Writer/Director Shane Black is Bringing The Executioner to the Silver Screen
It’s a famous book series written by Don Pendleton.
Ghost writers took over and continued the series, featuring star Mack Bolan, long after Pendleton stopped writing them. According to Wikipedia, over two hundred million copies of books in these series have been printed, and it is a series that is as ripe for the movies as, say, James Bond.
Pendleton died in 1995.
Pendleton was born in 1927 and joined the US Navy in 1941 at the age of 14! He left the service following WW2, and then reenlisted during the Korean War in 1952. According to Wikipedia, he is credited with creating the genre of action/adventure novels following the first book in his series, War Against the Mafia (1969). Harlequin Books, who published my own The Tanner Sequence, holds the rights to The Executioner, and their writers have been writing books in this series — and also Mack Bolan, Able Team, Stony Man, and Phoenix Force — since 1980.
I am very familiar with this book series. My dad, who reads one book a day, still reads them. There was always a book of this type in his hands while I was growing up. He would often talk about Mack Bolan or Able Team. I’ve read more than my fair share as well; they are very entertaining. They are fast-moving, action packed, and all feature high stakes.
Now comes word that none other than actor/writer/director Shane Black is adapting the series into motion pictures for Sony Pictures. Black is famous for starring in Predator. He portrayed Hawkins in that film, and was hired as an actor because the producers needed a writer on set during filming. According to the trivia section at IMDB, Joel Silver was working on Lethal Weapon at the time, and needed Shane Black close by while working on the script together. So Black worked on Predator as an actor while also writing for Joel Silver. (The Sgt. Rock comic is notable because Arnold was considering a series of movies at this time.)
Shane Black has also written The Long Kiss Goodnight, Last Action Hero, and Lethal Weapon. He has directed Iron Man 3 and The Nice Guys. Now he is writing The Executioner and is also considering the directorial duties as well. Producer Joel Silver, his frequent collaborator, is also involved. The series’ main character, Mack Bolan, originally a sniper, often takes on the mafia, foreign powers, terrorists, and others. According to The Hollywood Reporter, there are now 464 books in this series, the first ones penned by Pendleton, the rest by ghost writers.
As more news about this movie series arrives, I’ll post it here at Life After Gateway. Watch this space.
———
———
Follow TSJ on Facebook.
Follow TSJ on X.
Follow TSJ on Instagram.
Follow TSJ’s Blog Life After Gateway, featuring one carefully curated news item from the world of Science Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Horror, and Suspense each day. Enter your email in the “Subscribe to Blog via Email” widget on the right.
———
———
A Blanket of Steel by Timothy S. Johnston and from Fitzhenry & Whiteside, LTD. is the recipient of the 2024 GLOBAL Thriller Award GRAND PRIZE and the 2024 CYGNUS Award First in Category.
— Timothy S. Johnston, 31 March 2026
———
Praise for Timothy S. Johnston’s A Blanket of Steel
“Fans of Clive Cussler’s NUMA Files will be delighted with Timothy S. Johnston’s undersea novels. Truman McClusky and Dirk Pitt are cut from the same adventurer’s cloth.” — Nick Cutter, author of The Deep and The Troop
“Action that ranges from close range combat to torpedo-fueled attacks. The result is a thriller that keeps moving from confrontation to confrontation … with constant danger and the vast depths of the ocean as a setting, there is always reason to keep reading.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Read the book and prepare to be blown away by one of the best writers I have ever had the pleasure to read. Timothy S. Johnston is simply amazing.” — FIVE Stars from Readers’ Favorite
“A Blanket of Steel is not simply a ‘daring do’ thriller … It’s prescient.” — Amazing Stories
“A priority selection. An action-packed story that is hard to put down. A Blanket of Steel is outstanding.” — D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
“Innovative technology, Mac taking risks no one else would dare and thinking his way through to brilliant solutions … But the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been before. This is it. The countdown to the final battle … Johnston does an excellent job of keeping the tension taut as he plays with the reader’s perceptions of characters we thought we knew and trusted …” — SFcrowsnest
“Expect to be left breathless. Trust me here. Please. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN.” — Michael Libling, author of The Serial Killer’s Son Takes A Wife and Hollywood North: A Novel in Six Reels
———
A BLANKET OF STEEL is out now!
WATCH THE GRIPPING BOOK TRAILER HERE.
FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE
———
A Blanket of Steel from Timothy S. Johnston and Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Ltd.
Book Cover & Jacket Copy:
AN UNSTOPPABLE THREAT!
A mysterious assassin has murdered Cliff Sim, Chief Security Officer of the underwater colony, Trieste. Cliff was a mountain of a man, highly trained, and impossible to defeat in combat. And yet …
Someone brutally beat him and left his broken body in a secret Chinese facility at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
And included a calling card for Truman McClusky, Mayor of Trieste.
Taunting him.
Mac has led the underwater colonies in their fight against the world’s superpowers. Climate change has devastated the surface; nations suffer famine, drought, rebellion, rising waters, and apocalyptic coastal flooding. But now, as Mac leads the underwater colonies to freedom and independence, he’s faced with the gravest threat of his life: a Russian assassin, hellbent on killing Mac and everyone he cares for. Now Mac must uncover the identity of the killer, face him in combat, and at the same time lead people in battle against the largest underwater force ever assembled. It’s Mac’s final test, and to win the war, he must use every tool at his disposal, including the most surprising and devastating underwater weapons ever invented.
If Mac fails, all hope is lost for the future of human colonization on the ocean floors.
But the assassin could be anyone …
Watch your back, Mac.
A Blanket of Steel is the most gripping thriller yet in The Rise of Oceania.
FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE
The other books in The Rise of Oceania series by Timothy S Johnston:
The War Beneath 9781771484718
The Savage Deeps 9781771485067
Fatal Depth 9781554555574
An Island of Light 9781554555819
The Shadow of War 9781554556007
———
TSJ’s Awards
Follow TSJ on Facebook
Follow TSJ on Twitter
Follow TSJ on Instagram
Enter TSJ’s contests here
Enter your email into the widget at the right to follow TSJ’s blog Life After Gateway.
THE WAR BENEATH: FIRST PLACE 2018 GLOBAL THRILLER Action / Adventure Category Winner, 2019 Silver Falchion Award Finalist, 2018 CLUE Award Semi-Finalist, 2019 Kindle Book Awards Semi-Finalist, & 2019 CYGNUS Award Shortlister
THE SAVAGE DEEPS: FIRST PLACE 2020 CYGNUS Award Winner, 2019 GLOBAL THRILLER Awards Finalist, 2022 Kindle Book Awards Semi-Finalist; 2019 CLUE Award Shortlister
FATAL DEPTH: FIRST PLACE 2021 GLOBAL THRILLER Award Winner, 2022 Silver Falchion Award Finalist (Best Action Adventure), 2021 CYGNUS Award Semi-Finalist
