Chris Jordan is the pen name of Rodman Philbrick, who grew up on the New England coast, where he worked as a longshoreman and boat builder.

For many years he wrote mysteries and detective novels. The Private Eye Writers of America nominated two of his T.D. Stash series as best detective novel and then selected Brothers & Sinners as Best Novel in 1993. Writing under the pen name `William R. Dantz`, he has explored the near-future worlds of genetic engineering and hi-tech brain control in books like Hunger, Pulse, The Seventh Sleeper, and Nine Levels Down.

Inspired by the life of a boy who lived a few blocks away, he wrote Freak The Mighty, the award-winning young-adult novel, which has been translated into numerous languages and is now read in schools throughout the world. The book was adapted to the screen in 1998 as The Mighty, starring Sharon Stone, Gillian Anderson, James Gandolfini, Kieran Culkin, and Elden Henson.

Taken is his stunning UK thriller debut. He and his wife divide their time between Maine and the Florida Keys.

More about the author: http://www.rodmanphilbrick.com.