The Deserter

I worry when established writers take their protagonists out of the country. Usually, I suspect it is because they want to be able to write off a trip to some country they've always had a hankering to visit so they do in order to collect local color for the book. But Venezuela? Why would anyone want to go to a country on the verge of ruin and chaos -- at least that's the way it's described in this extended travelogue.

Scott Brodie and Maggie Taylor, both CID officers, (think Paul Brenner and Cynthia Sunhill from the General's Daughter with whom they bear striking similarities in looks and speech) need to go undercover to Venezuela to bring back a Captain Kyle Mercer who deserted his unit and committed some heinous crimes in Afghanistan. show more He has now been seen by a less than reliable witness in Venezuela in a brothel for underage girls in the slums of Caracas. Clearly, the Army has way, way too much money if it were to indulge in such a risky venture, kidnap (or kill) this guy Mercer.

I really admire many things about Venezuela, the foremost being the conductor Dudamel and the truly magnificent Youth orchestra and high school music programs. That is not the country of this book and I found the plot to be a mish-mash of plot holes. I did like the Paul Brenner-like banter of the thinly disguised Brodie. Why invent a new character when you already had one on the books? (Perhaps because he wrote this with his son, Alex DeMille, another puzzler, the way to get his son a head start in the writier's market.)

I have read (or listened to) several DeMille and enjoyed the Brenner and Corey characters. I was disappointed in this one and certainly won't read the The Cuban Affair, which other readers have described as being similar in its travelogue nature. I enjoy reading the history and current affairs of other countries be they failed or successful; I also enjoy a good mystery/thriller/police procedural like the General's Daughter (5 stars); I do not enjoy one that succeeds at neither. show less

I’m a huge Nelson DeMille fan and have been since his iconic PLUM ISLAND and THE CHARM SCHOOL. In his first collaboration with son Alex, he has again hit a home run. THE DESERTER might be based on the desertion of Bowe Bergdahl but it is so much more. In what I hope is the beginning of a new series, we meet US Army Investigators Scott Brodie and Maggie Taylor. And I love these characters. The deserter in question is Kyle Mercer, a member of the elite Delta Force who disappeared in Afghanistan and was captured by the Taliban, apparently something that didn’t go well for his captors if a shocking video can be believed. Two years later, Brodie and Taylor are dispatched to Caracas, Venezuela to capture Mercer when he has been spotted show more casually sitting in a bar at a major hotel. Sounds simple enough. Not a chance. Not in DeMille’s world. What follows is a wild ride with plot twists and turns, break-neck action, and the fabulous dialog that is a DeMille staple. I loved this story. Highly recommended.

DP Lyle, award-winning author of the Jake Longly and Cain/Harper thriller series show less

I suppose it's not fair to ding an author for advertising a "new character" when the new one is pretty much the same as one the author's more famous for and one you love to read. In this case, the DeMilles' "new" character is Scott Brodie, who's really no different than John Corey. Granted, Brodie is not a former NYPD detective, but, like John, he's still a quick-witted, non-PC smartass.

The action and pacing of this book is very good and the descriptions of Venezuela are excellent.

Decorated SEAL Captain Kyle Mercer leaves camp one night and is then subsequently captured by the Taliban. After two years captivity, he escapes by killing his captors, videoing it, and resigning his commission. Now, the Navy's trying to find him and bring show more him to justice for the desertion. To wit, they employ Scott Brodie and Maggie Taylor of the Criminal Investigation Division to find him. Of course, there's far more going on and other agencies are in the hunt for Mercer. And they don't want him captured alive.

I wish the reason Mercer deserted was a bit more ethically murky for character-building purposes, but the story is still really good. I'll look forward to reading more about Brodie's escapades in the future. show less

Venezuela is a very bad place to be for Americans, if this book is to be believed. Based on my other readings about the country, sadly I do believe it. Once a thriving country, rich because of its oil and a thriving economy, it is now a solid dictatorship rife with corruption and crime. So, Caracas is the perfect place for an AWOL’d soldier escaping the Taliban to be found. But what is his real motive and what is America’s for Venezuela? CID officers Brody and Taylor are sent first to Caracas to find and apprehend him and they follow his tracks deep into the jungle—both places, Caracas and the jungle, are characters as much as the people and as likely to kill them. Action-packed but also a lot of “telling” about back stories show more and repetition that gets a bit numbing. Still a good read that likely accurately portrays a country in serious distress. show less

Captain Kyle mercer of the Army's Delta force disappears from his station in Afghanistan. A video surfaces that shows that Mercer has deserted. He is spotted a year later in a very dangerous section of Venezuela. Scott Brody and Maggie Taylor are tasked with the job of bringing the deserter back to the United States for trial.
This book is so DeMille. It is fast paced, thrilling and brilliant! DeMille fans will not be disappointed. It is filled with twists and turns, double crosses, politics, and believable characters. A nail biting adventure. a must read!

Three years ago, Army Delta Force Captain Kyle Mercer disappeared from his post in Afghanistan. Sometime later, a video surfaced, showing Mercer with his Taliban captors. After some two years of torture, Mercer escaped. By then, the Army had declared him a deserter.

A sighting of Mercer in Caracas sends Army Criminal Investigation Division investigators Scott Brodie and Maggie Taylor to Venezuela to find Kyle Mercer and bring him home to face a court-martial.

But there may be more to the Kyle Mercer story than anyone knows.

Strong characters, unexpected plot twists, and non-stop action keep the pages turning in this pulse-pounding narrative. It is a story of war, a story of impossible choices. It’s gritty and filled with the show more hopelessness of a population mired in poverty in a nation poised on the edge of becoming a failed state. The strong, well-described sense of place anchors the story.

Unfortunately, this powerful narrative finds itself mired down by a considerable excess of gratuitous expletives, an annoying overabundance of double entendres and sophomoric sexual innuendo, and far too much over-the-top graphic violence that tends to pull the reader out of the story. Leaving some things to the reader’s imagination isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Future books in the series would benefit from omitting the puerile inferences and the unwarranted crass language.

Recommended. show less

This thriller seems to be loosely based on Conrad's "Heart of Darkness." It explores a similar theme: the psychological damage attendant to combat. Likewise, the plot involves a decent into the jungle to retrieve a dangerous deserter who may have gone quite mad. In this instance, a team of CID officers, Brodie and Taylor, are tasked with finding and arresting Kyle Mercer. Of course, this version of the "Heart of Darkness" story has been updated to include modern themes like CIA double-dealing, American failures at winning "hearts and minds" since Vietnam, and the decent of the Venezuelan state into chaos.

THE DESERTER is a brisk and entertaining read with plenty of action. However, the Brodie character's glib humor becomes a bit tedious show more after a few hundred pages. His overly serious sidekick, Maggie Taylor, seems to be there just as a straight man (person) for his lame jokes, and as a caution to his dangerous machismo. Clearly, DeMille plans to develop a series around these two characters. One can only hope that he considers making this relationship a little more believable by muting this shtick. After all, Hammett already did it quite well with Nick and Nora Charles. show less