Chockstone Pictures and DeFina productions have joined forces in an effort to bring Joseph Finder’s KILLER INSTINCT to the silver screen. The novel, which tells the story of a young sales executive at an electronics giant in Boston who struggles to find the “killer instinct” it takes to navigate the corporate world,. Was first published in 2006. In addition to being a commercial hit, it also garnered critical praise, winning the the International Thriller Writers Association’s Novel of the Year award.

Jason Steadman is a thirty-year-old sales executive living in Boston and working for an electronics giant, a competitor to Sony and Panasonic. He’s a witty, charismatic guy who’s well liked, but lacks the “killer instinct” necessary to move up the corporate ladder. To the chagrin of his ambitious wife, it looks as if his career has hit a ceiling. Jason’s been sidelined.

All that will change one evening when Jason meets Kurt Semko, a former Special Forces officer just back from Iraq. Looking for a decent pitcher for the company softball team, Jason gets Kurt, who was once drafted by the majors, a job in Corporate Security. Soon, good things start to happen for Jason – and bad things start to happen to Jason’s rivals. His career suddenly takes off. He’s an overnight success.

Too late does Jason discover that his friend Kurt has been paving his path to the top by the most efficient means available. After all, Kurt says, “Business is war, right?”

When Jason tries to put a stop to it, he finds that his new best friend has become the most dangerous enemy imaginable – and far more than his career hangs in the balance.

A riveting tale of ambition, intrigue, and the price of success, Killer Instinct is Joseph Finder at his best.

While some authors are pretty protective of their stories and characters, Finder is more concerned with the quality of the final product: “They understood what I was doing with the corporate culture, the notion of ambition and success. I let them know that I don’t want a “faithful” adaptation of my book — I just want a good movie. Everything in Hollywood is a crap shoot — I’ve been through this enough to know that — but I’m convinced that they have the clout and the persistence to get this made. And the fact that they’ve broken into Hollywood with a film as intelligent as Cormac McCarthy’s “THE ROAD” tells me that they have the chops to make a really good movie out of it.”

Barbrara Defina, one of the film’s producers, was just as kind when talking about Joseph: “One of the things that struck me about KILLER INSTINCT and Joseph Finder is how ahead of the curve he is. While we were all happily riding the bubble, Joe was delving deep down into the dark side of the business world and investigating the true meaning of success. Joe has woven serious character development into a truly high stakes thriller. Our protagonist is a good guy and we are with him every step of the way – bad choice after bad choice. We root for him and his family and hang on hoping for redemption. Great material not only for a novel, but also for a motion picture.”

This is not Mr. Finder’s first dance with Hollywood. He saw his novel HIGH CRIMES made into a film in 2002. Granted, HC is not exactly my idea of stellar cinema, but most authors don’t get to see their stories play out on the big screen. In addition to KILLER INSTINCT, Finder also has PARANOIA in development with Gaumont.

As Joseph said, Chockstone is behind the upcoming film of Cormac McCarthy’s THE ROAD. Early reviews have been pretty positive on that one so I have faith in them to deliver the goods this time around as well.

Don’t forget to check out Joseph’s new book Vanished, which hits the shelves in August.