McG to Helm Jason Bourne Wannabe Dead Spy Running

First it was Harry Potter, then Middle Earth, and now every producer worth his salt is looking for the next Jason Bourne. Heck, even James Bond got into the act. The latest stab at Bourne trilogy cash grab comes in the form of a new spy novel from Across the Pond by Jon Stock called “Dead Spy Running”. McG has signed on to direct for Warner Bros, while Stephen Gaghan (”Syriana”) has been hired to adapt the as-yet-unpublished novel, the first of an expected trilogy.

More about the novel from the publisher:

Re-inventing the spy story for the 21st Century. John Le Carre meets Jason Bourne! Daniel Marchant, a suspended MI6 officer, is running the London Marathon. He is also running out of time. A competitor is strapped with explosives. If he drops his pace, everyone around him will be killed, including the US ambassador to London. Marchant tries to thwart the attack, but is he secretly working for the terrorists? There are those in America who already suspect Marchant of treachery. Just like they suspected his late father, the former head of MI6, who was removed from his job by the CIA. Marchant is treated like an enemy combatant – rendition, waterboarding – but he has friends who are disillusioned with America’s war on terror. Friends like Leila, his beautiful MI6 colleague and lover, and Sir Marcus Fielding, the new Chief who resents the White House’s growing influence in Whitehall. On the run from the CIA, Marchant is determined to prove his father’s innocence in a personal journey that takes him from Wiltshire, via Poland, to India. It was here that the former MI6 chief once met with one of the world’s most wanted terrorists, and where the new President of America is shortly to visit. But was that meeting proof of a mole within MI6 or the best penetration of Al Qaeda the West has ever had? And was Marchant’s father the keeper of another, darker secret? In a compelling thriller that updates the spy novel for the 21st century — think John Le Carre meets Jason Bourne – Marchant discovers the shocking realities of personal betrayal and national loyalty, and that love can be the biggest risk of all.

In case you missed it, “Dead spy Running” wants you to know that it’s like Jason Bourne meets John Le Carre. You know, in case you missed it the first two times they said it. It’s also sounds like it’ll be indulging in a lot of American Government/spy agency bashing, so those who love the Bourne movies will surely love this one, too.