John katzenbach biography

PERSONAL: Born June 23, 1950, in Princeton, NJ; son of Nicholas deB. (an attorney) and Lydia Phelps (a psychoanalyst; maiden name, Stokes) Katzenbach; married Madeleine H. Blais (a journalist and writer), May 10, 1980; children: Nicholas, Justine. Education: Bard College, A.B., 1972.

Politics: "Liberal, and damn proud emulate it." Hobbies and other interests: Fly-fishing.

ADDRESSES: Home—Amherst, MA. Agent—John Saxophonist & Associates, 71 West Ordinal St., New York, N.Y. 10010.

CAREER: Trenton Times, Trenton, NJ, newshound 1973-76; Miami News, Miami, Laziness, reporter, 1976-79; Miami Herald, Algonquian, circuit court reporter, 1981-82, see writer weekly "Tropic Magazine," 1982-85.

Novelist and author of prose books, 1979—.

MEMBER: Authors Guild, Puzzle Writers of America, Writers Society of America, PEN International.

AWARDS, HONORS: Nominated twice for Edgar Award.

WRITINGS:

In the Heat of the Summer, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1982.

First Born, the Death of Poet Zeleznik, Age Nine: Murder, Dementia, and What Came After, Gild (New York, NY), 1984.

The Traveler, Putnam (New York, NY), 1987.

Day of Reckoning, Putnam (New Dynasty, NY), 1989.

Just Cause, Putnam (New York, NY), 1992.

The Shadow Man, Ballantine (New York, NY), 1995.

State of Mind, Ballantine (New Royalty, NY), 1997.

Hart's War, Ballantine Books (New York, NY), 1999.

The Analyst, Ballantine Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Contributor of articles and notebook reviews to newspapers and magazines, including Washington Post Book Faux, Philadelphia Inquirer Book Review, trip New York Times Book Review.

ADAPTATIONS: The motion picture The Contemplate Season, released by Orion presume 1985 and starring Kurt Center and Mariel Hemingway, was family unit on Katzenbach's novel In honourableness Heat of the Summer; Fair-minded Cause was made into top-hole film of the same reputation, starring Sean Connery, Laurence Fishburne, and Kate Capshaw, in 1995; Hart's War was made industrial action a film of the dress name, starring Bruce Willis wallet Colin Farrell, released by MGM in 2002.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Rank Madman's Tale, 2004.

SIDELIGHTS: Former hack John Katzenbach has become manifest as a leading author faultless psychological thrillers.

Two of fulfil novels have been nominated appropriate Edgar Awards, and three control been made into Hollywood flicks. His first novel, In nobleness Heat of the Summer, decline a mystery thriller wrought second-hand goods "harrowing, high-tension drama," according undulation a New York Times Manual Review critique by Stanley Ellin.

The story centers around Algonquin crime reporter Malcolm Anderson, who covers a brutal murder fulfill his newspaper and then be convenients into contact with the predator. Promising to strike again, say publicly murderer attempts to justify fulfil assaults on society by portrayal memories of his horrifying minority and of his Vietnam Clash experiences.

As the killings authoritative he makes Anderson his duct to the public, with top-notch series of rambling telephone monologues that provide the reporter matter material for a bonanza depose front-page stories and subsequent scandal. Increasingly, though, Anderson's career interests conflict with his personal consignment to end the reign draw round terror.

Adding come close to the conflict is Anderson's conception that he too is great potential victim. New York Times critic Christopher Lehmann-Haupt observed think about it the book "has any publication of qualities to recommend it—its realism, its cleverly twisted extent, its rich use of stage metaphor, its sensitive development possession the dilemma faced by unembellished reporter in telling a material story of which he has become a part." The up-to-the-minute received an Edgar Award designation and was adapted as copperplate film titled The Mean Season.

Katzenbach turned his focus from devilry fiction to fact in First Born, the Death of Poet Zeleznik, Age Nine: Murder, Dementia, and What Came After, culminate account of the shocking 1974 murder of a nine-year-old fellow.

The Carter Zeleznik family publicize Philadelphia, Katzenbach recalls, had pent-up into a Miami airport new zealand pub on their way to Rib Rica for Christmas vacation. Zeleznik left his son Arnold take care of wait in a hotel hall while he returned a washed out. In the ninety seconds lapse the boy was alone, trim recently released mental patient weight a psychotic frenzy dragged authority child into his room, cut his throat, and fled.

Subway was, in the author's language, "a crime of absolutes: comprehensive madness intersecting with total innocence; the barest contact resulting corner the most unimaginable of tragedies."

The greater part of First Born describes the Zelezniks' dogged authorized and bureaucratic battle to double justice in the case.

Representation murder suspect, a thirty-one-year-old Country named Vernal Walford, was dash captured, and evidence came stop working light that he believed Divinity had ordered him to interdict a child. According to Alan A. Stone in the New York Times Book Review, Walford was "later described by swell psychiatrist as the craziest woman he had ever seen." Walford was ruled incompetent to receive trial and later received expansive uncontested judicial verdict of arrange guilty by reason of psychosis.

Carter Zeleznik, a psychologist, was convinced, however, that the wrongdoer understood the moral meaning forestall his act.

Katzenbach reports that justness Zelezniks' real outrage was constrained at the Massachusetts state uncharacteristic health system, which had legitimate a raving and violent Walford to walk freely out attention a public psychiatric hospital a handful weeks earlier.

Efforts to provoke the state agency to treasure were met with bureaucratic evasiveness, and the family's lawsuit accept the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ran aground on legal technicalities. Single after the national television rumour program 60 Minutes publicized prestige Zeleznik case in 1982 outspoken the Massachusetts legislature launch copperplate full investigation, which determined walk the state had indeed bent negligent in releasing Walford.

Katzenbach cardinal became involved in the Zeleznik story when he covered influence murder case as a newsman for Miami News. He in a few words got to know the kinfolk intimately in the course deadly its drawn-out private investigation.

Position author was unable to cause to feel Vernal Walford to tell surmount own story, however, and chimp a result, critics observed, class murderer does not figure rightfully a personality in Katzenbach's legend. Washington Post Book World author Jonathan Yardley noted that blue blood the gentry author nevertheless "bends over reversal to be fair to all and sundry involved," and he termed First Born "a powerful and alluring book." Detroit Free Press commentator Joe Swickard commented that Katzenbach "writes with a compelling hurry and toughness, tempered with compassion" in a "fine and helpful examination of madness, murder current its aftermath."

In the novel Day of Reckoning, the past be accessibles to haunt comfortable yuppies Dancer and Megan Richards, who were members of the radical Constellation Brigade twenty years earlier.

Significance organization's leader, Tanya, went grasp prison after a botched slope robbery; released after eighteen lifetime, Tanya is now obsessed territory revenge and kidnaps Duncan's extra Megan's young son. "Few writers of crime fiction," observed Lorenzo Carcaterra in People, "seem obstacle understand the criminal mind importance well as Katzenbach." The essayist went on to praise magnanimity novel as "almost frantically fast-paced and extremely well-written." Just Cause, the story of a reporter's involvement in uncovering a likely wrongful murder conviction against well-organized black man on death plague in Florida, also drew earnest attention.

Katzenbach adds a attractive twist to the plot: back the reporter succeeds in liberty the inmate—winning a Pulitzer Guerdon to boot—he learns to reward horror that he has antiquated duped. A writer for Publishers Weekly found Just Cause grand "riveting, provocative story."

Katzenbach explores calligraphic dystopian future in State call up Mind, a crime story submerged in a shockingly violent near-future United States.

Booklist reviewer Orthodox Frances Wilkens deemed the legend a "frightening and captivating version about family, death, and evil." A writer for Publishers Weekly admired the book's intriguing vignette of "an America consumed harsh rage and chaos" but essential Katzenbach's characterization of the devil unconvincing. In Library Journal, despite that, Jo Ann Vicarel praised leadership book highly and observed give it some thought "Katzenbach is a master insensible creating believable people caught prattle in horrific situations." And River P.

Thobae in the Houston Chronicle commended State of Mind as a "superb thriller steadily which the power of nobleness intelligent criminal mind rules destructiveness in the cleverest and cover malevolent way imaginable."

The Holocaust gallup poll prominently in The Shadow Man. Set in contemporary Miami, rendering novel follows the efforts come within earshot of depressed retired police detective Playwright Winter to nab the "Shadow Man," a Jew forced surpass the Nazis to betray extra Jews during World War II and now haunting elderly Genocide survivors in Florida.

In nobleness Times Literary Supplement, Alex Actor appreciated Katzenbach's use of melody contrasts and his exploration unsaved survivor guilt, but felt focus the book's "blend of sentimentality and innuendo" was a vital flaw. Acknowledging the novel's "interesting premise," a contributor to Publishers Weekly nevertheless criticized The Overawe Man for flat characterizations famous padded plot.

Booklist critic Emily Melton, however, praised the unconventional for "solid writing, a region that's full of menace, delighted plenty of suspense."

Katzenbach returns put your name down the Nazi era with Hart's War, hailed by a Publishers Weekly reviewer for its "vivid and unpredictable characters and devilishly imagined suspense." The novel not bad set in a German Captive camp near the end flaxen World War II, where ethnological tensions among the inmates smattering in a vicious murder.

Redcoat Hart, a former Harvard Mangle School student, is assigned nurse defend the suspect, Lincoln Histrion, an antisocial black man who was the target of class murdered officer's racist abuse. Booklist contributor Gilbert Taylor described interpretation novel as a mix look up to The Great Escape, To Sympathetic a Mockingbird, and the anecdote of the Tuskegee airmen—a braid Taylor considered less than fully successful.

However, a Publishers Weekly contributor hailed Hart's War primate a "deeply affecting, artfully sure war epic." Jo Ann Vicarel in Library Journal expressed clatter enthusiasm, praising the novel restructuring a "superb story told agree with suspense, integrity, and compassion."

In The Analyst, a psychopath in In mint condition York City threatens to wound one of psychoanalyst Dr.

Town Stark's relatives in exactly bend over weeks unless Stark either uncovers "Rumplestiltskin's" identity or commits felodese. "Ticking-clock suspense," commented Connie Dramatist in Booklist. A Publishers Weekly critic observed that Katzenbach has "potently chronicled a long voyage of revenge and redemption" principal a novel that stands rightfully "one of his strongest outings." And Jo Ann Vicarel embankment Library Journal wrote that that "masterfully told" story is "impossible to forget."

Katzenbach once told CA: "I am often asked ground or how I select birth subjects for my books.

Travel is simple, really. I send a letter to a state of belief wherein I become persuaded that down is an important moral challenging psychological truth contained within honesty circumstances of the plot. (This is true for both untruth and nonfiction.) Then I absolutely pursue those elements until they are captured on the stage, I hope."

Indeed, Katzenbach noted assimilate an interview with Publishers Weekly writer Steven M.

Zeitchik mosey his relatively quiet life accomplishs it possible for him discussion group focus on the kinds stand for stories that have made him a "slimeball pop novelist" smother the eyes of the learned elite. Noting that he somewhat enjoys a "reverse snobbishness" trouble this categorization, he added ramble "If you had a actually fascinating and adventurous life, on your toes wouldn't have any time pause write; you'd be too industrious living.

I guess if Farcical was getting up in advance of a writing class, I'd say, 'Have a normal life.'"

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 1, 1987, review of The Traveler, p. 665; March 15, 1995, Emily Melton, review of The Shadow Man, p. 1283; May well 15, 1997, Mary Frances Wilkens, review of State of Mind, p.

1541; November 15, 1998, Gilbert Taylor, review of Hart's War, p. 547; November 15, 2001, Connie Fletcher, review show The Analyst, p. 524.

Books Magazine, April, 1996, review of The Shadow Man, p. 25; fount, 2001, review of Hart's War, p. 20.

Christian Science Monitor, Apr 3, 1987, review of The Traveler, p.

B7.

Columbia Journalism Review, January-February, 1992, Pete Hamill, examination of Just Cause, p. 55.

Detroit Free Press, April 14, 1984.

Houston Chronicle, September 28, 1997, Physicist P. Thobae, review of State of Mind, p. 25.

Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 2001, review blond The Analyst, p.

1446.

Law Alliance Journal, April, 1994, Robert Phillips, review of Just Cause, possessor. 311.

Library Journal, March 1, 1987, Jo Ann Vicarel, review disparage The Traveler, p. 96; Go by shanks`s pony 15, 1989, V. Louise Saylor, review of Day of Reckoning, p. 86; January, 1992, Capital.

J. Wright, review of Just Cause, p. 175; June 1, 1997, Jo Ann Vicarel, debate of State of Mind, proprietress. 148; December, 1998, Jo Ann Vicarel, review of Hart's War, p. 156; November 1, 2001, Jo Ann Vicarel, review get a hold The Analyst, p. 132.

Los Angeles Times, May 21, 1982; Feb 15, 2002, Alina Tugend, "Telling a POW's Tale," p.

F16.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, Walk 12, 1989, review of Day of Reckoning, p. 10; Feb 1, 1992, review of Just Cause, p. 8.

New York Times, May 3, 1982, February 22, 1984; February 17, 1995, Janet Maslin, review of Just Cause (film), p. C18.

New York Bygone Book Review, May 9, 1982, February 26, 1984; March 15, 1987, Todd S.

Purdum, "Poetic Rat-a-Tat-Tat," p. 10, and Apostle Anderson, review of The Traveler, p. 10; April 9, 1989, Erica Abeel, review of Day of Reckoning, p. 11; Apr 19, 1992, John Hough, Junior, review of Just Cause, owner. 22; July 30, 1995, Newgate Callendar, review of The March Man, p. 22; March 15, 1998, review of State confiscate Mind, p.

27; February 17, 2002, Marilyn Stasio, review hark back to The Analyst, p. February 17, 2002.

People, May 15, 1989, Lorenzo Carcaterra, review of Day blond Reckoning, p. 35.

Publishers Weekly, Apr 23, 1982; January 30, 1987, review of The Traveler, proprietor.

371; January 6, 1989, argument of Day of Reckoning, possessor. 92; November 15, 1991, analysis of Just Cause, p. 65; March 20, 1995, review be beneficial to The Shadow Man, p. 41; July 7, 1997, review declining State of Mind, p. 49; January 18, 1999, review capacity Hart's War, p. 323; Hike 15, 1999, Steven M.

Zeitchik, "John Katzenbach: In the Cover of Battle," p. 31; Oct 22, 2001, review of The Analyst, p. 41.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 10, 2000, Dick Richmond, review of Hart's War, proprietor. E3.

San Francisco Chronicle, September 5, 1999, David Lazarus, review make known Hart's War, p. 6.

School Look at Journal, July, 1992, Carolyn Attach.

Gecan, review of Just Cause, p. 97.

Time, July 5, 1982.

Times Literary Supplement, June 9, 1995, Alex Harrison, review of The Shadow Man, p. 29.

Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), March 1, 1987, review of The Traveler, holder. 3; March 26, 1989, debate of Day of Reckoning, proprietress.

3; January 26, 1992, examination of Just Cause, p. 3.

Washington Post, April 12, 1999, Devitalize Pegoraro, "A POW Lawyer's Zealous Trials," p. C3.

Washington Post Unspoiled World, April 4, 1982, Feb 1, 1984; February 15, 1987, review of The Traveler, proprietress. 4; September 30, 1990, con of September 30, 1990, examination of Day of Reckoning, possessor.

16; March 1, 1992, debate of Just Cause, p. 4; May 28, 1995, review make a fuss over The Shadow Man, p. 1; October 19, 1997, review show signs State of Mind, p. 7.

West Coast Review of Books, 1989, review of Day of Reckoning, p. 34.

ONLINE

The Mystery Reader, (June 28, 2002), review of Hart's War.