Can a Wild Fire Make the Grass Greener?

Nelson Demille has been around, writing in the popular fiction action/adventure genre for quite awhile now. Until he fictionalized the controversy over TWA Flight 800, my favorites were The General’s daughter and Up Country. In Night Fall, a story of TWA Flight 800, Nelson brought us John Corey and his wife Kate Mayfield. They return in this thriller and they are just as off-the-reservation as they were then.

John Corey is an ex-NYPD Homicide detective that has become a contract employee of the ATTF (Anti-Terrorist task Force). This is a fictionalized government agency that parallels the real Joint Terrorism Task Force we read about regularly since 9/11. Kate is FBI, assigned to the task force, and his boss. John is an irreverent sort of fellow who finds humor in everything around him. He has a flair for irritating people, particularly his bosses and his wife. He believes rules are made to be broken. Kate is a believer in the FBI, truth, justice, and the American way. She follows the latest directions of her agency and spouts the line. She is also an attorney and was deeply affected by the events of 9/11 as was John. You can read all about that in Night Fall, but enough is repeated in this novel that you don’t need to.

Bain Maddox is a decorated Vietnam veteran who has become a billionaire in the oil world. He is as conservative as one can get. He is the owner of a large private club called the Custer Hill Club. Its membership includes some of the movers and shakers in DC. Harry Muller, another retired NYPD friend, has been assigned a surveillance task to monitor an expected meeting at this reclusive club over the Columbus Day weekend. He disappears and is found dead later, apparently from a hunting accident. John and Kate decide to investigate this death and the reasons for the somewhat unorthodox surveillance. What Harry had discovered was a plan called Project Green which involved a top secret operation called Wild Fire.

In this novel we know most of the story early. The mystery is in watching as the sleuthing skills of John catch up. It is really more of an action/adventure than a mystery and the action and adventure can be heart stopping at times. The story is regularly lightened by the humorous foibles of John and the spousal interactions with Kate. Although some of Nelson Demille’s novels have ended with a twist that leaves us amazed and enlightened, this one does not. The ending is quite predictable, only leaving us to wonder how the ending will be accomplished. There is a twist, but since we were alerted early on it isn’t much of one.

Once again the good guys save the world from a misguided patriot and nuclear destruction is avoided; sort of ho-hum. The writing and character development are okay but not up to Mr. Demille’s best work. The story has its high spots, mostly early. The dialogues is funny and the characters seem real, if a little bigger than life. This is one I enjoyed reading, but will not save to read again.