The Reckoning COVER

A coming-of-age Western adventure of greed, violence and retribution, THE RECKONING centers on the clash between a rugged old rancher and a dangerous, young Irish street thug. The novel ranges from the rough streets of early 20th-century Manhattan to the vast expanses and treacherous intrigues of life in Wyoming cattle country. Tom Callaghan, 19, agrees reluctantly to leave New York for Wyoming to avoid a stretch in Sing Sing prison — accompanied by Will Sherman, the same man he assaulted. At Sherman's Box T ranch in the Wind River basin, Tom immediately clashes with Will's headstrong daughter, Ellen, who views Tom as the usurper of her late brother's place. She is consumed with guilt over her role in her younger brother's death by the untamed black stallion, Caliban. And Tom quickly finds himself facing the enemies of his benefactor, Will Sherman, in a deadly reckoning.

My screenplay, based on this novel, was a finalist in the international Writer’s Digest Screenwriting Competition.