SPIELBERG'S DIRECTING MY LATEST THRILLER ‘RETRIBUTION’!

                      “HI, NORA! STEVEN SPIELBERG ON THE LINE!”

                       






I was on the phone last night to Steven Spielberg. We were discussing my latest crime *t*hriller, Retribution, which he’s optioned to direct and scheduled for a glittering Hollywood red carpet première in spring 2014. 

We talked about all the usual stuff – investors and rights, casting and locations. I said my own production company (‘Nora-Johnson Productions Ltd’) would deal with the investment/ production issues and have sole commercial rights for spin-offs, franchises etc. “The movie’s a sure-fire winner,” Spielberg kept repeating excitedly – “an opportunity for everyone to invest early on and make pots of money.” (To get involved, simply send a cheque made out to ‘Nora-Johnson Productions Ltd’, address on my website: (www.nora-johnson.com).

As for casting, I suggested Kate Winslet to play the investigative journalist, Alice Myers. Brad Pitt to play the police investigator, DI Neil Hunter, and Ryan Gosling the criminal profiler and Alice’s ex-lover, Dr Jake Leighfield.

When Spielberg proposed filming in Martha’s Vineyard for its unrivalled coastline, I emphasised the importance of the novel’s setting – an isolated, inward-looking community in the New Forest, Hampshire (pictured) that refuses to move with the times despite the arrival of second-home owners from London in its more accessible parts. But he still preferred Martha’s Vineyard – where he’d set his blockbuster Jaws. Those shark’s teeth then suddenly came into painfully sharp focus - and woke me up with a start!

Yes, that was just a dream – but the novel is real. My just-published crime thriller, Retribution – next in the series featuring the journalist, Alice Myers, from Soul Stealer - deals with the puzzling death of her closest childhood friend.

Sixteen years ago, Ellie suddenly breaks off their friendship in the New Forest. And Alice’s father inexplicably moves the family to London. All these years later, everything changes.

Now back on the death of her grandmother, Alice is still recovering from failure both personal and professional. But when a body is found washed up on the rocks, the deeply-buried secrets of the past threaten everything and she soon becomes caught up in intrigue, murder and mystery.

Could the victim be Ellie? Alice has to confront so much she left behind that summer. Why did Ellie reject her? Is Alice to blame? Why did her father abandon the family so soon afterwards? And what secrets have Ellie’s family and friends been hiding?

When Alice is persuaded to write an obituary about her talented friend, this is for her as much a way of dealing with her own writer’s block as unravelling the mystery of Ellie’s death. But it is only when she and DI Neil Hunter join forces that the truth starts to emerge about this close-knit community’s harrowing past and present.

As she peels back the layers of deception surrounding this and subsequent murders, Alice unearths secrets and confronts truths she can hardly believe.       

                                        

Aah! A lovely dream nonetheless. But if anybody else is interested in Retribution -The Movie (Spielberg’s currently snowed under with, err, other projects) then you know where to find me! Meanwhile, Retribution’s available in paperback and eBook...

LIKE MYSTERY/CRIME THRILLERS? LIKE HELPING CHARITY? 
Want to achieve both aims at the same time? Well, here’s my answer to that dilemma! As my website (www.nora-johnson.com) indicates, all profits from the sale of my novels go to Cudeca - see sidebar opposite (www.cudeca.org). This Costa del Sol (Spain) cancer hospice offers completely free treatment/ hospice care to all in/outpatients but, like charities everywhere but especially in Spain, is suffering considerable hardship in these tough times. 

I am keen to do whatever I can to help (pictured here presenting my first novel The De Clerambault Code and donation to Cudeca's President & Founder, Joan Hunt O.B.E.). So, if you’ve purchased Retribution or any of my novels and enjoyed them, please help me to help Cudeca by writing a review on Amazon to encourage potential buyers to go ahead and make a purchase too. Every little helps as they say and your review could make all the difference!

So, dear readers (at just £0.86 / $1.16 per eBook or $0.99 per iBook – a steal!) with all profits to charity please download now onto your Kindle, iPad or palm of your hand. I don’t mind!

See sidebar or click HERE (Amazon UK), HERE (Amazon.com) and HERE (Goodreads) for reviews and further shameless self-promotion! Thanks so much for your support!

DO YOU LIKE MYSTERY/CRIME THRILLERS?
Do tell me! And do check out other posts  @ Jenny Matlock-Alphabe-Thursday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Ruby Tuesday, Rednesday, Outdoor Wednesday & Wordless Wednesday.
And, finally, thank you to all dear readers who visited or commented.

Enjoy!

NORA & LOLA:)