Film Adaptation of Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell Moving Forward with New Director

Collider is reporting that D. J. Caruso (I Am Number Four, Eagle Eye, Disturbia) will direct a film adaptation of Josh Bazell's darkly comic suspense novel Beat the Reaper. Leonardo DiCaprio acquired the rights to the book some time ago, and may also star.

In the book, Dr. Peter Brown is an intern at Manhattan's worst hospital, with a talent for medicine, a shift from hell, and a past he'd prefer to keep hidden. Whether it's a blocked circumflex artery or a plan to land a massive malpractice suit, he knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.

Pietro "Bearclaw" Brnwna is a hitman for the mob, with a genius for violence, a well-earned fear of sharks, and an overly close relationship with the Federal Witness Relocation Program. More likely to leave a trail of dead gangsters than a molecule of evidence, he's the last person you want to see in your hospital room.

Nicholas LoBrutto, aka Eddy Squillante, is Dr. Brown's new patient, with three months to live and a very strange idea: that Peter Brown and Pietro Brnwa might -- just might -- be the same person ...

Now, with the mob, the government, and death itself descending on the hospital, Peter has to buy time and do whatever it takes to keep his patients, himself, and his last shot at redemption alive. To get through the next eight hours -- and somehow beat the reaper.

You can read the first chapter(s) of Beat the Reaper below. Use the Aa settings button to adjust text size, line spacing, and word density.