James Patterson's Guilty Wives to be Adapted for Film

James Patterson has something of an uneven track record when it comes to adaptations of his books. Next month Alex Cross opens in theaters with Tyler Perry starring as the detective, who appears in a long-running series of thrillers by Patterson. (Perry seems a most unlikely choice here, but we're giving him the benefit of the doubt … for now. Morgan Freeman previously played the character in two films based on Patterson's books.)

But we digress …

We are learning this evening (via THR) that one of Patterson's more recent novels, Guilty Wives, co-written with David Ellis and published earlier this year, is being adapted for film by Paul Harris Boardman. We haven't read Guilty Wives, nor are we really fans of Patterson as a stand-alone author, but we did rate Ellis's 2009 novel The Hidden Man one of the best of the year. And Ellis did win an Edgar Award for his debut novel, Line of Vision. So we may have to get past the fact that Patterson's name is on the cover, focus on Ellis's, and go back and check out Guilty Wives. (Published in hardcover and ebook formats in March, it comes out in paperback later this month.)

— ♦ —

Guilty Wives
James Patterson and David Ellis

Only minutes after Abbie Elliot and her three best friends step off of a private helicopter, they enter the most luxurious, sumptuous, sensually pampering hotel they have ever been to. Their lavish presidential suite overlooks Monte Carlo, and they surrender: to the sun and pool, to the sashimi and sake, to the Bruno Paillard champagne. For four days they're free to live someone else's life. As the weekend moves into pulsating discos, high-stakes casinos, and beyond, Abbie is transported to the greatest pleasure and release she has ever known.

In the morning's harsh light, Abbie awakens on a yacht, surrounded by police. Something awful has happened — something impossible, unthinkable. Abbie, Winnie, Serena, and Bryah are arrested and accused of the foulest crime imaginable. And now the vacation of a lifetime becomes the fight of a lifetime — for survival.