Warner Bros. Options Film Rights to Roger Hobbs's Crime Novel The Ghostman

Roger Hobbs's debut crime novel won't even publish until January 2013 in the UK — who knows when it will hit our shores in the US — but Warner Bros. has already picked up the film rights to it.

Titled The Ghostman, the storyline follows one Jack Delton. There are maybe thirty people who know he exists. Not all of them believe he is still alive. And only one of them knows his real name. So when he gets the email he knows whatever it is, it's going to be bad.

Marcus Fairlan and Jack used to work together. Until they had a falling out, after which Jack assumed the only reason Marcus would want to find him would be to kill him.

It turns out it's worse than that.

Marcus bankrolled a casino heist that has just gone spectacularly wrong, leaving a parking lot full of bodies and an armed and dangerous crackhead named Jerome Ribbons gone AWOL with a million dollars in cash. Marcus had the money earmarked for a major drug deal, and if he doesn't deliver, not only is the deal going down the tubes, but the man known as The Wolf is going to come looking for him. To make things right with Marcus, Jack needs to locate Ribbons, get the money and make the delivery. All in just 24 hours. Even for a man with Jack's resources, it's a tall order. Especially when he has a funny feeling the whole thing is a set-up …

(Related articles: The Hollywood Reporter.)