The Bronze Bell

John Locke #2

by Stirling Silliphant

Tough troubleshooter John Locke searches for a gang of assassins who murdered a group of pilgrims on their way to a sacred Bali shrine, and stole the great Bronze Bell, an ancient symbol and a deadly key to a modern conspiracy

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 12, 1985

About the author

Stirling Dale Silliphant was an American novelist, screenwriter and producer. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, moved to Glendale, California as a child, graduated from Hoover High School, and educated at the University of Southern California. He is probably best known for his screenplay adaptations of In the Heat of the Night (which earned him an Oscar for screenplay adaptation)and Charly, which was adapted from Flowers for Algernon and co-creating the television series Route 66.

Other features as screenwriter include Irwin Allen productions
The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure, adapting both films from previously published novels into one cohesive screenplay each.

In the seventies, the quality of the projects he worked on began to slip, even though they did well at the box office. He wrote the screenplays for The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Shaft in Africa (1973), The Towering Inferno (1974) and The Swarm (1978).

During the 1980's he moved to Thailand, but continued to write for TV movies and mini-series up to his death. His last work was a screenplay for The Grass Harp (1995), which he also co-produced. He died of prostate cancer in Bangkok, Thailand, on April 26, 1996.

Reviews

[John Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Silliphant's John Locke character is basically Travis McGee with more firepower and some kung fu techniques. Book is a bit overstuffed but easy to see why his three men's adventure novels are sought after by paperback aficionados.