Summary
Not only isStephen Kinga huge fan of watching TV shows and movies, but he loves nothing more than getting stuck into gritty crime novels. After gushing about a particular one recently on his social media page, the book’s sales went through the roof, and now it’s getting a movie adaptation byAmazonstarring Jake Gyllenhaal.
For over 50 years, King has been keeping his fanbase happy with his spellbinding works, which started off withCarriein 1974. Since then,The Shining, IT,andThe Green Milehave seen King level up his already epic storytelling skills, with many ofhis novels getting the adaptation treatment. Nowadays, it’s almost a challenge to keep track of how many of his books of his that are hitting the big (and small) screen, but it only goes to show what a massive impact King has on pop culture, and it looks like it won’t be slowing down anytime soon. But in the meantime, in between writing and watching copious amounts of media, King has recently added a crime novel to his overflowing bookshelf in what he calls the best crime fiction he has read in 20 years, and now, coincidentally, the book is being turned into a movie after sales spiked.
Stephen King-Approved Crime Book Is Being Adapted by Amazon
According toDeadline, in a major deal with other bidders,Amazon has bought the rights to adaptCollision, a short novel in Don Winslow’s upcoming story collectionThe Final Score.Although the outlet hasn’t revealed who else will be starring in the movie as it’s still early days,Jake Gyllenhaalwill be playing the main character, Danny Ryan, and is also set to produce the film through his Nine Stories banner.Collision"tells the harrowing story of a devoted husband and father with a great life who makes one terrible mistake that sends him to prison, where he must learn how to survive, but that’s only the beginning. When he finally becomes free, he learns why he was protected in prison and is sent on a mission that will change him forever."
While most people usually have to wait until their highly anticipated book is on the shelf, being Stephen King has its advantages, as the horror writer managed to bag himself an advanced copy ofThe Final Scorebefore its September 2025 release. After reading it, King naturally went onto his social media account to tell his 7 million followers what he thought of it, and the verdict was a big thumbs up. In a post on Twitter/X, King saidThe Final Scorewas “the best crime fiction I’ve read in twenty years. You’d think Winslow was mobbed up–it’s that good.”
Since King gave a glowing recommendation of Don Winslow’sThe Final Score,it seems likely that this may have been the reason Amazon initially got into a huge bidding war against over competitors since who doesn’t want to take on a project approved by the King himself. The book also saw a huge spike in sales since King’s tweet, so it seems like a huge win for Winslow and whoever thought of sending King a copy first now needs a pay raise. The adaptation will likely produce more A-list stars as it settles into production more, since Amazon has another Don Winslow adaptation on the board, which is based on Winslow’s short storyCrime 101, andwill star Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Halle Berry, Monica Barbaro, Barry Keoghan, Nick Nolte, and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
The Final Scorewill be released by HarperCollins on July 31, 2025.
