Nelson DeMille Books

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Nelson DeMille is an American author born in 1943 in New York City. DeMille played football and ran track while he was at Elmont Memorial High School. He joined the army shortly after his time at Hofstra University, becoming a First Lieutenant and going to Vietnam as an infantry platoon leader with the First Cavalry Division in Vietnam.

DeMille eventually returned to Hofstra University and received his degree in Political Science and history.

Nelson DeMille’s first Major novel (By the Rivers of Babylon) was published in 1978; since then, he has written numerous detective and mystery novels all of which are still in print. DeMille writes in the first person. As such, his works are not that hard to follow because his plot lines are normally very linear. If you have read his books, you will notice that most of them have a lot of sarcasm and dry humor.

Additionally, DeMille’s books almost always end inconclusively, leaving a lot of loose threads for the reader to think about. The author has a preference for Long Island as a setting in his novels, probably because of how long he has lived there. Because DeMille writes his novels longhand on legal pads with a pencil, and because of all the research he normally injects into each novel, it normally takes the author an estimated 16 months to produce a book.

Nelson DeMille Books Into Movies

Nelson DeMille has had the honor of seeing three of his books receive movie adaptations, namely: The General’s Daughter in 1999, Word of Honor in 2003 and Mayday in 2005.

Best Nelson DeMille Books

Nelson DeMille has made a name for himself for writing some truly suspenseful books, this along with breaking away from the norm of capping stories off with typical Hollywood movie endings, some of the best books in Nelson’s bibliography including the following:

The General’s Daughter: Not only is Captain Ann Campbell the pride of Fort Hadley, but the West Point Graduate is also daughter to General ‘Fighting Joe’ Campbell. An explosively political case erupts when Ann is found dead and naked on the firing range.

Paul Brenner is the investigator brought in to make sense of the situation. A member of an elite undercover investigative unit, Brenner team up with rape specialist Cynthia Sunhill in order to find the culprit.

The fact that Brenner and Sunhill once had a tempestuous affair only complicates matters; and in investigating Ford Hadley’s Golden Girl, the duo is surprised to discover just how many people Ann was sexually and emotionally involved with.

Underneath the pressed uniforms and honor codes of the military, Brenner and Sunhill begin to uncover corruption.

Every army veteran that has read this Nelson DeMille book is shocked by how accurate his representation of life in the military is. The book delves into the brutal murder of a General’s daughter, though the goings-on of the military quickly take center-stage.

Nelson should be praised for tackling the attitude surrounding women at West Point, this along with the uncomfortable elements of corruption writhing underneath. There are characters in the book that are so depraved they will shock some readers, and the problem of men and women serving side by side is brought into stark focus.

It is should be noted that, as dark as things get, there is still a surprising amount of humor in this book, especially the banter between Brenner and Sunhill.

The Charm School: There are young KGB agents being taught how to model citizens in the USA by American Prisoners of War. The sinister operation is taking place in the Russian Woods at Borodino, in a place called Mrs. Ivanova’s Charm School.

The Soviet Union has plans to infiltrate the United States, and they want to do so undetected; when an unsuspecting American Tourist stumbles upon this operation, he sets in motion events that begin to unveil the savagery and treachery inside the Soviet Union.

The Charm School is an intensely chilling thriller. The book moves at a very fast pace and it paints a vivid image of life in the Soviet Union. The characters are very well-defined; the horrific secret deep in the woods makes for a white-knuckle ending.

Some readers have complained that the book is a little too wordy, but that doesn’t take away from the intrigue of this spy thriller. This is the perfect book for anyone new to Nelson DeMille’s work and who would like to begin reading his novels.

When Does The Next Nelson DeMille book come out?

Nelson DeMille doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is Blood Lines and was released on October, 10th 2023. It is the newest book in the Scott Brodie & Maggie Taylor Series.

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