Posted on 10/13/2004 1:41:35 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
Nelson DeMille's new book may interest some people here at Free Republic. I know Nelson and his books have been discussed here from time to time in the past.
Popular author (and Vietnam veteran) Nelson DeMille has written a new book, Night Fall, set to come out at the end of November. It apparently goes right after the TWA Flight 800 cover-up.
Here are some reviews and a book description from Amazon:
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
John Corey, former NYPD homicide detective, assigned to the Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force in the pre-millennium 90's, makes a return appearance in a thoughtful novel offering an alternative to the government's "official" position on what really happened to TWA Flight 800, which crashed off the Long Island coast in the summer of 1996.
Accompanying his wife Kate to a memorial marking the five-year anniversary of the crash, Corey's curiosity is aroused by what appears to be a concerted effort by Kate's fellow federal agents to keep him--and her--from investigating a case that appears to be closed. Corey's detecting skills lead him to two witnesses to the crash, who were enjoying an adulterous interlude on the beach at the time the plane went down--and videotaping their sexual escapades while what appears to be a terrorist missile attack takes place in the background.
What ratchets up the tension in this capably written thriller is what the reader knows but Corey doesn't as he heads for a showdown with those responsible for the official cover-up as the clock ticks down to the morning of September 11, 2001.
DeMille's deft touch with a riddle wrapped in an enigma--what really happened to Flight 800--makes his "what if" scenario a more than plausible theory; you don't have to believe in conspiracies or government cover-ups to find his latest engrossing, entertaining, and enlightening. --Jane Adams
From Publishers Weekly
Demille's latest is sure to be a #1 bestseller—but it's also sure to be controversial. The book is centered on an investigation of the July 1996 crash of flight TWA 800, "when... a big Boeing 747 bound for Paris with 230 passengers and crew on board, exploded off the Atlantic coast of Long Island, sending all 230 souls to their deaths."
In July 2001, Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force detective John Corey, a brilliant, smart-ass detective last seen in Plum Island and The Lion's Game, accompanies his FBI agent wife, Kate Mayfield, to the fifth anniversary of the disaster. John, whose wife worked the crash in 1996, understands that Kate has brought him along because she doesn't buy the official finding of "mechanical failure" and wants him to mount his own investigation.
There are 200 eyewitnesses who swear they saw a missile lift into the clear night sky and bring down the airplane, a charge dismissed by the CIA as an optical illusion. Though Corey is warned away from the investigation, like any good fictional detective, this only serves to spur him on. He uncovers evidence that a man and a woman, on the beach that fateful night videotaping their adulterous affair, inadvertently caught on tape the missile hitting the plane.
The book is primarily about John tracking down the couple, but as the end nears, readers will begin to understand the perilous direction in which Demille is leading them. The pages will turn in a blur as a feeling of dread grows, until the end comes and one's worst fears are confirmed. Readers will think about this one for a long time.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
In The Lion's Game (1999), DeMille left open the possibility for a sequel, and here it is. Former NYPD cop John Corey now works for the Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force, but, no, the story is not about our current war on terror--at least, not exactly.
The book opens in the summer of 1986 with two seemingly innocent characters witnessing the real-life crash of TWA Flight 800 over Long Island Sound. Cut to the fifth anniversary of the crash, which finds John Corey and his wife, FBI agent Kate Mayfield, who was on the team that investigated Flight 800, still not convinced that mechanical failure caused the 747 to explode in the sky, especially given the fact that hundreds of witnesses saw a white streak of light ascending toward the aircraft prior to the crash. Could terrorism have played a role? Is there a government cover-up? The no-nonsense John doesn't usually buy conspiracy theories, but this time the facts drive him and his wife to unofficially reopen the case, much to the chagrin of some powerful people.
By setting the story during the summer of 2001, before the events of 9/11 made us forget Flight 800, DeMille underscores both the many unanswered questions about multiple plots against the U.S and the turf wars that have resulted in miscues among the various intelligence agencies. A timely and intense thriller starring a thoroughly likable hero, whose final scene promises yet another return.
Mary Frances Wilkens Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Book Description
On a Long Island beach at dusk, Bob Mitchell and Janet Whitney conduct their illicit love affair in front of a video camera, set to record each steamy moment. Suddenly a terrible explosion lights up the sky. Grabbing the camera, the couple flees as approaching police cars speed toward the scene. Five years later, the crash of Flight 800 has been attributed to a mechanical mal-function. But for John Corey and Kate Mayfield, both members of the Elite Anti-terrorist Task Force, the case is not closed.
Suspecting a cover-up at the highest levels and disobeying orders, they set out to find the one piece of evidence that will prove the truth about what really happened to Flight 800-the videotape that shows a couple making love on the beach and the last moments of the doomed airliner.
(( ping ))
(( ping ))
Peter Lance has it right on TWA Flight 800, IMO.
Lance says shoe-bomb or seat bomb....but the book is nearly incoherent to the reader not already familiar with what happened.
The funniest author in America today. "The Gold Coast" is my favorite book of alltime.
I want to know more about this. I have some kind of fear of flying which started with this one. It blew out of proportions with Sept 11 and the little known plane crash in NY just a few days after that.
Nelson is one HELLUVA a writer. His novels have caused me many bad days at work from reading until 3 AM!
It was definately terrorism, Islamic terrorism, and Clinton got a pass. But Clinton was allowed to get a pass by others in "the government", so he's not alone.
I read one of his books just after 9/11. Actually has started it just before. It was almost too much to take in context with reality.
this is the first book I read by De Mille...
http://www.nelsondemille.net/babylon.htm
In it, the passengers fight back. I was impressed, because in those days passengers and people kidnapped were told by experts to never, never fight back, because "negotiators" would get them free....
This guy is a great writer. His climaxes are always a tad disappointing, but what the heck. His male characters especially are engaging, witty, and the plots usually gripping.
"His climaxes are always a tad disappointing . . ."
You mean realistic? Sort of like life? ;)
Dude, try Carl Hiassen...Strip Tease, Stormy Weather, Tourist Season....funny, funny stuff.
And, I do know eyewitnesses (two) who saw the upward streaking trail. They are sober, mature non-political people who know exactly what they saw.
Night Fall
Up Country
The Lion's Game
Plum Island
Spencerville
The General's Daughter
The Gold Coast
The Charm School
Word of Honor
The Talbot Odyssey
Cathedral
By the Rivers of Babylon
Mayday
The Plot Thickens
I love his combination of knowledge of the events he bases his novels on, humor, ability to extend stuff to logical conclusions, and his memorable characters.
My favorite...PLUM ISLAND. This one, really getting into flight 800 sounds like a perfect plot for him to develop.
And, while you're reading authors who satirize Florida's chaos, you can't top Edna Buchanan!
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