Nelson DeMille (1943–2024)

This book seemed promising, but disappointment set in quickly. Most of the 'good guy' characters were stupid, vain, useless, manipulative, dishonest idiots who didn't really seem to care what happened to the cathedral or the hostages. Meanwhile the terrorists consistently showed commitment, cleverness, focus, resolve, resourcefulness, and creativity until I wondered whether the author was setting me up to ask, "Why bother trying?" It's a cynical book that leaves the feeling of a cowardly, show more incompetent good and a powerful, righteous evil. show less

A lady perusing the offerings at my church fair's book table pretty much insisted that I take a book by this guy. Eventually I gave in and did so. I'm not sure why it was so important to her, but it was. I also have no idea why she was so chatty and insistent with a strange, bearded, old man. It's not always just the bearded, old men who are the creepy ones.

I dunno, this is not really my kind of book. It's about a fringe band of IRA rebels who take over a cathedral in downtown New York as show more the St. Patrick's Day parade was winding down, and the serious partying was about to begin. They have hostages with them, including a British diplomat, a Roman Catholic Cardinal and the ex-girlfriend of the leader of the IRA rebels, who herself has left the group and is now a peace activist. When they talk to the hostage negotiator, they say that either a boatload of their friends in British prisons be released, or they'll kill the hostages and blow up the cathedral.

So, we have hundreds and hundreds of pages of dick swinging negotiations between the rebels and the civil authorities on the outside; dick swinging in all interactions between the various individuals or groups on each side, e.g. NYC police, National Guard, State police, the mayor's office, the governor's office, and so forth. The only characters who aren't dick swinging are the hostage cardinal and priest, both of whom are cardboard robots programmed to spout churchy sounding things when directly addressed, but otherwise disengaged from any kind of pastoral-care duties other than being willing to sit for confession if so begged. They are also disengaged from reality, kinda like the archbishop who recently declared that he was unaware that sex between adults and children was a crime.

It's actually not a bad book if you have the mentality of a 14-year old boy, i.e. love weapons porn, military-logistics porn, tough talk, and mindless killing. It boggles my mind that in a country where half the people pretend to be pro-life, that they are also enamored by this kind of mindless violence. We've become a nation of schizophrenics. show less

In this sequel to The Gold Coast, it's now ten years later and after leaving his job, his wife and his past behind; taking a 3 year solo sail around the world and then moving to London, John Sutter is returning home. A client of his - John is a tax lawyer most of the time - is dying and he needs to put the woman's affairs in order. Said client is also a life-long "house servant" of his ex-wife's family and until her final illness, resided in the "gate house" on his former in-laws former show more estate. (Got that?) Our hero is stepping right back into the maelstrom he left 10 years earlier - and he knows it. The question being - Is he prepared for it?

The dialogue and Sutter's soliloquies are hilarious, Nelson DeMille's drawing of the Fitzgerald-like occupants of Long Island equally so. I would thoroughly recommend this book. show less

Years ago I read The Gold Coast by Nelson DeMille; I wasn't impressed. While an interesting story, I thought it was too long and too slow. Since then, friends have pushed more from DeMille. I resisted.
Until now.
I got my hands on an early copy of DeMille's latest novel, The Panther, released Tuesday October 16, 2012. It is the latest in the John Corey/Kate Mayfield series. The short version of this review: I can't believe I've missed the first five in the series. I have a lot of catching show more up to do!
Of course, I've never given the short version of anything, so here is the rest:
John and Kate are married, both working on the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York City. John is an NYPD Detective, Kate an FBI Special Agent. The story is told from mostly in the first person from the point of view of John, a smart, reflective, witty, pain in the ass. The same qualities that make him a good investigator make him difficult to get along with and even more difficult to supervise. That, of course, makes a great story!
In The Panther, John and Kate are given an assignment in Yemen: to arrest the terrorist responsible for the attack on the USS Cole. Well, "arrest" might not be the most accurate way to describe what the team is really supposed to do, but that is the official assignment. They've been specially selected, since the American born and raised Panther would like to "arrest" John and Kate, too, to avenge the death of an al Qaeda terrorist that they were responsible for. The two are working with agents from myriad intelligence agencies on this mission: military, State Department, the CIA. All are hardened and experienced patriots, and all have secret agendas that are slowly revealed throughout the book.


Nelson DeMille
The book includes loyalty, deception, betrayal, murder, and more, and that's just among the good guys! Despite being over 6o0 pages, it is a page turner, helped along by fast dialogue and the laugh out loud wit of the protagonist.
I don't know if was DeMille's intent, but I felt Corey's distrust and cynicism, along with the methods used on their Panther hunt, was a critique on the War on Terror, or at least the way it's being fought.
The Panther is more about the story than the characters. John Corey is a New York cop, and narrates as one would expect from a New York cop. Although he has depth so far as recognizing the danger of the mission, and that there is a good chance he'll be killed, he isn't complex. He knows what he knows and doesn't seem to worry much about what he doesn't. Even the private moments between John and Kate are light. But the danger of the mission always looms, and even reading from the safety of my home I was tense waiting for the surprise attack, ambush, or explosion that I felt was imminent.

The Panther is an excellent book that I'm confident will return Nelson DeMille to the Best Seller list. His other John Corey books are now on my read list, and I've even considered giving The Gold Coast a second read, thinking there must be something I missed! show less