Reed Farrel Coleman's "Sleepless City"

Called a hard-boiled poet by NPR’s Maureen Corrigan and the noir poet laureate in the Huffington Post, Reed Farrel Coleman is the New York Times-bestselling author of over thirty novels—including six in Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone series—short stories, poetry, and essays.

In addition to his acclaimed series characters, Moe Prager and Gus Murphy, he has written the stand-alone novel Gun Church and collaborated with decorated Irish crime writer Ken Bruen on the novel Tower.

Coleman is a four time Edgar Award nominee in three different categories: Best Novel, Best Paperback Original, and Best Short Story. He is a four-time recipient of the Shamus Award for Best PI Novel of the Year. He has also won the Audie, Macavity, Barry, and Anthony Awards.

Here he dreamcasts an adaptation of his new novel, Sleepless City:

Sleepless City is my thirty-second published novel and I can say in all honesty that the only ones I ever wrote with a preconception of who might play the role in the movie(s) were my Gulliver Dowd books. In writing him, Gulliver, a PI who is a distinctly handsome little person, I could not help but think of Peter Dinklage. But I never thought of who I might cast as Moe Prager, Gus Murphy, Dylan Klein or any of the protagonists of my stand-alones. The same was true of Nick Ryan, the protagonist of Sleepless City.

However, during the pandemic, suffering from a severe case of reader’s block, I spent a lot of time streaming. I stumbled upon a series called The Last Kingdom, essentially the story of the how the Vikings/Danes played a role in the evolution of England. The lead actor, playing the role of Utred of Bebbanburg, was a German named Alexander Dreymon. I was totally captivated by his presence, his rugged good looks, his abilities at doing his own stunts. And though I had already written both Sleepless City and its sequel Blind to Midnight, I was hooked and thought if I ever had a say in it, Dreymon would be my man. In his way, Utred is a kind of Mediaeval Nick Ryan.

Oddly, the Nick I wrote in the books wouldn’t actually resemble Alexander at all. He would, I suppose, bear a much closer resemblance to a taller Daniel Craig. But Dreymon’s screen presence is so powerful that I find the disparity unimportant. He also speaks perfect English and have no doubt he could do a Brooklyn accent (Nick’s from Bay Ridge). As his ex, Shana, I would cast Mila Kunis. As his friend Lenny, I’d cast Peter Lorre and as his “handler” Joe, I’d cast Anthony Hopkins.

Visit Reed Farrel Coleman's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Hollow Girl.

The Page 69 Test: Where It Hurts.

The Page 69 Test: What You Break.

--Marshal Zeringue