'm very excited."

McKinty, who comes from Northern Ireland, has had 19 novels published, three of which are for young adults, but is best known for the six about Sean Duffy, a Catholic detective serving with the Royal Ulster Constabulary during The Troubles. He has won three Ned Kelly awards in Australia and an Edgar award in the US. But as he put it succinctly: "I never made any money from them."


When his agent told him he was pitching The Chain to film studios, McKinty said he didn't want to know about any potential deal until it was 99 per cent stitched up.


"I've had too many false dawns. I've got real gun shy about anything to do with Hollywood. But he called me this morning and I was completely taken aback. He said get your wife and talk it over. But what do you think? It's Paramount. It's The Godfather, it's The Conversation, it's Chinatown – all my favourite films."

The Chain is a departure from McKinty's previous books in being more of a thriller than a noir novel. It tells a tense story of Rachel, a divorced woman with cancer who gets a phone call telling her that her teenage daugher, Kylie, has been kidnapped. But this is not only a straightforward ransom demand: Rachel must also snatch a child to ensure that Kylie is released by her kidnappers, who had taken her only to ensure their own child was released from captivity. It is a chain of kidnapping and ransom demands and if the chain is threatened or broken, the people behind it promise to unleash all sorts of vengeance.

So who would McKinty like to play Rachel? "I haven't even thought about it. Someone who loves the book." And would he fancy an extra role? "God, I would love to be in it. Do you remember Irving Welsh in Trainspotting ... ?"

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