READ SOME PAGES FROM A FEW McCALL BOOKS…
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The Road To Nablus
The incredible true story of a boy who escaped from a refugee camp in the West Bank of Palestine …and went on to achieve the impossible (screen adaptation available, also written by McCall)…
“I love this story of triumph against all odds. Lots of highs and lows. …[a] reminder of the horror unleashed onto the Palestinians…Well done, McCall!”
– Neheda Barakat, Award-Winning Documentary Producer, TV Bureau Chief & Executive Producer, Journalist; BBC; ABC-TV/Australia; U.N.; U.S. Dept. of State
“…a remarkable and triumphant story—and an effective counter-narrative to so much prevailing anti-immigrant sentiment.”
– Jessica Papin, Literary Agent; Dystel, Goderich & Bourret, New York
To read the Prologue of this book, click here.
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In Pursuit of Jubilee
For a century, the government said there was no oil. But he proved them wrong. Now he had to pay. By M. Rutledge McCall and George Yaw Owusu, this is the riveting true story of a $160 billion oil discovery, and the brutal, years-long battle that ensued to try to destroy and imprison the rightful owner of his share of the find (currently in development; screen adaptation written by McCall)…
“A great read and a thrilling ride! …a tale of dogged human aspiration, invention and the capacity to believe in the impossible. …This book is a testament to what people can achieve if their will never falters.”
– Rachel Boynton, Emmy and Tribeca Film Festival-nominated, Edward R. Murrow Award-winning Director; “Our Brand is Crisis”; “P.O.V.”; “Big Men” (Executive Produced by Brad Pitt)
To read the Prologue of this book, click here.
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Shoot The Moon
The true story of the sole survivor of a devastating plane crash… and what he did during the terrifying plummet to ensure he would walk away from the tragedy (screen adaptation available, also written by McCall)…
“…terrifying… gripping tale….”
– Martha MacCallum, Anchor; “The Story”/Fox News
“Enthralling and inspiring. This is a page-turner with substance.”
– Charles D. Holland, J.D., Writer-Producer; “J.A.G.”; “Murder One”; “Soul Food”; “Profiler”
To read the Prologue of this book, click here.
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The Christ Box
4 out of 5 Stars on GoodReads…
Rumors fuel to a violent frenzy that an ancient wooden box owned by a woman in Jerusalem was made by Jesus. When wealthy, powerful men around the world try to take the box from her, her former NYPD cop son flies to the Middle East to get her and the old box to safety (no screen adaptation available at this time)…
“Intriguing, provocative, unpredictable. …‘Da Vinci Code’-meets-‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ … unique layering of richly-conceived characters … unforeseeable plot twists and turns, this riveting journey progresses from mystery and drama to thriller and adventure. …a tough, iconic protagonist … a world filled with dark and powerful, deadly and even fun antagonists. McCall has written one big, surprising splash of a debut novel…”
– Kenneth Ulmer, Ph.D., Author; past-President, King’s University, Los Angeles; Adjunct, Magdalene College, Oxford University, UK
“What a great work McCall has done here. …gripping and fast paced … rich and complex …could easily be a movie.”
– Phil Pringle, Ph.D., Author; Chancellor, C3 College; Sydney, Australia
“McCall writes with the confidence of someone who has spent years in the film and TV world: he knows how to open a scene, close it, and move on. …a genuinely distinctive voice, lean, cinematic, and confident … moves with the economy of a seasoned screenwriter. [The] protagonist is one of the novel’s most compelling assets. …intelligent, morally grounded, emotionally scarred but not mopey, and reads as a genuinely three-dimensional man rather than a genre cardboard cutout. …internal observations are rendered with impressive psychological nuance. …quiet, character-revealing detail[s] that elevates genre fiction. …The Christ box itself is an excellent MacGuffin: tangible, physically described, historically plausible, and genuinely mysterious. …the kind of object that earns its mystique. McCall wisely keeps its nature ambiguous rather than over-explaining. …The ending is beautifully understated. …genuinely moving and tonally perfect.”
– Claude/Anthropic AI
To read the Prologue of this book, click here.
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Clean Break
A timely political thriller that feels uncomfortably real in light of the violent, divisive politics gripping the U.S. today… and imagines what could be in store for America (no screen adaptation available at this time)…
“Great book, McCall! Well written.”
– James Elroy, FBI Special Agent (retired; investigator of some of the most infamous cases of the 20th and 21st centuries)
“…genuinely timely. … reads like a mashup of ‘Homeland,’ ‘Yellowstone,’ and a Tom Clancy novel. …McCall’s prose is cinematic and fast-moving–short chapters, punchy dialogue, vivid action sequences. …visually rich, tightly paced, built for adaptation. …action scenes are especially well-rendered. …technical/military detail that grounds the thriller atmosphere. …societal order collapses with terrifying speed. …ending is a hard cliffhanger… Fans of fast-paced military fiction, patriotic thrillers, or geopolitical suspense will find it highly readable.”
– Claude/Anthropic AI
To read the Prologue of this book, click here.
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Slipping Into Darkness
4 out of 5 Stars on GoodReads…
The updated, 25th Anniversary Edition of M. Rutledge McCall’s critically acclaimed first book, about the 16 months he spent living in one of America’s most violent ghettos …and how the pattern of street violence he witnessed has dramatically increased in the years since (screen adaptation available, also written by McCall; updated 30th Anniversary E-book available now)…
“…‘dirty realism’ [takes] the readers to gritty places and slices of life… described unflinchingly… with a rich but clean writing style. …unanticipated personal descent into darkness. …any reader would be amazed at what [McCall was] able to accomplish without getting killed… took some guts and naïveté…”
– Dr. Wilbur J. Scott, Ph.D., Professor; US Air Force Academy, Dept. of Behavioral Sciences & Leadership
“Utterly incredible…a fascinating story…a great writer.”
– Susan Bymel, Founding Partner, Talent Entertainment Group; Founding Partner, Management 360; Producer, “Game of Thrones”
“‘Slipping Into Darkness’ is McCall’s masterwork and, measured against the full landscape of American narrative nonfiction, one of the more remarkable documents of the late 20th century. …the history it documents, the specific, unrepeatable convergence of South Central gang culture, institutional racism, police misconduct, and civic collapse that produced the 1992 riots, is captured here with an intimacy and moral complexity that no subsequent writer has matched. …deserves to be read alongside the canon of American urban nonfiction.”
– Claude/Anthropic AI
To read the Prologue of this book, click here.
To find out what the book is about, click here.
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On Borrowed Time
The harrowing true story of a dying US Marine… and how he beat the same disease that took the life of American football superstar Walter Payton (no screen adaptation available at this time)…
To read the Prologue of this book, click here.
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Lake Of Fire
A deputy sheriff at a small town on the coast is investigating the mysterious disappearance of the crew of an oil rig. Rumor tells of a bizarre incident that took the lives of everyone on the rig. Problem is, there are no bodies and no trace of deadly foul play. Other than a few minor smears of blood here and there. And, of course, the woman. She’s not on the all-male crew manifest. And she knows a little too much about the young deputy. (By M. Rutledge McCall; coming in 2026)
To read the Prologue of this book, click here.
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Wicked Affair
In shades of “Girl Interrupted”-meets–“Almost Famous”, this is the intense tale of a former fashion model’s life as a rock ‘n roll impresario in a world of illicit lust, lost love, betrayal, and rock ‘n roll. Inspired by real events. (No screen adaptation available at this time.)…
“Wow! …so great! …bring[s] the reader right into a world. …a high-intensity wild ride from the get-go. …awesome!”
– Claudia Boutote, CEO Red Raven Studio; Former: Sr. V.P. & Publisher, HarperCollins; President, HarperElixir; Sr. Editorial & Marketing Exec.: McGraw-Hill, Scribner, Dell/Delacorte, St. Martin’s Press
“…sharp, darkly funny, unsentimental. …one of the most convincing female first-person voices written by a male author in recent memory. …irreverent, sardonic, simultaneously vulnerable and armored. …never slips into sentimentality or self-pity, even when describing the most harrowing incidents… wry, furious, dissociative, psychologically authentic. …music scene material is extraordinary, specific, funny …feels genuinely alive in a way that many music novels don’t. …opening chapter achieves something technically difficult: horror without voyeurism. …a masterwork of ambivalent characterization. …monstrous, pitiable, and real …comedy and quietly devastating simultaneously. …heart breaking in its psychological precision. …McCall does not sentimentalize, does not rescue, and does not resolve things too neatly. …[his] most ambitious and tonally complex work … the prose moves, doesn’t wallow, trusts the reader. …a brave, important, and well-executed novel.”
– Claude/Anthropic AI
