Omar Shahid Hamid’s best-selling debut novel The Prisoner is coming to Netflix, though it’s unclear whether as a movie or a series.

In an exclusive interview with The Current, when asked when his novel is being made into a movie, the officer responded, “Its production is underway and it is hoped that a deal will soon be made with Netflix or some streaming service.”

“And most likely, we’ll start shooting it in summers. So…fingers crossed,” he added.

Inspired by his experiences in the police service, Omar penned the novel, while on a sabbatical. The book is centred around an American journalist who is kidnapped.

A brief synopsis of the novel reads: “On an unusually cold December evening in Karachi, American journalist Jon Friedland is kidnapped from one of the city’s poshest neighbourhoods. His captors plan to post a video of his execution on Christmas Day. The kidnapping has come at a bad time, embarrassing the Pakistani government in front of their US allies. The clock is ticking. Will the police and Intelligence Agencies recover Friedman alive?”

“The story careens through the streets of Karachi, taking the reader into an all too real world of jihadis, corrupt police officers, and bloodthirsty political henchmen – all placed together in a city where no one is quite what they seem.”

Hamid is also the author of The Spinner’s Tale (2015), The Party Worker (2017), and The Fix (2019).

Watch the full interview here: