Wild Fire
by Nelson DeMille
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Book Reviews of Wild Fire
Book Review: Another Great John Corey Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
A secret cabal of America's top brass meets at the Custer Hill Gun Club, run by rich oilman Bain Maddox in the Adirondack Mountains, the national security advisor, a deputy secretary of defense, a member of the joint chiefs and some other big wigs, have decided once and for all to put an end to Islamic terrorism. They know about "Wildfire", a top secret plan to retaliate against the whole Islamic world if there is a nuclear terrorist attack against the United States, sort of like MAD (mutually assured destruction) during the Cold War.
However, Maddox and his pals don't want to wait for America to be nuked to end Islam. They want to bring about "Wildfire" now. So, they have their own top secret plan, one called, "Project Green". They plan to take out L.A. and San Francisco with two suitcase Nukes they've acquired on the black market.
Also at this meeting was ATTF investigator Harry Muller. He was caught by the bad guys and killed. And this is where John Corey comes in. His investigation of Muller's murder leads him to Maddox and his gun club cronies. However, Maddox is a formidable foe. He's like the all American hero. Wounded in Vietnam, a chest full of medals, brilliant, wealthy and insane, of course. He's a man who doesn't play by the rules, but then neither does John Corey in this book that will have you reading like you've never read before. I don't know how much farther Nelson DeMille can take Corey, but I suspect we're going to find out. This is a brilliant book.
Book Review: I had to rate this book zero
Summary: 1 Stars
I've not run across a book quite as boring... and truly not one as irritatingly boring. Don't get me wrong; the idea behind the plot is and interesting one. But this thing just dragged on, filled to the brim with snappy repartee mostly from the main character; often from his wife. Sheesh! Nothing moves. Almost all conversation. And incredibly dumb conversations. Nobody talks that way..not even the author who must've worked like crazy to come up with that silliness. The hero is supposed to be quite intelligent, but talks like an immature idiot. The rest of the characters are poorly developed. The scenes scantily set. Easy to read the sentences, however, because they're quite short, and use 8th grade words. I take that back - I saw one word that was 10th grade level. Not a good read at all. I worked hard to get through Wild Fire, but finally had to quit at page 186 of a 519 page book. Why did I buy that anyway?
I've never written a review before. But today I just had to say "don't waste your time". Bring back Tom Clancey and John Grisham!
Book Review: You call this a thriller!?
Summary: 1 Stars
This was probably the cheapest, weakest, most pathetic attempt at a thriller I've run across, and I wouldn't be surprised if DeMille just dashed this off simply to earn a paycheck. Some demented right-winger decides he's going to decisively win the War On Terror back during the pre-game hysteria for Iraq by framing Islam for his own nuking of LA and San Francisco, which will also somehow help the nation "regain lost honor" by scaring the Vietnamese government into surrendering to us, and our alleged hero John Corey and his wife are too busy having a romantic working weekend in Long Island to notice. The villain practically advertises his intentions to Corey at every possible turn, but Corey would rather complain about France's refusal to join the Coalition Of The Willing to notice. Don't just save your money, save your time and leave this on the shelf in the library rather than reading it.Book Review: Compelling Premise, But Gets a Bit Long in the Tooth
Summary: 3 Stars
I generally like DeMille's books, and his John Corey character (also featured in this one) amuses me, but this book was not my favorite. I thought the post-9/11 nuclear terrorism premise was compelling, but the book got long. Also, the reader knows the entire plot within the first few chapters of the book, so essentially for the rest of the book we are just waiting for John Corey and his wife (FBI agent Kate Mayfield) to figure it out too. This means there are many conversations where they are trying to figure out things we already know, and it gets tiresome after awhile. I found myself skipping pages of dialogue for that reason, obviously not a great sign in a thriller.
So it's a decent read with an interesting premise, but not great overall.
Book Review: Not much to recommend
Summary: 2 Stars
I run hot and cold with this author. He is very funny when he's got his main character wisecracking about other people. For this reason I really liked The Gold Coast and Plum Island. But I had to put this one down after several chapters that alternate between men sitting in a room expounding their silly theories, and the protagonist spending time with his girlfriend. I guess, and I'm truly guessing here, that the silly theories are meant to be so terrifying that it would create drama just to have people talk about them. Wrong. I would have given it one star based on that, but I credited him an extra star because he can put a sentence together well. I recommend you avoid this one.