Jon Katzenback was born on June 23, 1950 in Princeton, NJ. He worked as a court reporter,
journalist and author of psychological thrillers. He has written more than fifteen books
and screenplays.
In the Heat of the Summer was published in 1982 and was a nominee for an Edgar Award
for best first novel. It became a movie in 1985 with the title The Mean Season starring
Kurt Russell and Mariel Hemingway. The website fantasticfiction.com has the review
that ". . . [t]hey call July the 'mean season' in Miami, and this hot summer a clever,
elusive killer is terrorizing the entire city. The death of the first victim was just a good
story for reporter Malcolm Anderson, but the killer liked his style and begins to to feed
him a stream of front-page exclusives. His journalism makes Anderson a national
celebrity - and they could make him the next victim." "Desperately scary and
suspenseful," Cosmopolitan.