Night Fall

I want to emphasize that this is not only an interesting speculative examination of the crash, but a really good police procedural. John Corey is an extremely interesting and entertaining character. His interaction with Kate is integral to the story, and some of the conversations with his former partner Dom Fanelli are priceless. I really enjoyed the humor which Demille interjected into the story, both for the realism which it added to the character development and as a counterweight to the depressing nature of the subject. Strongly
recommended both for readers who just like a good thriller combined with an excellent police procedural and also for those who continue to wonder what caused the midair explosion of TWA Flight 800.

Generally, I’m not a fan of political thrillers. You say to me, “Carol, here’s a political thriller I just know you will love…” and I will not be rushing to the library or my favorite dealer to get a copy. Frankly, I find most of them silly and poorly written. Government conspiracies? Puh-leaze.


Not so believable.

At any rate, this one popped up in discussion and due to enthusiasm from Sharon and recommendations from Alfred (and others, I think–I lost the thread), Sharon and I decided to give it the buddy read treatment.


I'm not a very good reading best friend. because I’m completely one of those people that talks while reading. Or updates. Or tends to drop spoilers. Or really, really wants to share quotes.

John Corey is a show more rather typical, maverick cop, an ex- NYPD detective who now works with the FBI on part of a dedicated terrorist task force with his wife, a FBI agent herself. Like all great detectives, she has a case that haunts her with its lack of resolution. She persuades John to go with her to the memorial for TWA Flight 800, a Paris-bound airline that broke apart due to ‘mechanical failure,’ killing everyone on board. At the memorial, a CIA agent that John has a highly antagonistic relationship with warns John to let the case be.


Like waving a red flag

John finds himself playing devil’s advocate as Kate gradually takes him through the details of the case, but when they get to an unshakable eye-witness who swears he saw what seemed to be a missile, even John feels niggling doubts. He knows he has to work fast to make progress before he is shut down by his superiors. DeMille is clever with pacing in this book. It begins with a lurid sex scene hinting at potential video tape, and then moves into detailed background building of the investigation of a crashed plane. It could have easily been boring, but I was quickly engrossed in the details, and I enjoyed the complex motivation of justice, stubbornness and independence that keeps John on the case.

“But it wasn’t about Kate or me, or anyone else, in or out of the government. It was about them. 230 of them. And their families and loved ones, the people who had placed roses on the seats of the aircraft, and who had lit the candles and waded into the ocean, and thrown the flowers into the sea. And the people who haven’t been at the service, who sat at home tonight and cried.”

John uses old contacts in the NYPD to do some investigating, and doggedly tracks the pieces leading to the potential videotape. There was a very police procedural aspect to it; it felt real, somewhat slowly methodical, and somewhat maddening as John runs into leads seemingly dead-ended by… someone. Meanwhile, superiors at the Task Force are bringing pressure to bear and threatening both him and Kate. It morphs into a thriller, leading me to turn pages faster and faster by the end.

I enjoyed the characterization. I found John to be rather typical of the maverick detective school; the one who is willing to flaunt authority, but because of his amazing skill remains useful and not completely ostracized. He is, of course, very attractive to the ladies, but avoids further entanglements due to his commitment to Kate. Kate was an interesting foil whose lingering compassion for the loved ones sets off an investigation she is ambivalent about. Although never really fleshed out well, we get a sense that John both loves and respects her, despite occasionally antagonistic behaviors. In fact, they felt like a real couple. I immediately wanted to read more books with him and thought of starting with the first, Plum Island, but basically heard he was exponentially more of a chauvinist (or the writing was) in that one, so it’s a pass until I need a rant-read.

Plotting was solid, with a couple of quirks that will linger.

MILD SPOILER: at one point, Kate and John are sent on separate missions overseas for the Task Force. It seemed an odd authorial transition, but was most likely an attempt to bring in more question of international terrorist cell involvement. The section was generally underwritten, and didn’t seem to add much to the story, although John did lose the beer weight he was carrying.

VERY MILD SPOILER: I ended up reading faster and faster, but it was the end that was pretty much a solid punch in the face.


I looked a lot like Crowley at the end, without the cuts.

Let’s just say that thanks to Tana French, I know how to take a punch. It was appropriate, but I can appreciate it pissed some readers off.

Overall, a super-engrossing read. Perfect for a sick day with a head cold, where I was completely taken out of my own physical tissue-wasting experience and not thrown back into reality by hack writing. I’ll check out more DeMille.

Thanks, Sharon!! show less

Oh my god. No amount of planning could prepare me to pen a deserving review for Night Fall. I will never ever read such a large book in so short a time. It was unbelievable. This is why I read books. After this, if I have to ditch 10 books in a row, it will be worth it. When I was reading Night Fall, I thought no way does this book get 4/5 stars. But it occurred that all events converged on the remaining chapters. That is the only way an okay setup book jumps from okay to amazing. The most recent film that I've seen that had that structure was Miyazaki's The Wind Rises. The end made the preceding story spine tingling.

I want to convince you that Night Fall is an amazing book. You should read it. Reading, for the moment for me, is so show more much better than movies or music. It's the remaining medium in which I have faith and which delivers more often than not. Night Fall comprises of 672 pages. I went through them like that. For a story of its type there were few people to keep track of. John Corey always surprises me. He keeps needing to remind me that he does detect and solves mysteries, which is usually not the priority in the twist obsessed world of the thriller.

The genius thing about this book is when the hero and his wife are exiled from the USA. We don't see their extradition. Bang, immediately in the next chapter Corey returns home, and takes up the forbidden, conspiracy laced case and follows its trail from the airport. I will not trade that moment for any other memory of any book that I've read. Take a bow Nelson Demille, for this book is surely your masterpiece. I feel strongly about the Jill Winslow character. She was a real tragic figure, and I was against her in the beginning. What a turnaround. This is what good art does. It plays with our emotions without making us aware of the manipulation. I will re read this book soon. I have to. I'm still now sure how this embarking became a stroll in the park. show less

Ok, this was just plain boring. The story was blase, the main character was a complete dick [instead of being a smart alecky wisecracker like the author intended] and the ending, hit me in the gut hard. And I didn't like that.

I'm really of two minds about the ending. Part of me realizes that 9/11 is now part of history. As such, it is a circumstance to be used.

But a very visceral part of me rebels at having that incident used. I remember watching on tv when the crashes happened. I remember watching in utter disbelief, sure that I was seeing some fx footage, as the tower collapsed. I remember being sick to my stomach at the implications.

Other than the ending, this book was vanilla. In fact, vanilla is hard core, devil worshipping, baby show more eating, ultra-death metal, climate change is real, in your face screaming compared to this book.

Ugh. show less

this is a really fast, entertaining read for the most part. his main character is still far too full of machismo and i found myself almost rooting for him to be killed in the end to finally be done with him, but the conspiracy (or is it?) and the investigation of the accident (or was it a crime?) is what really held me and kept me turning the pages. most of the book is this investigation, which is good, because i still don't like the way demille writes his relationships and i can only take so much of john corey when he is doing anything but investigating. but the crux of this book is good, and it's made me want to read up on the real events that inspired it.

John Corey is the Dirty Harry of our generation, an unconventially brilliant investigator whose commitment to solving cases leaves zero tolerance for bureaucracy or political correctness. He's also funny as hell, having made an art form of macho banter and alpha-male swagger. And it's the sheer strength of Corey's character that manages to offset some serious shortcomings in the pacing and plotting of this novel.

"Night Fall" has a great premise, pitting the ingenuity of Corey against the enigma of the TWA 800 crash and using real facts from the investigation to tease out the various possible crash scenarios. Spurred on by his wife to reopen the case on its five-year anniversary, Corey doggedly pursues his off-duty investigation, show more risking his career and incurring the wrath of an alphabetical soup of government agencies.

But for some major plot problems, this could have been a great thriller. First off, DeMille's opening chapter gives too much away, leaving little in the way of mystery for the reader to solve alongside Corey. Second, as observed by many reviewers, the ending relies purely on a tidal wave of Coincidence to wash away all of the debris. Third, I found the pacing uneven, particularly in the beginning and middle of the novel.

Despite these mistakes, which are out of character for a master like DeMille, I am such a fan of his protagonist that I'll no doubt check out the next installment. This Corey guy's just too much fun.

-Kevin Joseph, author of "The Champion Maker" show less

I happened to come across this book on a bookshelf, formerly my sister's, an avid book reader. She never read it and didn't remember how she came to own it, so naturally I picked it up. The story drew me in almost immediately, even with the conspiracy that seemed to plunge even deeper into the heavy mystery throughout. The writing was great, characters fleshed out, and I felt like I was right back in the setting with them. I loved characters, I hated characters, I became nostalgic, I was extremely frustrated. As absorbed as I was in learning new unraveling details, I inadvertently realized I was rapidly approaching the conclusion. With so many questions left to answer, I was confused about how a story of substance this good would get show more wrapped up. Then bam!, I hit the last chapter and then within minutes, the last page. And. I. Was. Speechless.

So I'll be giving the 3 stars for the journey, but for the destination, I can't say this deserves any more. show less