Klavan, Andrew

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KLAVAN, Andrew

(Keith Peterson & Margaret Tracy, a joint pseudonym)

PERSONAL: Born in New York, NY; son of Gene (a radio deejay) and Phyllis (a homemaker) Klavan; companion of Ellen Flanagan; children: Faith, Spencer. Education: University of California, Berkeley, graduated. Hobbies and other interests: Flying airplanes, tennis.

ADDRESSES: Home—Santa Barbara, CA. Agent—Deborah Schneider, Agent, 250 W. 57th St., #1007, New York, NY 10107. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Journalist, screenwriter, and novelist. During early career, worked as a reporter for a newspaper in Putnam County, NY; has also worked as a screenplay reader for Columbia Pictures and as a news writer for WOR Radio and ABC Radio Network.

AWARDS, HONORS: Edgar Allan Poe Award for best original paperback, Mystery Writers of America, 1990, for The Rain; Anthony Award nomination for best novel, 1996, for True Crime.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

Face of the Earth, Viking (New York, NY), 1980.

(Under joint pseudonym Margaret Tracy) Mrs. White, Dell (New York, NY), 1983.

Darling Clementine, Permanent Press (Sag Harbor, NY), 1988.

Son of Man, Permanent Press (Sag Harbor, NY), 1988.

Don't Say a Word, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1991.

The Animal Hour, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1993.

Corruption, Morrow (New York, NY), 1994.

True Crime, Crown (New York, NY), 1995.

The Uncanny, Crown (New York, NY), 1998.

Hunting down Amanda, Morrow (New York, NY), 1999.

Man and Wife, Forge (New York, NY), 2001.

Dynamite Road, Forge (New York, NY), 2003.

Shotgun Alley, Forge (New York, NY), 2004.

NOVELS; UNDER PSEUDONYM KEITH PETERSON

Eleanora, My Love, Bantam (New York, NY), 1988.

The Rain, Bantam (New York, NY), 1988.

There Fell a Shadow, Bantam (New York, NY), 1988.

The Trapdoor, Bantam (New York, NY), 1988.

Rough Justice, Bantam (New York, NY), 1989.

The Scarred Man, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1990.

OTHER

A Shock to the System (screenplay), Corsair, 1990.

Contributor of poems to periodicals, including Poetry and the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

ADAPTATIONS: True Crime was adapted as a film starring Clint Eastwood, 1999, and was adapted to audiotape; Don't Say a Word was adapted as a film by Patrick Smith Kelly starring Michael Douglas, Twentieth Century-Fox, 2001; Man and Wife was optioned for film by Lion's Gate; Dynamite Road was adapted to audiocassette by BBC/Sound Library, 2004.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Gideon, a screenplay for Twentieth Century-Fox; adapting The Blue Nowhere by Jeffrey Deaver for film; screenplays WXYZ and Nowhere, both for Warner Bros.

SIDELIGHTS: Journalist and screenwriter Andrew Klavan is a prolific author of novels—most of them mysteries and psychological thrillers—that have proven popular with critics and audiences. Among his highly regarded works is a book series, including The Trapdoor, The Rain, and Rough Justice, that Klavan published under the pseudonym Keith Peterson. Featuring investigative reporter John Wells, the books in the "John Wells" series find the likable journalist solving crimes, exposing corruption, and dodging danger. Publishers Weekly critic Genevieve Stuttaford deemed The Rain "a riveting mystery of the highest caliber" and concluded that the novel was "an exceptionally well-written tale, punctuated by witty dialogue and peopled with fully developed characters." Another Publishers Weekly reviewer, Penny Kaganoff, found Rough Justice, in which Wells himself becomes a murder suspect, a "hard-hitting thriller." Observing Peterson's "punchy style and deft manipulation of telling detail," the critic concluded that Peterson's novel is "top-notch crime fiction: gutsy, gritty and gripping." Chicago Tribune reviewer Kevin Moore, commenting on 1989's Rough Justice, wrote that "Peterson does a nifty job of handling the hunter/hunted role reversal and throws in some wry stereotypes of newspapering in New York."

In a departure from the "John Wells" series, but still using the pen name Keith Peterson, Klavan issued The Scarred Man, featuring another investigative reporter, Michael North, as protagonist. North, who has just met the woman of his dreams, is entertaining a group of friends on Christmas night with a ghost story about a grotesquely scarred man. His new love, Susannah, is extremely upset by the story because, since she was a child, a disfigured man has been the subject of her recurring nightmares. When they both find themselves being stalked by a scarred man, Michael and Susannah do some investigating and find they have much in common, including a twenty-year-old scandal about their parents. London Times reviewer Chris Petit judged The Scarred Man "a story gobbled in one uneasy sitting," while Chicago Tribune writer Peter Gorner advised, "The resolution of this psychological potboiler will keep you turning pages so fast you forget to eat the popcorn. Even the author seems slightly schizoid." Referring to Klavan's pseudonyms, Gorner added, "No matter what he calls himself, Klavan is worth looking up. A strong craftsman with a weird mind. I really like him."

Novels published under his Klavan's own name range in subject matter from Son of Man, a retelling of the life and death of Jesus Christ; to Corruption, the account of the ongoing conflict between a no-frills journalist and the local crooked sheriff; to Darling Clementine, the tale of a privileged woman's struggle to make some sense of her life. Darling Clementine inspired Publishers Weekly reviewer Sybil Steinberg to write that "Klavan's characterizations of his protagonist and her spouse are memorable; they are vulnerable, tender and wonderfully open about their emotions and aspirations." About Corruption, another contributor to Publishers Weekly asserted that "events careen to a menacingly quiet ending as Klavan builds excruciating tension in this character-driven plot without a cheap trick or false note."

Klavan also earned critical praise for Don't Say a Word, a thriller that follows psychiatrist Nathan Conrad's frantic search for his five-year-old daughter, who has been kidnapped by a crazed sociopath. "Relentless pacing and tersely graphic prose propel a story, from kidnap to violent climax, which takes place within the span of a single day," wrote Albert Mobilio in the Village Voice Literary Supplement. Mobilio added, "The perfect page-turner for country porches and quiet beaches, Don't Say a Word will conjure the shrink and the sinister city you've left far behind, making your getaway that much sweeter." A Publishers Weekly critic also applauded Klavan's Don't Say a Word, proclaiming it a "taut, superbly plotted thriller."

The Animal Hour also fared well with critics and boasted a dozen foreign sales and a motion picture option. A Publishers Weekly reviewer remarked that Klavan "leaves his mesmerized readers the winners," with his suspenseful tale of a woman who believes she is Nancy Kincaid, a young law office employee. "Nancy's" problems begin when she goes to work and her colleagues, who do not recognize her, chase her from the building. The real Nancy's mutilated body is discovered, and the woman believing herself to be Nancy battles voices that tell her to kill Oliver Perkins, a poet and author of a book called The Animal Hour. "A cross between Rod Serling and James Ellroy," the Publishers Weekly critic wrote, "Klavan … spins a nonstop New York City horror tale whose 8 p.m. resolution, while leaving a few questions unanswered, satisfactorily caps the rapid-fire entertainment."

A number of Klavan's thrillers and mysteries have made ideal fodder for Hollywood because of their fast-paced, high-concept plots. Don't Say a Word, for example, was adapted into a 2001 movie starring Michael Douglas, and the author's 1995 novel, True Crime, was made into a popular 1999 Clint Eastwood film. The latter also received good reviews in its book form. The unlikely hero of True Crime is a newspaper reporter named Steve Everett. Everett is disliked by his boss and colleagues and has a marriage that is in trouble, but despite what others might think of him, he has enough character to fight for Frank Beachum, a convicted murderer who, during an interview, Everett comes to believe is innocent. Although a Publishers Weekly contributor commented that the fundamental plot—a race against time to prove a man's innocent before he is executed—has been done before, Klavan puts "an intensely human, often intriguingly quirky face on a familiar plot device." Booklist reviewer Sue-Ellen Beauregard similarly commented on the unoriginal plot that Klavan still manages to pull together "so tautly that he produces an exciting, breakneck entertainment."

Having spent several years living in England with his family before moving back to Santa Barbara, California, Klavan developed a fascination for the ghost stories that are so popular in that country, which is populated by centuries-old mansions and castles. Drawing on this interest, the author produced two stories involving the supernatural: The Uncanny and Hunting down Amanda. The former is a bit of a tongue-in-cheek tale in which Klavan is "winking at the genre but honoring it too," as one Publishers Weekly writer put it. The main character, Richard Storm, is a former horror film producer whose failing career has forced him into a new line of work as a writer for Bizarre! magazine. A story, as well as an urge to forget the fact that he is dying of brain cancer, leads him to travel to England. There he plans to do all he can to see a real ghost, and his search leads him into a story about Saint Iago, the leader of a cult, and a cursed painting that might hold a secret to immortality. While an Entertainment Weekly reviewer deemed the writing over the top—"the purplest prose since H. P. Lovecraft"—other critics found it to be entertaining fare. The Publishers Weekly writer asserted that the "suspense is high, the fun factor higher," while Brad Hooper remarked in Booklist that the story ends with "a very satisfying climax."

Bizarre events and nefarious corporate plots are part of the fun in Hunting down Amanda. When an explosive plane crash reveals that one of the survivors, a girl named Amanda, has special gifts that are the result of diabolical tests by a pharmaceutical company, the chase is on. Her mother and a group of unlikely allies work together to protect Amanda from the drug company and its cold-blooded assassin, Edmund Winter. "Klavan has a gift for fashioning tight plotting and creating colorful characters," according to Hooper in another Booklist review, while a Publishers Weekly contributor remarked, "The ending is a kick in the solar plexus but feels just right: this is a thriller with smarts equal to its ultra-slick style."

With Man and Wife Klavan cuts back on the pyrotechnics but still develops a suspenseful mystery. Psychiatrist Cal Bradley is under the impression that he has secured a happy marriage and family in the suburbs, but when he takes on troubled teenager Peter Blue as a new patient, he finds he has a key player in a series of secrets that will unravel his life. It turns out that his wife has kept many unsavory things about her past hidden, and that she and Peter are both connected to a lurking figure with malevolent intentions. "This is a story that will stay with readers," reported Carol DeAngelo in a School Library Journal review, adding that "the twists and turns are as imaginative and surprising as the writing is concise yet eloquent." Rebecca House Stankowski added in Library Journal that this is "a thriller that goes far beyond a basic cat-and-mouse formula," and Booklist writer Mary Frances Wilkens concluded that "Klavan expertly blends a mystical allegory into a fast-paced suspense novel."

In Dynamite Road and Shotgun Alley Klavan introduces a new series in the spirit of author Jim Thompson. These books feature ex-police officer turned private investigator Scott Weiss, and Weiss's hired associate, Jim Bishop, a former criminal taken in by Weiss and put back on the straight path. In Dynamite Road, Weiss faces an archenemy named the Shadowman, who figures in a story of plot and corruption at a California airport. In Shotgun Alley Bishop is on assignment to gain the trust of a biker gang, and Weiss investigates a seamy case of sexual harassment against a feminist college professor. While several reviewers remarked that these tales resemble old 1950s-era potboilers, they also acknowledged Klavan's original touches. For example, Booklist contributor David Pitt called Dynamite Road "flashy, exciting, and altogether original." Reviewing the same book, a Publishers Weekly writer commented that Klavan "pushes our buttons with unerring finesse" Of Shotgun Alley, David Wright asserted in Booklist that the story is a "mixture of intense action, fierce sexual obsession, and disillusioned longing [that] is irresistible."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, April 15, 1994, Eloise Kinney, review of Corruption, p. 1519; April 15, 1995, Sue-Ellen Beauregard, review of True Crime, p. 1452; October 15, 1997, Brad Hooper, review of The Uncanny, p. 363; February 15, 1999, Brad Hooper, review of Hunting down Amanda, p. 1003; September 15, 2001, Mary Frances Wilkens, review of Man and Wife, p. 191; September 15, 2003, David Pitt, review of Dynamite Road, p. 215; May 15, 2004, Jeanette Larson, review of Dynamite Road, p. 1637; October 15, 2004, David Wright, review of Shotgun Alley, p. 393.

Chicago Tribune, November 5, 1989, Kevin Moore, review of Rough Justice, section 14, p. 6; January 24, 1990, Peter Gorner, review of The Scarred Man.

Entertainment Weekly, April 30, 1993, Nisid Hajari, review of The Animal Hour, p. 51; May 1, 1998, review of The Uncanny, p. 58.

Hollywood Reporter, December 20, 2002, Zorianna Kit, "Klavan, Warners Going 'Nowhere,'" p. 4; May 10, 2004, Liza Foreman, "Klavan's 'Gideon' Booked at Fox," p. 3.

Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2001, review of Man and Wife, p. 1237.

Law Institute Journal, December, 1995, Mary Hooper, review of True Crime, pp. 1284-1285.

Library Journal, June 15, 1980, Dennis Pendleton, review of Face of the Earth, p. 1409; January, 1989, Rex E. Klett, review of The Rain, p. 104; January, 1990, William Schoell, review of The Scarred Man, p. 150; April 1, 1991, Eric W. Johnson, review of Don't Say a Word, p. 152; March 15, 1993, Marylaine Block, review of The Animal Hour, p. 107; April 15, 1995, Dawn L. Anderson, review of True Crime, p. 114; April 15, 1999, Rebecca House Stankowski, review of Hunting down Amanda, p. 144; September 15, 2001, Rebecca House Stankowski, review of Man and Wife, p. 112.

Newsweek, July 4, 1994, Katrine Ames, review of Corruption, p. 68.

New York Times Book Review, June 18, 1995, Marilyn Stasio, review of True Crime, p. 31; December 3, 1995, review of True Crime, p. 74; August 15, 1999, John D. Thomas, review of Hunting down Amanda, p. 19.

People, July 10, 1995, J. D. Reed, review of True Crime, p. 30.

Publishers Weekly, April 18, 1980, review of Face of the Earth, p. 77; December 18, 1987, Sybil Steinberg, review of Darling Clementine, p. 57; October 7, 1988, Sybil Steinberg, review of Darling Clementine, p. 105; November 25, 1988, Genevieve Stuttaford, review of The Rain, p. 62; October 6, 1989, Penny Kaganoff, review of Rough Justice, p. 92; November 24, 1989, Sybil Steinberg, review of The Scarred Man, p. 60; March 29, 1991, Sybil Steinberg, review of Don't Say a Word, p. 76; July 13, 1992, review of Don't Say a Word, p. 53; February 1, 1993, review of The Animal Hour, p. 70; March 8, 1993, p. 36; October 4, 1993, review of The Animal Hour, p. 72; March 21, 1994, review of Corruption, p. 52; January 23, 1995, review of True Crime, p. 18; April 3, 1995, review of True Crime, p. 44; June 12, 1995, Michele Field, "Andrew Klavan: 'Storytelling Is the Highest Ambition,'" p. 40; December 1, 1997, review of The Uncanny, p. 44; May 10, 1999, review of Hunting down Amanda, p. 53; November 3, 2003, review of Dynamite Road, p. 53; September 27, 2004, review of Shotgun Alley, p. 37.

School Library Journal, December, 1991, Barbara Hawkins, review of Don't Say a Word, p. 148; March, 2002, Carol DeAngelo, review of Man and Wife, p. 260.

Times (London, England), July 26, 1990, Chris Petit, review of The Scarred Man; February 16, 2002, Serena Kutchinsky, "Too Good to Be True," review of Man and Wife, p. 15.

Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), November 5, 1989, review of Rough Justice, p. 6; May 16, 1993, review of The Animal Hour, p. 7.

Village Voice Literary Supplement, July, 1991, Albert Mobilio, review of Don't Say a Word.

Voice of Youth Advocates, review of The Scarred Man, p. 109.

Wall Street Journal, March 22, 1990, Julie Salamon, review of Shock to the System, p. A16.

Wilson Library Bulletin, May, 1988, Kathleen Maio, review of The Trapdoor, p. 80.