Donnie Brasco. Poster of the 1997 movie and cover of the 1988 book, Donnie Brasco: my undercover life in the Mafia
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Donnie Brasco: my undercover life in the Mafia
Joseph D. Pistone, Richard Woodley, 1988
movie vs book
Mike Newell, 1997

In 1970s New York City, Lefty Ruggiero, an aging gangster in the Bonanno crime family, is introduced to a jewel thief named Donnie Brasco, who impresses Lefty by threatening a diamond dealer whom Donnie suspects of having sold Lefty a zirconia set ring, priced as a real diamond one. Donnie is revealed to be Joseph D. Pistone, an undercover FBI agent, whose wife, Maggie, is not fond of his undercover position.


Wag the Dog. Poster of the 1997 movie and cover of the 1993 book, American Hero
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American Hero
Larry Beinhart, 1993
movie vs book
Barry Levinson, 1997

The president is caught making advances on an underage girl inside the Oval Office, less than two weeks before the election. Inspired by the idea that he was discarded like an old shoe, Brean and Motss ask the Pentagon to provide a special forces soldier with a matching name around whom a POW narrative can be constructed.


The Best of Enemies. Poster of the 2019 movie and cover of the 1996 book
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The Best of Enemies
Osha Gray Davidson, 1996
movie vs book
Robin Bissell, 2019

1971: at Durham, in North Carolina, Ann Atwater tries to get better housing conditions for poor black people, and is ignored by the all white judge panel. C.P. is the president of the KKK, and has a family with children. Ann’s daughter’s school catches on fire, and C.P. is afraid that the black children will come to the white schools.


Silver Bells. Poster of the 2005 movie and cover of the 2004 book
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Silver Bells
Luanne Rice, 2004
movie vs book
Dick Lowry, 2005

Widower Christopher Byrne gives his daughter Bridget and adolescent son Danny first attention when it comes to helping out on the family tree farm. The sale of their Christmas trees in New York is the high point of his year. When Danny is sixteen, he flees to that location to live his own ambition of becoming a photographer. He receives secure assistance from Catherine O’Mara, a museum staffer, with his homework and study resources.


Prozac Nation. Poster of the 2001 movie and cover of the 1994 book
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Prozac Nation
Elizabeth Wurtzel, 1994
movie vs book
Erik Skjoldbjærg, 2001

Elizabeth Lizzie Wurtzel is a 19-year-old accepted into Harvard with a scholarship in journalism. She begins a relationship with another student, Rafe, but after travelling to his home in Texas and discovering that his sister has an intellectual disability, Lizzie accuses Rafe of being’a creepy voyeur’ who gets off on witnessing the pain of others.


My Friend Dahmer. Poster of the 2017 movie and cover of the 2002 comic book
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My Friend Dahmer
John 'Derf' Backderf, 2002
movie vs comic book
Marc Meyers, 2017

Jeffrey Dahmer murdered 17 men and boys in the Midwest United States between 1978 and 1991 before being captured and incarcerated. He would become one of America’s most infamous serial killers. This is the story before that story. Jeff Dahmer is an awkward teenager struggling to make it through high school with a family life in ruins.


I Know What You Did Last Summer. Poster of the 1997 movie and cover of the 1973 book
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I Know What You Did Last Summer
Lois Duncan, 1973
movie vs book
Jim Gillespie, 1997

On the Fourth of July 1996 in Southport, North Carolina, Julie James and her friends Ray Bronson, Helen Shivers, and Barry Cox drive to the beach. While driving along a coastal byway, they accidentally hit a pedestrian. The group decides to dump the body in the water and never discuss what happened. A year later in 1997, Julie receives a letter with no return address, stating, ‘I know what you did last summer!’.


Wild Card. Poster of the 2015 movie and cover of the 1985 book, Heat
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Heat
William Goldman, 1985
movie vs book
Simon West, 2015

Nick Wild is a recovering gambling addict who takes odd jobs in Las Vegas as a chaperone (a bodyguard) to support his addiction. After helping a client impress a woman, he accepts a proposition from a young man Cyrus Kinnick to show him around Vegas and provide him with protection while he gambles.


Psycho. Poster of the 1998 movie and cover of the 1959 book
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Psycho
Robert Bloch, 1959
movie vs book
Gus Van Sant, 1998

Phoenix office worker Marion Crane is fed up with the way life has treated her. One Friday, Marion is trusted to bank forty thousand dollars by her employer. Seeing the opportunity to take the money and start a new life, Marion leaves town and heads towards Sam’s California store. Tired after the long drive and caught in a storm, she gets off the main highway and pulls into the Bates Motel.