Paint It Black

J.D. Hawkins #3

by Rodman Philbrick

Wheelchair-bound author Jack Hawkins complains only mildly when the producer of the TV movie made from his police novel changes the black widow of the title to a blonde, when her dead cop husband metamorphoses from black to a matching shade, and when the small, cynical Casey himself is made over to suit the appearance of the hunk who plays him. But then events that vary from mean pranks to potential murder begin to occur. Jack and his fiancee, Megan, are impelled into a search for the reason that this harmless and basically simpleminded film should be imperiling the lives of not only the actors and crew but some of Jack's policeman friends as well.

What they find is alarming: Behind the tricks and the mayhem is an unbalanced mind—one capable of being clever, devious, and blindly determined on revenging an imagined hurt.

The hunt takes Jack to an encounter with a hired assassin, to the estate of the leader of a right-wing military cult, and finally, into an underground hiding place where he is held, bound and helpless, in what is a terrifying prison and a perverted shrine.

This is Rodman Philbrick's third novel about the ingenious and quietly dauntless Hawkins and his spirited Meg; readers who haven't met them previously will want to catch up quickly.

217 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1989

About the author

Aka William R Dantz, Chris Jordan, W.R. Philbrick.

Rodman Philbrick grew up on the New England coast, where he worked as a longshoreman and boat builder. For many years he wrote mysteries and detective novels. The Private Eye Writers of America nominated two of his T.D.Stash series as best detective novel and then selected Philbrick's 'Brothers & Sinners' as Best Novel in 1993. Writing under the pen name 'William R. Dantz' he has explored the near-future worlds of genetic engineering and hi-tech brain control in books like 'Hunger', 'Pulse', 'The Seventh Sleeper'. And 'Nine Levels Down'.

Inspired by the life of a boy who lived a few blocks away, he wrote 'Freak The Mighty', the award-winning young-adult novel, which has been translated into numerous languages and is now read in schools throughout the world. The book was adapted to the screen in 1998 as 'The Mighty', starring Sharon Stone, Gillian Anderson, James Gandolfini, Kieran Culkin, and Elden Henson.

Philbrick, a screenwriter as well as a novelist, is the author of a number of novels for young readers, including 'The Fire Pony', 'Max the Mighty', 'REM World', 'The Last Book In The Universe', 'The Journal of Douglas Allen Deeds' and 'The Young Man And The Sea'. His recent novels for adults include 'Dark Matter', 'Coffins', and 'Taken'. He and his wife divide their time between Maine and the Florida Keys.