Hottest summer read authored by man currently in jail

The surprise hit of t🌌he summer belongs to a writer who won’t be doing any book signings — because he’s in jail.

But that has not stoppeღd a bidding war from breaking out to try to sign the film rights to “” by first-time novelist Nico Walker.

At press time, Hollywood studios were said to be bidding. His agent, Jason Richm🍰an, did not ret💟urn a call, but one source close to the action said that the number of studios circling was at least six.

The book hit Tuesday with a first printing of only 20,000, but the Knopf imprint of Penguin Random Hou🌃se has already gone back to press twice to add another 10,000 copies to the pipeline.

Walker, a former medic in the Iraq War in 2005 and 2006, received seven citations for his service on some 200 combat miss🤪ions.

But he returned to Ohio traumatized and suffering from PTSD, and soon slipped into unemployment, d�ꦆ�epression and a heroin habit.

To support his habit, he went on a spree, robbing 11 banks in four months in the Cleveland area before getting arrested in 2011 and pleading guilty in 2012, when he was sentenced💛 to 11 years. He was encouraged to write his life story by Matthew Johnson, co-owner of the small independent Tyrant Books. The gritty war story, which took four years to write, is earning rave reviews.

New York magazine dubbed the book, “the first great novel of the opioid epidemic.” Booklist called it “a masterpiece.” Walker used his advance to pay back $30,000 of the $40,000 he was said to have robbed during his four-month spree. He’s scheduled for relea𝓡se in November 2020.