No one can ever argue that Nelson DeMille’s novels do not reflect contemporary trends in the world.  At a time when Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to restore Russian prestige and its place on the world stage through his actions over the last ten years in Georgia, the Crimea, Ukraine, and now Syria, DeMille offers a plot line that seems to fit the Kremlin’s current agenda.  DeMille’s latest book in the John Corey series, RADIANT ANGEL begins with a sense of mystery as Colonel Vasily Petrov, formerly of the KGB, now a significant actor in the Russian intelligence service, SVR, attached to the Russian mission to the United Nations, receives a message from his superiors along with a package requested weaponry.  Petrov’s title is Diplomatic Representative of the United Nations for Human Rights Issues, but for former NYPD homicide detective, John Corey, now on disability after being severely wounded, Petrov is the equivalent to a CIA station chief.  Corey’s concern about Petrov’s background is warranted as he was the son of Vladimir Petrov who once head of SMERSH, the assassination arm of the old KGB, and had been implicated in rubbing out a number of Putin’s political opponents.  For example, the British government recently concluded that Putin ordered the assassination of Alexsander Litvinenko, a former FSB secret service agent in 2006.  Litvinenko had accused Putin of staging apartment bombings in Russia to raise the terror scare to facilitate his rise to power.  He further charged that Putin had ordered the assassination of journalist Anna Politkovskaya who was a thorn in Putin’s side.

Corey’s new job is with the Diplomatic Surveillance Group (DSG) as a contract agent is to follow Petrov’s movements around New York.  He is accompanied by Tess Faraday, a lawyer who supposedly hoped to become an FBI agent or was she a CIA or State Department Intelligence agent?   Whatever the case, she was able to keep up with Corey’s sarcasm and sardonic wit!  As they follow Petrov out to the Hamptons, the Russian vehicle turns into the estate of Georgi Tamorov, a billionaire oligarch thus exceeding the twenty five mile radius that Petrov is allowed from the UN.  As Petrov emerges from his car and enters Tamorov’s mansion, Corey grew concerned as to what Petrov was up to, and in addition he wondered who Tess Faraday really was, and what was she hiding.   No matter what was about to occur it is clear that DeMille has taken advantage of the renewal of the Cold War between the United States and Russia to formulate an interesting great power scenario that Corey will find himself in the middle of.

As DeMille develops the story he returns to a theme exhibited in a previous novel, WILDFIRE, the issue of “loose nukes” from the old Soviet Union.  The reemergence in the plot of “suitcase nukes” as a threat to the United States is very real, and this time it involves Putin’s Russia, not the fear of Islamic extremism.  In his current volume, DeMille does not seem to develop his characters as fully as he has done in previous books which detracts a bit from the overall experience.  To DeMille’s credit, the scenario that he develops is not that farfetched in the current world climate and I hope that American intelligence officials have gamed this type of operation against the United States.  What is important in the real world is that DeMille is pointing out how weak security is in American harbors and what tempting targets they are, and how poorly intelligence agencies communicate with each other to the detriment of the American people.

Overall, DeMille has written another successful John Corey adventure and I assume others will follow in the near future.

For a note from Nelson DeMille visit my website at http://www.docs-books.com

January 2016

I was just reading a capsule review of 2015. I didn’t realize 2015 was that bad, but when you read about it, the year really sucked. I mean, if 2015 was a movie, it would get, like, half a star. If it was a book, nobody would buy it. Anyway, Happy New Year. I hope your Holidays were wonderful, including the eight days of Hanukkah. Yes, I said nine days in my last Newsletter, but that was because my nine-year-old said they told him in school that it had changed to nine days. I see a career in politics for him. Some of my readers were upset about what happened between John Corey and his wife Kate Mayfield in Radiant Angel. Well, things happen. But I can now report that John and Kate are in marriage counseling, and they are working out their problems. John has admitted to being a male chauvinistic pig and a wise ass. Kate has admitted to being a humorless FBI tight-ass. They’re getting in touch with their feelings and making progress, so most likely they will appear together in the next John Corey novel. My next novel, however, will not feature John Corey. I’m introducing a new male lead character whom I have not yet named. Any suggestions? The book, too, is unnamed, but it’s set in Key West and Cuba, as I’ve said, and I’m excited about the subject and the setting. When I was in Cuba in November, I made a good contact, code name Lola, who is providing me with inside information about the underground opposition and also advice on investing my money in Cuba. “Lola” says I can buy a cigar factory for ten thousand American dollars which he asked me to send to him via his cousin “Pablo” in Miami. Pablo emailed me a picture of the cigar factory which looks more like a sugar refinery. I have to think about this. On another subject, my last novel, Radiant Angel, will be issued in trade paperback on January 19. If you haven’t read the hardcover or the eBook, or haven’t listened to the audiobook, maybe it’s time to buy the paperback. No pressure here, but you’d be doing yourself a favor. Trust me. Thanks for all your suggestions about who should play John Corey and Kate Mayfield in the Corey TV series. They were all good picks, especially from those who said I should play John Corey. I’m available. January, as we know, is named after the two-faced Roman god Janus who looks forward and backward, which is easy to do if you have two faces. And this brings me to my book The Quest, in which there is a reference to Janus, which leads one of my characters, Vivian, to quote King George VI’s New Year message to the English people in the darkest year of the war. “I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown. And he replied, Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.” My best wishes to you and yours for a happy, healthy, and peaceful New Year. Sincerely P.S. Please consider sharing this Newsletter with a friend