Paramount Pictures has purchased the film rights to Christopher Reich’s bestseller Rules of Deception, with Lorenzo di Bonaventura producing.

“Dr. Jonathan Ransom, world-class mountaineer and surgeon for Doctors Without Borders, is climbing in the Swiss Alps with his beautiful wife, Emma, when a blizzard sets in. In their bid to escape the storm, Emma is killed when she falls into a hidden crevasse.

Twenty-four hours later, Jonathan receives an envelope addressed to his wife containing two baggage-claim tickets. Puzzled, he journeys to a remote railway station only to find himself in a life-and-death struggle for his wife’s possessions. In the aftermath of the assault, he discovers that his attackers—one dead, the other mortally wounded—were, in fact, Swiss police officers. More frightening still is evidence of an extraordinary act of betrayal that leaves Jonathan stunned.

Suddenly the subject of an international manhunt and the target of a master assassin, Jonathan is forced on the run. His only chance at survival lies in uncovering the devastating truth behind the secret his wife kept from him and in stopping the terrifying conspiracy that threatens to bring the world to the brink of annihilation. Step by step, he is drawn deeper into a world of spies, high-tech weaponry, and global terrorism—a world where no one is whom they appear to be and where the end always justifies the means. “

Lorenzo di Bonaventura got into films in the early 00s, but became a major name with the success of Transformers. He now has about ten thousand titles in development, including Vince Flynn’s Protect and Defend and James Siegel’s Deceit.

Adam Cozad has been hired to handle writing duties. Cozad learned writing from his uncle, a playwright, and his first screenplay, Dubia, has actor Eric Bana attached as an exec producer as well as di Bonaventura working as a producer.

Cozad is currently writing the screenplay for David Morrell’s The Brotherhood of the Rose.

If successful, Paramount would likely follow up with a sequel. Riech is currently writing a follow-up novel.