Anyway, the buzz was all about Harlen Coben. At that point, he had written a series of well-liked paperback-only mysteries about a sportswriter that were known informally as the “blood balls” series because each cover featured a bloody ball for a particular sport. But then everything changed, and I heard it was because of a movie deal. Even before Tell No One was published, it was sold for a rumored cool million to Columbia Pictures. News of that movie deal seemed to shimmer about Harlen at Bouchercon. It was like the magic touch. Everything he wrote after that seemed to show up on the bestseller list.
Then the movie deal fell apart, I guess. Read more here about what happened.
But surprise, surprise! It went on to be made into a movie in France that is getting rave reviews in America. And now there’s talk of remaking it in English, and of making more movies of Harlen’s books.
One thing I find kind of eye-popping: he says one book sold 1 million copies IN FRANCE.
