Nelson DeMille | |
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Born | Nelson Richard DeMille August 23, 1943 Jamaica, Queens, New York [1] |
Pen name |
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Occupation | Novelist |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Hofstra University |
Genre |
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Notable works |
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Spouse | Sandy DeMille |
Children | 3 |
Website | |
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Nelson Richard DeMille (born August 23, 1943) is an American author of action adventure and suspense novels. His novels include Plum Island , The Charm School , and The Gold Coast . DeMille has also written under the pen names Jack Cannon, Kurt Ladner, Ellen Kay and Brad Matthews.
DeMille was born in New York City on August 23, 1943. He moved as a child with his family to Long Island. He attended Elmont Memorial High School where he played football and ran track.
After spending three years at Hofstra University, he joined the Army and attended Officer Candidate School. He was a First Lieutenant in the United States Army (1966–69) and saw action as an infantry platoon leader with the First Cavalry Division in Vietnam. He was decorated with the Air Medal, Bronze Star, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, and was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge.
DeMille returned to the States and went back to Hofstra University, where he received his degree in political science and history. He has three children, Lauren, Alexander, and James. He resides in Garden City, New York.
DeMille’s earlier books were NYPD detective novels. His first major novel was By the Rivers of Babylon, published in 1978 and still in print, as are all his succeeding novels. He is a member of American Mensa, the Authors Guild, and past president of the Mystery Writers of America. He is also a member of the International Thriller Writers, who honored him as 2015 ThrillerMaster of the Year. DeMille holds three honorary doctorates: Doctor of Humane Letters from Hofstra University, Doctor of Literature from Long Island University, and Doctor of Humane Letters from Dowling College.
DeMille is the author of By the Rivers of Babylon , Cathedral , The Talbot Odyssey , Word of Honor , The Charm School , The Gold Coast , The General’s Daughter , Spencerville , Plum Island , The Lion’s Game , Up Country , Night Fall , Wild Fire , The Gate House , The Lion , The Panther , The Quest, Radiant Angel , and The Cuban Affair . He also co-authored Mayday with Thomas Block and The Deserter and Blood Lines with his son, Alex DeMille, and has contributed short stories, book reviews, and articles to magazines and newspapers both online and in print. [2]
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 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 , Night Fall , and Radiant Angel . His most recent novels have followed two main characters, John Corey (starring in seven 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 . [3]
DeMille spends approximately 16 months creating each of his novels due to the extensive research involved, and because he writes them longhand on legal pads with a number one pencil. [4]
John Sutter, Susan Sutter, Felix Mancuso, and several other characters of The Gold Coast reappear in the sequel The Gate House.
Paul Brenner, a criminal investigator/ Special Agent 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. In the latter novel he has retired from the Army and works as a Special Agent for the US State Department's Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). His girlfriend is US Army CID investigator/ Special Agent Cynthia Sunhill.
Colonel Karl Hellman is Brenner's superior officer at the CID. He appeared in The General's Daughter and Up Country.
NYPD Sergeant Joe Ryker, a tired, no-nonsense detective assigned to the NYPD Detective Bureau, whose natural understanding of his environment gives him an enhanced instinct for tracking down criminals. A loner, he carries two weapons: a standard police snub-nosed .38 Special revolver in an ankle holster, and a .357 Magnum revolver carried in a shoulder-holster. He appeared in the first six novels by DeMille. All were republished in 1989 bearing DeMille's nom-de-plume "Jack Cannon".
Both co-authored with DeMille's son, Alex DeMille.
Army Criminal Investigation Agents Scott Brodie and Maggie Taylor first join forces on a mission in Venezuela to locate and detain an infamous Army deserter, and then in Berlin to find the killer of a CID colleague.
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.
Novel Adapted | Year of Adaptation | Film/TV | Extra Information |
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The General's Daughter | 1999 | Film – Paramount | Starring John Travolta |
Word of Honor | 2003 | TV – TNT | Starring Don Johnson |
Mayday | 2005 | TV – CBS | Starring Aidan Quinn |
Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchačevič ze Schluderpacheru, known professionally as Herbert Lom, was a Czech-British actor with a career spanning over 60 years. His cool demeanour and precise, elegant elocution saw him cast as criminals or suave villains in his younger years, and professional men and nobles as he aged. Highly versatile, he also proved a skilled comic actor in The Pink Panther franchise, playing the beleaguered Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus in seven films.
Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC) is a United States federal research facility dedicated to the study of foreign animal diseases of livestock. It is a national laboratory of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Directorate for Science and Technology (S&T), and operates as a partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The facility's director is Dr. Larry Barrett.
Plum Island is an island in the town of Southold in Suffolk County, New York. The island is situated in Gardiners Bay, east of Orient Point, off the eastern end of the North Fork coast of Long Island. It is about 3 miles (4.8 km) long and 1 mile (1.6 km) wide at its widest point.
James Lee Burke is an American author, best known for his Dave Robicheaux series. He has won Edgar Awards for Black Cherry Blues (1990) and Cimarron Rose (1998), and has also been presented with the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. The Robicheaux character has been portrayed twice on screen, first by Alec Baldwin and then Tommy Lee Jones.
The General's Daughter is a 1999 American mystery thriller film directed by Simon West from a screenplay co-written by Christopher Bertolini and William Goldman, based on the novel of the same name by Nelson DeMille. It stars John Travolta, Madeleine Stowe, James Cromwell, Timothy Hutton, Clarence Williams III, and James Woods. The plot concerns the mysterious death of the daughter of a prominent Army general. The General's Daughter received negative reviews from critics, but was a box-office success, grossing $149.7 million worldwide against an estimated budget of $60 to $95 million.
The United States Army Military Police Corps (USAMPC) is the uniformed law enforcement branch of the United States Army. Investigations are conducted by Military Police Investigators under the Provost Marshal General's Office or Special Agents of the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID).
Night Fall is a 2004 novel by American author Nelson DeMille.
The Lion's Game is a 2000 novel by American author Nelson DeMille. It is the second of DeMille's novels to feature the detective John Corey, now working as a contractor for the fictional FBI Anti-Terrorist Task Force in New York City. It is a sequel to Plum Island and is followed by the 2004 book Night Fall. The book also briefly mentions events from other DeMille novels like The Charm School and The Gold Coast, that aren't strictly part of the Corey-universe.
Plum Island is a 1997 novel by American author Nelson DeMille. This is the first novel to feature recurring character, detective John Corey. Plum Island is followed by the 2000 novel, The Lion's Game.
The Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID), previously known as the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command (USACIDC) is the primary federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of the Army. Its primary function is to investigate felony crimes and serious violations of military law and the United States Code within the US Army. The division is an independent federal law enforcement agency with investigative autonomy; CID special agents, both military and civilian, report through the CID chain of command to the CID Director, who reports directly to the Under Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of the Army. Unlike their counterparts at OSI and NCIS, Army CID does not have primary counterintelligence responsibilities.
Wild Fire is a 2006 novel by American author, Nelson DeMille. It is the fourth of DeMille's novels to feature Detective John Corey, now working as a contractor for the fictional FBI Anti-Terrorist Task Force in New York City. The novel is the sequel to Night Fall and takes place approximately one year later. Wild Fire is followed by DeMille’s 2010 novel, The Lion.
The Charm School is a 1988 spy thriller novel by American author Nelson DeMille, set in the Soviet Union.
The General's Daughter is a 1992 novel by the American author Nelson DeMille. The novel introduces protagonist Paul Brenner, who is also featured in DeMille's novels Up Country and The Panther. The General's Daughter was made into a 1999 film of the same name, starring John Travolta and Madeleine Stowe. In the movie, Captain Ann Campbell's first name was changed to Elisabeth.
The Gate House is a 2008 novel by American author, Nelson DeMille. It is the sequel to The Gold Coast.
Up Country is a 2002 thriller novel by American author Nelson DeMille. It is the second novel featuring protagonist Paul Brenner.
The Lion is a 2010 novel by American author Nelson DeMille. It is the fifth of DeMille's novels to feature Detective John Corey, now working as a contractor for the fictional FBI Anti-Terrorist Task Force in New York City. The novel is the sequel to The Lion's Game. The Lion is followed by DeMille's 2012 novel, The Panther.
The Panther is a 2012 novel by American author Nelson DeMille. It is the sixth of DeMille's novels to feature Detective John Corey, now working as a contractor for the fictional FBI Anti-Terrorist Task Force in New York City. The novel is the sequel to The Lion. The Panther is followed by DeMille's 2015 novel, Radiant Angel. Also featured in this novel is DeMille's other fictional character, Paul Brenner, who appears in The General's Daughter and Up Country.
Radiant Angel is a 2015 novel by American author Nelson DeMille. It is the seventh of DeMille's novels to feature Detective John Corey, now working as a contractor for the fictional FBI Anti-Terrorist Task Force in New York City. The novel is the sequel to The Panther. Radiant Angel debuted as No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. It was released in England as A Quiet End.
Alan Jacobson is an American author of mystery, suspense, thriller and action novels. Among his works are the FBI profiler Karen Vail series and the OPSIG Team Black series, as well as stand alone books and short stories.
The Cuban Affair is Nelson DeMille's 20th novel. DeMille had earlier novels win a place on the New York Times bestseller list. According to Publishers Weekly, Simon & Schuster had scheduled its release for September 17, 2017.