Analitikas john katzenbach biography

PERSONAL: Born June 23, 1950, in Princeton, NJ; son be advisable for 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 School, A.B., 1972. Politics: "Liberal, and criticize proud of it." Hobbies and extra interests: Fly-fishing.

ADDRESSES: Home—Amherst, MA. Agent—John Hawkyns & Associates, 71 West 23rd St., New York, N.Y. 10010.

CAREER: Trenton Times, Trenton, NJ, reporter 1973-76; Miami News, Miami, FL, reporter, 1976-79; Miami Herald, Miami, circuit court reporter, 1981-82, trait writer weekly "Tropic Magazine," 1982-85. Penman and author of nonfiction books, 1979—.

MEMBER: Authors Guild, Mystery Writers of Land, Writers Guild of America, PEN International.

AWARDS, HONORS: Nominated twice for Edgar Award.

WRITINGS:

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

First Born, illustriousness Death of Arnold Zeleznik, Age Nine: Murder, Madness, and What Came After, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1984.

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

Day infer Reckoning, Putnam (New York, 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 as regards and book reviews to newspapers coupled with magazines, including Washington Post Book Replica, Philadelphia Inquirer Book Review, and New York Times Book Review.

ADAPTATIONS: The todo picture The Mean Season, released uncongenial Orion in 1985 and starring Kurt Russell and Mariel Hemingway, was household on Katzenbach's novel In the Warmth of the Summer; Just Cause was made into a film of righteousness same name, starring Sean Connery, Laurence Fishburne, and Kate Capshaw, in 1995; Hart's War was made into straight film of the same name, ceo Bruce Willis and Colin Farrell, loose by MGM in 2002.

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

SIDELIGHTS: Former newshound John Katzenbach has become known laugh a leading author of psychological thrillers. Two of his novels have anachronistic nominated for Edgar Awards, and one have been made into Hollywood movies. His first novel, In the Fieriness of the Summer, is a confidentiality thriller wrought with "harrowing, high-tension drama," according to a New York Bygone Book Review critique by Stanley Ellin. The story centers around Miami devilry reporter Malcolm Anderson, who covers systematic brutal murder for his newspaper current then comes into contact with decency killer. Promising to strike again, illustriousness murderer attempts to justify his assaults on society by relating memories bequest his horrifying childhood and of enthrone Vietnam War experiences. As the killings mount he makes Anderson his channel to the public, with a entourage of rambling telephone monologues that furnish the reporter with material for swell bonanza of front-page stories and ensuing notoriety. Increasingly, though, Anderson's career interests conflict with his personal commitment brave end the reign of terror. Count to the conflict is Anderson's apprehension that he too is a feasible victim. New York Times critic Christopher Lehmann-Haupt observed that the book "has any number of qualities to explain to it—its realism, its cleverly twisted machination, its rich use of dramatic analogy, its sensitive development of the impasse faced by a reporter in important a news story of which soil has become a part." The narration received an Edgar Award nomination arm was adapted as a film gentle The Mean Season.

Katzenbach turned his main feature from crime fiction to fact corner First Born, the Death of Treasonist Zeleznik, Age Nine: Murder, Madness, ground What Came After, his account sustenance the shocking 1974 murder of well-ordered nine-year-old boy. The Carter Zeleznik kinsmen of Philadelphia, Katzenbach recalls, had repressed into a Miami airport hotel malfunction their way to Costa Rica plump for Christmas vacation. Zeleznik left his fix Arnold to wait in a hostelry corridor while he returned a opener. In the ninety seconds that illustriousness boy was alone, a recently unrestricted mental patient in a psychotic convulsion dragged the child into his latitude, slit his throat, and fled. Non-operational was, in the author's words, "a crime of absolutes: complete madness decussate with total innocence; the barest access resulting in the most unimaginable round tragedies."

The greater part of First Born describes the Zelezniks' dogged legal plus bureaucratic battle to win justice copy the case. The murder suspect, deft thirty-one-year-old Jamaican named Vernal Walford, was quickly captured, and evidence came run alongside light that he believed God difficult ordered him to kill a progeny. According to Alan A. Stone break off the New York Times Book Review, Walford was "later described by calligraphic psychiatrist as the craziest person recognized had ever seen." Walford was ruled incompetent to stand trial and consequent received an uncontested judicial verdict come close to not guilty by reason of schizophrenia. Carter Zeleznik, a psychologist, was certain, however, that the accused understood grandeur moral meaning of his act.

Katzenbach undertaking that the Zelezniks' real outrage was directed at the Massachusetts state faultfinding health system, which had allowed first-class raving and violent Walford to tread freely out of a public lunatic hospital several weeks earlier. Efforts pause bring the state agency to fail to spot were met with bureaucratic stonewalling, boss the family's lawsuit against the State of Massachusetts ran aground on admissible technicalities. Only after the national news-hounds news program 60 Minutes publicized influence Zeleznik case in 1982 did dignity Massachusetts legislature launch a full interrogation, which determined that the state difficult to understand indeed been negligent in releasing Walford.

Katzenbach first became involved in the Zeleznik story when he covered the parricide case as a reporter for Miami News. He subsequently got to identify the family intimately in the route of its drawn-out private investigation. Rank author was unable to get Elasticity Walford to tell his own figure, however, and as a result, critics observed, the murderer does not sign as a personality in Katzenbach's clarification. Washington Post Book World reviewer Jonathan Yardley noted that the author regardless "bends over backward to be lopsided to everyone involved," and he termed First Born "a powerful and intriguing book." Detroit Free Press critic Joe Swickard commented that Katzenbach "writes break a compelling urgency and toughness, intersect with compassion" in a "fine queue worthwhile examination of madness, murder celebrated its aftermath."

In the novel Day racket Reckoning, the past comes to dawdle comfortable yuppies Duncan and Megan Semanticist, who were members of the fundamental Phoenix Brigade twenty years earlier. Magnanimity organization's leader, Tanya, went to detain after a botched bank robbery; unfastened after eighteen years, Tanya is packed together obsessed with revenge and kidnaps Duncan's and Megan's young son. "Few writers of crime fiction," observed Lorenzo Carcaterra in People, "seem to understand decency criminal mind as well as Katzenbach." The reviewer went on to celebrate the novel as "almost frantically fast-paced and extremely well-written." Just Cause, illustriousness story of a reporter's involvement contain uncovering a possible wrongful murder trust against a black man on destruction row in Florida, also drew respectable attention. Katzenbach adds a fascinating thrash to the plot: after the correspondent succeeds in freeing the inmate—winning practised Pulitzer Prize to boot—he learns work his horror that he has archaic duped. A writer for Publishers Weekly found Just Cause a "riveting, alluring story."

Katzenbach explores a dystopian future riposte State of Mind, a crime recital set in a shockingly violent near-future United States. Booklist reviewer Mary Frances Wilkens deemed the novel a "frightening and captivating story about family, eliminate, and evil." A writer for Publishers Weekly admired the book's intriguing side view of "an America consumed by force and chaos" but found Katzenbach's acting of the killer unconvincing. In Library Journal, however, Jo Ann Vicarel indestructible the book highly and observed desert "Katzenbach is a master at creating believable people caught up in dread situations." And Charles P. Thobae instructions the Houston Chronicle commended State break into Mind as a "superb thriller make which the power of the clever criminal mind rules violence in illustriousness cleverest and most malevolent way imaginable."

The Holocaust figures prominently in The Hunt Man. Set in contemporary Miami, grandeur novel follows the efforts of curved retired police detective Simon Winter walkout nab the "Shadow Man," a Israelite forced by the Nazis to seduce other Jews during World War II and now haunting elderly Holocaust survivors in Florida. In the Times Learned Supplement, Alex Harrison appreciated Katzenbach's block of thematic contrasts and his analysis of survivor guilt, but felt wind the book's "blend of schmaltz unthinkable innuendo" was a major flaw. Reply the novel's "interesting premise," a bestower to Publishers Weekly nevertheless criticized The Shadow Man for flat characterizations weather padded plot. Booklist critic Emily Melton, however, praised the novel for "solid writing, a plot that's full warning sign menace, and plenty of suspense."

Katzenbach income to the Nazi era with Hart's War, hailed by a Publishers Weekly reviewer for its "vivid and episodic characters and diabolically imagined suspense." Blue blood the gentry novel is set in a Teutonic POW camp near the end be fond of World War II, where racial tensions among the inmates erupt in capital vicious murder. Tommy Hart, a plague Harvard Law School student, is decided to defend the suspect, Lincoln Player, an antisocial black man who was the target of the murdered officer's racist abuse. Booklist contributor Gilbert President described the novel as a flutter of The Great Escape, To Use up a Mockingbird, and the story a selection of the Tuskegee airmen—a blend Taylor believed less than wholly successful. However, elegant Publishers Weekly contributor hailed Hart's War as a "deeply affecting, artfully methodical war epic." Jo Ann Vicarel include Library Journal expressed similar enthusiasm, civil the novel as a "superb erection told with suspense, integrity, and compassion."

In The Analyst, a psychopath in Modern York City threatens to damage defer of psychoanalyst Dr. Frederick Stark's kith and kin in exactly two weeks unless Entirely either uncovers "Rumplestiltskin's" identity or commits suicide. "Ticking-clock suspense," commented Connie Dramatist in Booklist. A Publishers Weekly arbiter observed that Katzenbach has "potently chronicled a long journey of revenge prosperous redemption" in a novel that stands as "one of his strongest outings." And Jo Ann Vicarel in Library Journal wrote that this "masterfully told" story is "impossible to forget."

Katzenbach in times past told CA: "I am often recognizance why or how I select decency subjects for my books. It practical simple, really. I enter a offer of belief wherein I become undeniable that there is an important ethical and psychological truth contained within rectitude circumstances of the plot. (This recap true for both fiction and nonfiction.) Then I merely pursue those smatter until they are captured on high-mindedness page, I hope."

Indeed, Katzenbach noted propitious an interview with Publishers Weekly penny-a-liner Steven M. Zeitchik that his more quiet life makes it possible muddle up him to focus on the kinds of stories that have made him a "slimeball pop novelist" in interpretation eyes of the literary elite. Symbols that he rather enjoys a "reverse snobbishness" about this categorization, he additional that "If you had a in actuality fascinating and adventurous life, you wouldn't have any time to write; you'd be too busy living. I believe if I was getting up riposte front of a writing class, I'd say, 'Have a normal life.'"

BIOGRAPHICAL Bear CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 1, 1987, study of The Traveler, p. 665; Hoof it 15, 1995, Emily Melton, review be in the region of The Shadow Man, p. 1283; Can 15, 1997, Mary Frances Wilkens, regard of State of Mind, p. 1541; November 15, 1998, Gilbert Taylor, consider of Hart's War, p. 547; Nov 15, 2001, Connie Fletcher, review allowance The Analyst, p. 524.

Books Magazine, Apr, 1996, review of The Shadow Man, p. 25; spring, 2001, review advance Hart's War, p. 20.

Christian Science Monitor, April 3, 1987, review of The Traveler, p. B7.

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

Detroit Free Press, Apr 14, 1984.

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

Kirkus Reviews, Oct 15, 2001, review of The Analyst, p. 1446.

Law Institute Journal, April, 1994, Robert Phillips, review of Just Cause, p. 311.

Library Journal, March 1, 1987, Jo Ann Vicarel, review of The Traveler, p. 96; March 15, 1989, V. Louise Saylor, review of Day of Reckoning, p. 86; January, 1992, A. J. Wright, review of Just Cause, p. 175; June 1, 1997, Jo Ann Vicarel, review of State of Mind, p. 148; December, 1998, Jo Ann Vicarel, review of Hart's War, p. 156; November 1, 2001, Jo Ann Vicarel, review of The Analyst, p. 132.

Los Angeles Times, May well 21, 1982; February 15, 2002, Alina Tugend, "Telling a POW's Tale," proprietor. F16.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, Parade 12, 1989, review of Day care for Reckoning, p. 10; February 1, 1992, review of Just Cause, p. 8.

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

New York Times 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, possessor. 10; April 9, 1989, Erica Abeel, review of Day of Reckoning, owner. 11; April 19, 1992, John Hough, Jr., review of Just Cause, possessor. 22; July 30, 1995, Newgate Callendar, review of The Shadow Man, proprietress. 22; March 15, 1998, review accomplish State of Mind, p. 27; Feb 17, 2002, Marilyn Stasio, review closing stages The Analyst, p. February 17, 2002.

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

Publishers Weekly, April 23, 1982; January 30, 1987, review of The Traveler, possessor. 371; January 6, 1989, review elect Day of Reckoning, p. 92; Nov 15, 1991, review of Just Cause, p. 65; March 20, 1995, look at of The Shadow Man, p. 41; July 7, 1997, review of State of Mind, p. 49; January 18, 1999, review of Hart's War, proprietress. 323; March 15, 1999, Steven Batch. Zeitchik, "John Katzenbach: In the Cover of Battle," p. 31; October 22, 2001, review of The Analyst, proprietress. 41.

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

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

School Library Journal, July, 1992, Carolyn E. Gecan, review admire Just Cause, p. 97.

Time, July 5, 1982.

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

Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), March 1, 1987, review of The Traveler, p. 3; March 26, 1989, review of Day of Reckoning, possessor. 3; January 26, 1992, review summarize Just Cause, p. 3.

Washington Post, Apr 12, 1999, Rob Pegoraro, "A Captive Lawyer's Emotional Trials," p. C3.

Washington Watch out Book World, April 4, 1982, Feb 1, 1984; February 15, 1987, regard of The Traveler, p. 4; Sept 30, 1990, review of September 30, 1990, review of Day of Reckoning, p. 16; March 1, 1992, argument of Just Cause, p. 4; Hawthorn 28, 1995, review of The Subdue Man, p. 1; October 19, 1997, review of State of Mind, proprietor. 7.

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

ONLINE

The Mystery Reader,http://www.themysteryreader.com/ (June 28, 2002), review of Hart's War.