My favourite Psychological Thriller Book-To-Film Adaptations By Sam Carrington

Sam Carrington By James HuntleyOn the book tour for Sam Carrington’s new book called ‘One Little Lie, Sam talks about her favourite book to film adaptations.

I chose to write in the psychological thriller/crime genre because I am fascinated by the human mind and love nothing more than exploring the darker side of our nature. So, it probably goes without saying that I also love watching psychological films! I have hundreds of DVDs and can watch my favourite films again and again. (Weirdly, I have only ever re-read one book so far in my life – and that was To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee – but don’t tell anyone).

I do still consider myself to be a ‘book person’, though, and if a book has been made into a film, I have generally much preferred the book. It’s still my dream that one of my novels will be adapted for the screen someday – I can only imagine how amazing it must be to witness your characters truly coming to life. With each book I’ve written, I’ve had a ‘dream cast’ in my head who would, in my opinion, be the best at playing each of my characters.

But, despite usually favouring the book, I have enjoyed some film adaptations immensely. Here, in order of preference, are my top five:

Shutter Island – is a best-selling novel by Dennis Lehane published by HarperCollins in April 2003. It became an American psychological thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo Dicaprio in 2010. I loved the twists and turns in this movie and that ending was a real ‘wow’ moment!

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – is the first book in the trilogy known as the Millennium series written by the late Stieg Larsson and published in Sweden in 2005. It became a Swedish thriller in 2009 and was also a Hollywood film adaptation in 2011. I watched both versions and much preferred the Swedish one. Lisbeth Salander was one of the most original characters I’d read about and I wondered how well she’d be played. I think her brilliant, yet damaged character, transferred well to the screen and Noomi Rapace did a stellar job and even looked just as I’d imagined Lisbeth to look.

Gone Girl – is a psychological thriller by Gillian Flynn. It was published by Crown Publishing group in June 2012. The film was released in 2014 directed by David Fincher and written by Gillian Flynn, starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike. I enjoyed the book, although it did take me a while to get into it – but I actually liked the film more! (Now, THAT doesn’t happen very often). I thought Amy’s character was well portrayed by Pike, she captured her disturbing nature perfectly. Of course, having read the book first, I knew the twist – but it didn’t stop my enjoyment of the film and there was a scene that even I found shocking! The ending has been discussed a lot by readers of the novel – and was somewhat controversial. But I like that.

The Girl on the Train – is a psychological thriller novel by Paula Hawkins, published by Doubleday in the UK in 2015. The film was released in 2016 with Emily Blunt taking the lead role of Rachel, and although the location changed from England to the USA (which I think was a shame) I was pleasantly surprised with the how the film managed to stick quite closely to the book.

Along Came a Spider – the first novel in James Patterson’s series about forensic psychologist Alex Cross was first published in 1993. It was adapted into a film in 2001, starring Morgan Freeman as Cross. The film received very mixed reviews, mainly due to the fact it failed to include some of the key plot points from the book. However, as film adaptations go I thought it was a good one and it kept me interested from the outset. And anyway, can Morgan Freeman ever do a bad film?

You can buy [amazon_link id=”B079DHY8V2″ target=”_blank” ]One Little Lie from Amazon[/amazon_link] and will be available to buy from good bookshops from 6th September 2018.

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