THE MAINE MAN

After a quarter of a century of John Connolly's deliciously creepy New England-set detective novels, the 'Irish Stephen King' may finally be heading for the small screen with his Charlie Parker series... but it could have fatal consequences

- Matt Nixson

FOR many writers, the prospect of a TV adaptation would herald glorious new vistas. But John Connolly is not like other writers. With a serious Hollywood star on the verge of bringing his genredefying Charlie Parker series to the small screen, readers of his multi-million-selling detective series may be in for a shock.

"What I've been trying to explain to people lately is that the books are coming to a conclusion - there will be a resolution, there will be an ending," Connolly explains.

"Most writers just die. We drop off our perch. If you're successful enough, your publishers quietly hire somebody, put their name in small letters at the bottom of the book under yours, and keep going. That's not going to happen in my case.

"We're as close as we've ever come to an adaptation. A big name has the option and they're moving forward, but they've made it clear they don't want something that will go on for a decade.

They want maybe five years and they want an ending." Connolly, 56, has been in talks for several years about adapting his US-set private investigator novels for television. A potential stumbling block, I imagine, was trying to pin the books (and their potential audience) down for confused TV execs.

You can almost imagine them pondering: "Are they police procedurals? Supernatural mysteries? Or do they cross the line into horror?" As fans would attest, Connolly's brilliantly creepy books fuse elements of all three, making them both unique and utterly gripping, leading to comparisons with the genre-crossing master American novelist Stephen King, of whom more shortly.