“Best Seller” quotes

Plot – Dennis Meechum, a honest middle-age police detective, has become a famous mystery author. His first book was inspired by a real event that remained unsolved: the robbery at a police depot in which he was wounded and his colleagues killed. The attackers wore masks and managed to escape; therefore, no one has been able to identify them. Dennis now lives with his teenage daughter Holly; he is still suffering for the recent loss of his wife and no longer finds inspiration for his books, nor enthusiasm for his job. And above all, he has a lot of debts to pay off. Dennis meets Cleve, a ruthless professional killer, who repeatedly saves his life. Cleve persuades Dennis to write a book about the murders and extortion committed by him to favor the rise of a powerful business man, David Madlock, who has now dismissed him, causing his hatred and a fierce desire for revenge. Dennis initially believes that all the crimes that Cleve is confessing to are signs of his megalomania, but gradually he realizes that Cleve is telling the truth and the detective gets more and more interested in the stories as well as being irresistibly attracted by Cleve's perverse but charming personality. Likewise, the killer has developed a true sense of friendship for the policeman, who is so different from him. Their relationship is ambiguous and complex, but certainly the personality and the intelligence of the killer are superior to that of the policeman, who is unconsciously dominated. Dennis later discovers that in the robbery at the police depot, in which Madlock was also involved, Cleve was not the driver as he claimed, but was instead one of the killers. Meanwhile, the situation worsens: Madlock attempts to get hold of Dennis' manuscript - which is very compromising for him - and has Holly kidnapped. However, Cleve finds her prisoner in his own home and in the showdown with his hated enemy, while Dennis is injured, he has himself killed by Madlock to save the girl. Then, dying in Dennis' arms, he reminds him that he must make him the hero of his best-seller.