Thursday, May 08, 2008

Brent Ghelfi's "Volk’s Game," the movie

Now showing at My Book, The Movie: Brent Ghelfi's Volk’s Game, one of my favorite thrillers of 2007.

Ghelfi's entry begins:
Volk’s Game tells the story of the theft of a long-lost Leonardo Da Vinci painting from the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. The story takes place against the backdrop of post-Soviet Russia, a country still captured in the flaming embrace of change.

The novel was recently optioned, so I suppose now is as good a time as any to dream about the cast and director for the movie.

The title character, Volk, is both a Russian army colonel and a gangster, one of those men perfectly positioned to take advantage of Russia’s latest economic model: capitalism sucked through the filter of a police state. But Volk wants something more from his life and Da Vinci’s painting gives him the chance to obtain it, to find something good amid all the evil that surrounds him. Brooding, conflicted, violent, and passionate about the painting—Volk is deep, but definitely not the expressive type. The actor who plays him will have to possess a menacing on-screen presence and the ability to reveal his emotions through action instead of words. My nominee is...[read on]
Visit the Volk's Game website, read Chapter One, and watch the video trailer.

Volk's Game was recently nominated by the International Thriller Writers for Best First Novel; Ghelfi's new book, Volk's Shadow, is set for release on July 8.

The Page 69 Test: Volk's Game.

My Book, The Movie: Volk’s Game.

--Marshal Zeringue