A medical student in Bradford could see his name in lights - after approaches from a Hollywood studio for the rights to one of his novels.

Justin Petrillo is studying in the city's hospitals for a year, as part of his course at Ross University School of Medicine in New York, United States.

Justin is reluctant to reveal which studio is interested, or the figures being bandied about, but he said movie moguls are interested in his novel Pictures of the Dead - and the student would love to see ER heartthrob George Clooney or Jude Law, who starred in The Talented Mr Ripley, in the leading role.

And the native New Yorker also hopes to have a cameo part in the film.

Justin, who already has three published novels, is working on a fourth after gaining inspiration on the wards of Bradford's Lynfield Mount Hospital.

His novels are on a horror, mystery and suspense theme, and he is currently writing I4NI. In the book, a psychiatrist feels so deeply about his patients' pain that he creates a dream double which goes out to inflict retribution.

Justin, who wants to be a psychiatrist, said: "I write every day, at least a page a day. I write a novel a year. I have the entire book in my head before I start and everything starts with a title."

Even after the rigours of a day on the wards, Justin, who is in his 30s, settles down at his word-processor. "I'm very goal orientated, but writing's so different because I don't think of it as a chore. It's so pleasurable. It's in my head and has to get out."

Justin has trained as an architect and ran his own business, but decided it wasn't creative enough and switched to parallel careers in medicine and writing.

His latest book Double-Helix Download is being released this month and he has a loyal following of fans, who e-mail him from as far afield as Israel and Indonesia. His literary heroes are Stephen King and Michael Crichton.

His books are available on the internet - both in the UK and America. He is one of several American students spending a year in Bradford. Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke's Hospital have a long-standing agreement with medical schools in Leeds and Sheffield to teach their students, but the partnership with Ross University is new.

e-mail: jan.winter@

bradford.newsquest.co.uk

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