Nelson DeMille

Nelson DeMille
Born Nelson Richard DeMille
August 23, 1943
Jamaica, Queens, New York
Occupation Novelist
Nationality American
Alma mater Hofstra University
Genre Crime fiction,
Thriller
Website
www.nelsondemille.net

Nelson Richard DeMille (born August 23, 1943) is an American author of thriller novels. His works include Word of Honor (made into a 2003 TV movie starring Don Johnson), The Charm School, The Gold Coast, Plum Island, and The General's Daughter (made into a 1999 movie starring John Travolta).

DeMille has also written under the pen names Jack Cannon, Kurt Ladner, and Brad Matthews.

Biography

DeMille was born in Jamaica, Queens, and resides in Garden City, New York, a village on Long Island. He attended Elmont Memorial High School in Elmont, New York, and graduated from Hofstra University.[1]

DeMille served in the United States Army as a First Lieutenant and saw action in Vietnam.[2]

He is a member of Mensa.[3]

Writing style

Many of DeMille's books are written in the first person, and as such his books follow a linear plotline in which the reader moves along with the main character.

Although the tone of his writing varies from novel to novel, one consistent tool is DeMille's liberal use of sarcasm and dry humor.

Most DeMille novels, especially the more recent, avoid "Hollywood endings," and instead finish either inconclusively or with the hero successfully exposing the secret/solving the mystery while suffering in his career or personal life as a result. There are generally loose ends left for the reader to puzzle over, Night Fall being a perfect example.

DeMille sometimes names the characters in his books after those wishing to be named in return for their generous contributions to various charities.[4]

Works

DeMille often uses Long Island, where he currently lives, as a setting in his novels, as in The Gold Coast, The Gate House, Plum Island, Word of Honor, and Night Fall. His most recent novels have followed two main characters, John Corey (starring in six novels) and Paul Brenner (starring in two novels, with also a part in Corey's sixth novel). In earlier works, the storylines were completely separate, but there have been hints in the novels that they are part of a larger "DeMille Universe" that references events and characters in earlier novels, such as The Gold Coast and The Charm School.

DeMille has written himself into Up Country and Wild Fire. He spends approximately two years crafting each of his novels due to the extensive research involved, and because he writes them longhand on legal pads with a number one pencil.[5]

One of his most recent efforts, the 2011 Mystery Writers of America Annual Anthology The Rich and the Dead, edited by DeMille, and to which he contributed its introduction and first story, was released May 2, 2011.

DeMille has released his latest book, The Panther, in the John Corey series on October 16, 2012. The setting is a troubled Yemen of 2004, in a follow-up investigation of the terrorist USS Cole bombing.

Published in 2013, DeMille has a chapter titled "Nelson DeMille on Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged and More" in The Book That Changed My Life: 71 remarkable writers celebrate the books that matter most to them. [6]

Bibliography

Joe Ryker Series

  1. The Sniper (1974)
  2. The Hammer of God (1974)
  3. The Agent of Death (1975)
  4. The Smack Man (1975)
  5. The Cannibal (1975)
  6. The Night of the Phoenix (1975)

Characters

Detective Sgt. Joe Ryker, a tired, no-nonsense plainclothesman whose natural understanding of his environment gives him an enhanced instinct for tracking down criminals. A loner, he carries two weapons: a standard police special .38 in an ankle holster, and a shoulder-holstered .357 Magnum. He appeared in the first six novels by DeMille — The Sniper, The Hammer of God, The Agent of Death, The Smack Man, The Cannibal, and The Night of the Phoenix. All were republished in 1989 bearing DeMille's nom-de-plume "Jack Cannon".

John Sutter Series

  1. The Gold Coast (1990)
  2. The Gate House (2008)

Characters

John Sutter, Susan Sutter, Felix Mancuso, and several other characters of The Gold Coast reappear in the sequel The Gate House.

Paul Brenner Series

  1. The General's Daughter (1992)
  2. Up Country (2002)

Characters

Paul Brenner, an investigator for the United States Army's Criminal Investigation Division (CID). He was introduced in The General's Daughter and reappears in Up Country, and The Panther. He now works for the US State Department Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). His girlfriend is US Army CID investigator Cynthia Sunhill.

Col. Karl Hellman, Brenner's superior officer at the CID. Appeared in The General's Daughter and Up Country.

John Corey Series

  1. Plum Island (1997)
  2. The Lion's Game (2000)
  3. Night Fall (2004)
  4. Wild Fire (2006)
  5. The Lion (2010), direct sequel to The Lion's Game
  6. The Panther (2012)
  7. Radiant Angel (2015)

Characters

John Corey, a retired New York City police detective on special assignment for the F.B.I. He was introduced in Plum Island and reappears in The Lion's Game, Night Fall, Wild Fire, The Lion, The Book Case and The Panther.

Kate Mayfield, an F.B.I. special agent. Introduced in The Lion's Game. She marries Corey and reappears in Night Fall, Wild Fire, The Lion and The Panther.

Asad Khalil, a Libyan terrorist. His family was wiped out in an American military attack in 1986, for which he swore revenge.

Ted Nash, a CIA agent and arch-rival of Corey, who is introduced in Plum Island and reappears in The Lion's Game, Night Fall, and Wild Fire.

Stand-alone Novels

Characters

Colonel Petr Burov/Boris/Boris Korsakov Though not explicitly stated, DeMille hints that Burov, the antagonist in The Charm School, is the same person as the mysterious "Boris," a character in The Lion's Game and The Lion who trained Asad Khalil.

Short Fiction

  1. "Revenge and Rebellion", in The Plot Thickens, (1997)
  2. The Rich and the Dead (2011)
  3. The Book Case (2011)
  4. Death Benefits (2012)
  5. Rendezvous (2012)

Non Fiction

  1. Hitler's Children: The True Story of Nazi Human Stud Farms (1976) (as Kurt Ladner)
  2. Killer Sharks: The Real Story (1977) (as Brad Mathews)

References

  1. ↑ Strickland, Carol. "Novelist Uses The Island's Gold Coast As A Setting For A Clash of Cultures", The New York Times, April 8, 1990. Accessed December 13, 2007. "Mr. De Mille was born in Jamaica, Queens, and educated at Elmont High School and Hofstra University, and so he knows the area well, although he calls himself a member in good standing of the middle class."
  2. ↑ http://www.nelsondemille.net/content/author.asp
  3. ↑ "They're Accomplished, They're Famous, and They're MENSANS". Mensa Bulletin (American Mensa) (476): p. 28. July 2004. ISSN 0025-9543.
  4. ↑ Night Fall, and The Gate House; acknowledgments
  5. ↑ The author states that he writes in longhand on legal pads, most recently in the acknowledgments following The Panther.
  6. ↑ http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0617/2006023179.html
  7. ↑ "Nelson Demille web site, The Quest".

External links