Great book by a great author. My wife says it's the best one he's
written & we loved the Charm School.

Reading this right after DeMille's "Night Fall" was a bit disappointing. The novel gets somewhat long in the tooth. The basic premise for the story is different & very good. Unfortunately we find what the evil goings on are to be by sitting through a long meeting toward the beginning. The rest of the story just plays out afterward. DeMille writes with a very good tongue in cheek humor. It goes overboard in this one. The hero, John Corey, is a bit too acidic in his humor & sarcasm. If he were real, someone would have cleaned his clock long ago; including his wife. The plot is very evil & the fact that John & his wife take down all the bad guys by themselves before outside help arrives is just over the top & just would not happen. The bad guys who survive & are high ranking government officials just fade away, their deeds glossed over by the government which is so predictable. It's readable, but by no means one of the author's best works. Oh, one more thing. Mr. DeMille, please put Ted Nash somewhere so he need not surface yet again. He's gotten tiring, having more lives than a cat.

I have read most of DeMille novels. The early ones: Plum Island, the Gold Coast, the General's Daughter, and later, the Lion's Game, to mention a few, were all terrific and rated at least 4 stars. His later novels have really been disappointing.
While John Corey is a real likeable character, DeMille, in this novel, stretches the limits of one's patience. Even the story line here is not very original. At over 400 pages long, this novel could easily have been condensed into a good short story, say 50-75 pages. The huge amount of useless dialague and descriptive material in this novel is just a waste of time and is to be skimmed over. How any one could rate it a 4 or 5 star, is really beyond me.

John Corey is one of my favorite characters ever (and I'm not a detective novel reader per se - plus he IS now in the FBI anti-terrorism unit). I find his quick quips of sarcastic humor and irreverence give me a good laugh every time I sit down for a read, even while the plot is making me anxious. The story is sufficiently fast-paced - I was tense as the dastardly plot unfolded. Who CARES if it's improbable - I want to be entertained and learn something at the same time. The story is totally satisfying. For me, chuckles from the dialog popped up constantly - often out loud (much to the annoyance of anyone around me, since I was compelled to read this book every spare minute - in the doctor's waiting area; in the car when waiting for kids or husband; at the breakfast table; on my lunch break; etc.). PLEASE - if you want a good, fast read, treat yourself! I even got my non-reading sister to listen to the audio version while on the typical long drives in the LA area, and she often had to sit in her car in the garage until there was a good point to tear herself away. She is now looking for "Plum Island" on CD. If you are new to the John Corey character, and enjoy this story, read "Plum Island" (which is the book that got me hooked) and continue through all the John Corey stories. You'll have several to look forward to reading. Alas, I have to wait for the NEXT terrific DeMille novel featuring Detective Corey.

Well done, Mr. DeMille. You manage to save my father (John Corey) and make him the hero ONCE again! If I had one wish in the world, it would be to have you write my biography!

This book really got moving the last 60 pages!

Oddly I enjoyed the book but it could have been SO much better. I think it could have been half the length. So much banter that I ended up skipping pages to get toe more "guts".

It would have made a great movie but as a book it was sometime tedious - sort of like Tom Clancy books are when he delves into minute detail on something that is useless information.

STILL - I read the entire thing and was entertained so I have mixed feelings - I just kept thinking "get on with it".

Dialogue was a little over the top. In all her other appearances, Kate Mayfield never had as bad a vocabulary as she did in this one. DeMille seemed to be trying to drop enough F-bombs to rival Tony Montana. Looking foward to his next one which is a sequel to Gold Coast.

Although the plot of "Wildfire" is a bit implausible, DeMille's writing made the story move along at a fast clip. This is what I have always liked about him as an author. I've read most of his books, and their action-packed plotlines never fail to keep me entertained. And John Corey cracks me up, although I agree that his humor wears thin after a while, especially at the end.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book but like other reviewers, I think that DeMille basically phoned in the ending. It was hackneyed and totally predictable, quite a let-down. There was a lot more the author could have done than resort to the usual James Bond last-minute plot foiling. It was so clumsy I wondered if maybe he actually came up with the idea back in high school and resurrected it to meet a deadline.

I did find some questionable elements in this story. Kate is a one-dimensional character and mostly exists only as John's sidekick/sex partner. She certainly doesn't act like she is his boss. She's basically his gun-totin' "little woman". Irritating. I think it would be better if she was just left out of the story entirely.

Also, I wondered why, facing an imminent nuclear disaster, Corey continued to be so cavalier about the situation. Taken at face value, this was a foolhardy gamble on his part on behalf of the WORLD. He should have involved others much sooner, or at least have had a better plan than to go to Madox's for supper and "play it by ear".

And I REALLY didn't buy that Ted guy showing up. What was the purpose of that?

Nevertheless, I gave this book 4 stars because it was fast-paced and fun to read- I looked forward to reading it every day. It had a high fun factor that, for me, allows some forgiveness of clumsy details.

This is easily one of the worst books I have ever read. The writing is sophomoric and the characters, especially the protagonist, are totally unlikeable. The dialogue is ham-fisted and the main character's attempts at humour had me wishing that John Corey died in a fire within the first 100 pages with the other 500 pages left simply blank. It would have been a much better novel had this been the case.

It seems clear that the target market for this sort of writing are dumpy middle-aged white guys who rush into the airport book store at the last minute to find some distraction before catching a flight from New York to Miami. How else do you explain the apparent success of this author?

The plot is totally implausible and the motivations for the characters are weak and illogical. In the early stages of the book, an ATTF agent is sent on a surveillance mission and is kidnapped by the bad guys who are about to launch their master plan to destroy the Middle East. "

"Hmmm...let's see guys, how do we ensure that our plans are undetectable and don't attract too much attention from the authorities. Hey, I know! We'll kidnap and kill the federal agent assigned to check up on us!" Huh?

Reading this book is a waste of time and we are all dumber for its existence.

I am a fan of Nelson Demille and have read most of his books. I have read a few of the reviews other people have written and wondered if we read the same book. It is not important to me if the plot is feasible, I just thought it was a great read.

Wild Fire

Nelson DeMille's greatest accomplishment as a writer must surely be his ability to continue to not merely write books about John Corey, but to actually continue have them published. As a writer, I have issues and difficulties in sharing works I create that do not reflect my sense of taste and judgment. Mr. DeMille does a great job when writing a fast-paced, forward moving story about utterly absurd circumstance through thoroughly unbelievable characters exhibiting impossibly heroic character traits. This has got to be an awesome achievement for any writer. Like they say, nothing succeeds like success, and DeMille's numbers certainly attest to the fact that there are thousands of people willing to suspend disbelief- and even simple good taste- long enough to finish a Corey Story. Or perhaps we need to invoke H. L. Mencken's words about "nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public".

And I am among them. Why? I ask myself the same question every time I hear Corey re-direct his inner dialog narrative with an "Anyway.." Although to be fair, since the first portion of this book involve the set-up characters, I was spared an "Anyway. . ." for 64 pages. To my dismay, I in turn became more aware of the inability of Mr. Corey to describe a situation involving multiple objects without ending each thought with, "and so forth". I never knew I was a stickler for the irritating quirks of a lazy writer, but there you go.

And to call De Mille lazy is certainly an affront, for cranking out 706 pages to tell this tale bespeaks the sheer labor that went into it, merely with the simple task of setting that many words to paper. Truman Capote: "That's not writing, that's typing".

I have read nearly all of DeMilles books, and did enjoy several and felt they deserve better mention, but not at this time. In "Wild Fire", I enjoyed the realization of an absurd fascist fantasy, if you will, a voyeuristic peek at the racist inside us all as Corey struggles with his conscience and probably loses, though we can only assume. Even though truth and justice and the American Way ultimately prevail, (well, OK, frontier justice) the reader is left with what may be the author's feeling that the destruction of San Francisco and Los Angeles would be worth it in exchange for a world sanitized of "Muslim persons". As if. Now, I was pulling for Las Vegas as a target, so when SF caught the vote to vanish I really withdrew my reader's support and just waited for the inevitably disappointing showdown.

Perhaps in the next installment Mr. DeMille will entertain us with the tale of Kate and John as they become global fugitives eluding the Black Helicopters, Islamo-fascists and probably a clone army of Ted Nash. I can't wait.

This is another very good novel by one of those writers that above everything else has the ability to hold the reader's attention without letting go. Although there are a few points in this lengthy novel at which the technical details may get a little overwhelming, the final result is still extremely positive; this is one griping and thought-provoking story. The fact that this is a work of fiction that has many aspects that resemble reality, and many others that seem plausible, helps increase its interest level. Then, there is the main character, who is the person in charge to narrate the vast majority of the events and that provides us with a full demonstration of how good is the humor that DeMille delivers.

Faithful readers of this author have probably come across the character of John Corey and his wife Kate Mayfield in the past. He is an ex-NYPD detective that is now working in the FBI and can appreciate the nuances that come with having your wife as a superior officer at work. In this case, when John's friend and coworker, Harry Muller, goes missing while on assignment, John and Kate quickly get involved in the case, which has to do with a ruthless and explosive plan to change the world dynamics.

This novel will be appreciated mostly by people that have enjoyed the John Corey past novels, because if you like his personality, you are almost half-way there. John is an abrasive guy, who speaks his mind, has a never-ending stream of sarcastic comments and hammers his point home relentlessly. In this novel, I could not help but laugh out loud at his obsession about bears. I have to warn readers though, since this novel presents a scenario in which there is a bunch of right-wing extremists that will go to great lengths to achieve their goals, and the author tries to present this story as plausible. If you are someone that will be bothered by this concept, it may be wise to pass on this novel. For the rest of us, this is another one of those works by DeMille that are worth exploring.

From a suspense standpoint, there really wasn't any. Several factors contributed to that. First, the plot was so heinous that at no time did I ever believe the plan would come to fruition. Factor in the fact that the 'secret' of what the plot was about, and who was involved, was let out of the bag so early, and there was little momentum to carry the reader forward.

Secondly, the story was limited geographically. If DeMille could have moved things around a little, possibly taking us to the locations of the intended targets, he could have added some spice to the storyline.

Finally, John Corey's wisecracking personality tends to take the edge off the story. It's difficult for the reader to take the threat seriously when Corey is firing off zingers left and right.

So, based on what I written so far, how can I rate the book four stars? First & foremost, the concept was thought provoking. We live in a world today where anything is possible, and while it's difficult to admit, most of us could agree that an individual, or small group of people can, and likely will eventually, do something this sinister. We only have to look back at the origins of WWII to realize how susceptible the world is to a madman. Factor in the advances in technology and it's a sobering thought indeed.

Another reason I enjoyed the book is, that while I had a very good idea on how the story would end, I did enjoy the trip. The story may have lacked suspense, but it was still informative and well-paced. And while he may not be the most complex character in fiction, I still enjoy many of Corey's one-liners.

DeMille's done much better, but this is still worth a read.

I'm a huge DeMille fan - but Wild Fire fails on many levels.
Let's start with the total implausibility of the plot.
DeMille says such a plan as Wild Fire probably exists - but the book fails to make me a believer.
Let's continue with the sheer stupidity of the main characters, whom you are supposed to respect for brazenly rushing into danger, rather than following protocol, and with total disrespect for their adversaries AND their collegues.
But I can live with all that.
It's just that the book starts weakly, with no real suspense or drama, and goes downhill from there.
The last straw - for the main bad guy to explain to the people who he knows are trying to foil his plans, exactly what his plans are, and how they can indeed foil them; to lead them around at gunpoint instead of just simply blowing them away - well, I guess he never saw a James Bond movie or an episode of Get Smart.
Sheer stupidity.
Sorry Nelson - I love your other work.

OK, you've got some idea of the plot from some of the other comments. Well here's a novel twist - the baddies are a right wing clique comprised of the usual collection of generals, senior government guys, half the CIA, shadowy businessmen.Has this ever been done before? Chief baddie is ...wait for it...a WASP owner of an oil company. Gasp! The audacity! It doesn't say so in the book but we can probably assume he is also a Bush fundraiser and shoots polar bears out of season. These evil geniuses helpfully explain their plan to a captured FBI guy (why?) a la James Bond. This isn't a good move on DEmille's part as their reasoning is flimsy to put it mildly.
Now for our hero, John Corey who is partnered with his wife. Fortunately they live in a world where law enforcement agencies evidently think that husband wife partners is a really good idea. Corey blazes new territory in fiction. He is a street cop, a maverick, uses gut feel, gets results, hard talking, wise cracking. This has never been done before....wait...never mind. He is obnoxious to virtually everyone he meets, all are foils to his razor wit. Of course everyone else in law enforcement are incompetent "suits" and it goes without saying that he and his wife are light years ahead of the combined forces of US law enforcement. It also goes without saying that he is on his own - he is his own man,pushes the envelope, a maverick etc.Have you got the picture now? In case you haven't you will be reminded several times per page. If he is given an order he does the opposite, swears freely at his boss and proceeds to run rings law enforcement guys and right winger plotters alike. Oh and he only has two days to unravel this dastardly plot whilst evading his colleagues using only his own resources.
Everything about this book screams lazy writing. It is however one of those rare books where you hope against hope that our hero is killed off, horribly.

DeMille is really hot in this story and gives John Corey and wife Kate the fire to fight fire. For me this book was a winner with a story that kept me reading every chance that I got. John Corey has his great sense of humor here and I found myself laughing out loud many times even though John and his Wife were in the business of trying to save the world from the worst evil that you can imagine. I am from Upstate New York and have been to Saranac Lake/ Raybrook area many times and Corey is right on and humorous in depicting Adirondack Life and the people that live there. I have always enjoyed DeMille's novels because they mix reality with fiction very well. "WOW" and this one is one of the best with an ending that for the last 100 pages or so, I could not put it down.

If you like Nelson Demille, You'll like this book. Quick, funny, entertaing. John Corey at his best.

This is a great read at several levels. I really had a hard time putting this one down, and while it deals with the most important danger to the West -- Islam -- and thoughts on how to deal with it, his barbs at PC thinking throughout the book are truly hilarious. For a well-paced action thriller, you can't top Wild Fire. Tip: start reading this at the beginning of a long weekend!

DeMille's lastest novel is thinly veiled bigotry masquerading as a torn-from the headlines thriller. But it is also just a terribly plotted piece of fiction. DeMille used to write edge of your seat thrillers that were consistent crowd pleasers. But apparently with the end of the Cold War he has lapsed into writing long-winded tracts which suggest that it just might be a good idea to commit religious/ethnic/racial genocide on a level never-before contemplated. But beyond this obvious flaw, the novel is simply poorly crafted. The characters' dialogue rarely rises beyond an exchange of "bleep you's" and the novel gives away any twists or suspense in the very beginning of the book so that all the reader is left to anticipate is just how many off-handed racist or sexist diatribes DeMille will be able to fit into the mouths of his heroes before the bad guy finally reaps his reward. Most astonishingly, it is clear that DeMille believes that the bad man deserves death not attempting to aid the nuclear annihilation of an entire area of the globe, but rather because he had the temerity to kill a friend of DeMille's main character. I only wish I had followed my impulse and thrown this racist, sexist garbage away when I got off the plane.

I'm a diehard Nelson DeMille fan and have been buying his novels on the day of release since I discovered his writing. Wild Fire has all the sarcasm and stoic persistance I've come to expect. Maybe CIA Ted can stay dead this time?

Cheers! Mark

This book was not that good at all. Detained Differences by J. Robert Rowe is by far a much better read. The book by Rowe is of Detainee operations in Afghanistan. Go out and buy it now! You wont be disapointed!

DeMille's lastest novel is thinly veiled neo-conservative rhetoric masquerading as a story. But it is also just a terribly plotted piece of fiction. DeMille used to write edge of your seat thrillers that were consistent crowd pleasers. But apparently with the end of the Cold War he has lapsed into writing long-winded tracts which suggest that it just might be a good idea to commit religious/ethnic/racial genocide on a level never-before contemplated. But beyond this obvious flaw, the novel is simply poorly crafted. The characters' dialogue rarely rises beyond an exchange of "bleep you's" and the novel gives away any twists or suspense in the very beginning of the book so that all the reader is left to anticipate is just how many off-handed racist or sexist diatribes DeMille will be able to fit into the mouths of his heroes before the bad guy finally reaps his reward. Most astonishingly, it is clear that DeMille believes that the bad man deserves death not attempting to aid the nuclear annihilation of an entire area of the globe, but rather because he had the temerity to kill a friend of DeMille's main character. I only wish I had followed my impulse and thrown this racist, sexist garbage away when I got off the plane.

This is a man's book through and through. Tough talking and very funny. Also unapologetic about the fact that is is a man's book. Very enjoyable.

Wild Fire by Nelson DeMille, feature's John Corey, an ex-NYPD detective and a member of the Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force who makes his fourth appearance in a DeMille novel. In Wild Fire, a fellow agent is found dead while on a surveillance mission, John Corey and FBI agent Kate Mayfield (his wife,) travel to New York to investigate the suspicious Custer Hill Gun Club. But shortly after arriving stories become conflicting when they meet the brilliantly insane Bain Madox, a Vietnam veteran and owner of the gun club.

Bain Madox has a grandiose solution to put an end to the conflicts tearing the Middle East asunder. Corey and Mayfield must stay alive long enough to prevent this diabolical nuclear scheme -- which will launch the world into utter chaos! Will this stiffed-lip, obnoxious duo thwart this madman's schemes? Or, has John Corey made his final joke in the face of danger?

Nelson DeMille is a member of The Authors Guild, the Mystery Writers of America, and American Mensa--and with Wild Fire, Demille proves that after fourteen novels he is still able to write a worthwhile and suspenseful detective thriller in which the heroes dispense justice in an ambiguous world!!! I would also recommend, if you missed reading TIN0 GEORGIOU'S masterpiece--THE FATES, go and read it. With fascinating and brilliantly created characters in `THE FATES' coupled with two intertwining plots makes for a completely enjoyable and page-turning read.

Other recommended titles: The Fates: A Novel

This was a fun book, but I think Nelson DeMille should exercise his skills on different characters and plots for a change. John Corey is getting a bit tired; give him - and us - a break and bring back some of the brilliance and power demonstrated in so many other great novels (Charm School, Rivers of Babylon, The Gold Coast, . . . among many).

Nelson DeMille cranks out another dime a dozen pop fiction bestseller a la James Patterson or Michael Connelley, an average book to fill mindless time if you don't mind your literature with the subtlety of a shotgun and the artistry of a shovel. A great book for the 81% of the %90 of people who mistakenly believe they are in the top %10 percent in any given admirable quality, i.e. driving ability, intelligence, etc.

This was the first book by DeMille that I have read and I wasn't impressed. The basic plot was good, however, the incessant wisecracking by the main charactor was overbearing and obnoxious. And his prolific use of the f-word was crass and left the book severely lacking in terms of intelligent dialogue. Don't waste your money on this one; I'm sorry I did.

Wild Fire is the most powerful what-if scenario I've ever read in fiction. The intrigue and action are non-stop, and the novel is peppered with first class comic-relief. Not only was I unable to put Wild Fire down, but I also found it impossible to avoid laughing out loud every time the protagonist, John Corey, came up with another quip.

DeMille's view into the minds of fictional dangerous people at the top is frightening. He gives you the impression that this could happen. God help us all if it does, and pray that there's a Detective John Corey out there to stop it. This novel is a must-read.

I really wanted to like this book, but it was actually annoying. I really liked John Corey in Plum Island, less so in the Lion's Game, and hated him in Wildfire. the wisecracking was way over the top, and his wife came off as a lame straightman/sidekick.
I hope Mr. Demille doesnt do this in the sequel to his greatest work: The Gold Coast. That was the first book I read by him- luckily it wasnt this one!

I read this book several months ago but held off writing a review, hoping my first impressions would improve with time. Alas, not so. De Mille's books are usually a reliable mixture of snappy dialogue and fast paced plots. The snappy dialogue is here in spades; John Corey is married and he and Kate engage in the usual banter. However, de Mille seems to think this is a substitute for a well thought-out plot. In this book we meet the bad guys (more on that later) and they proceed to lay out their plans in endless detail. In fact, the first 100 pages (at least it seemed that long) consist of the evil doers explaining all in a meeting that is laughable. We find that the bad guys (no spoiler here) intend to nuke one of our major cities. Just which one requires pages of discussion.
Once this meeting concludes the pace does pick up, but the "action" seems to consist of John and Kate driving around the countryside.

Now a word about the perps. Every author is entitled to his or her choice of bad guys. Is does help, however, if the choices are plausible and don't require too much of a stretch of ones imagination. In this case the proposed deed is the setting off of a nuclear device in one of our cities. Given recent history, one might suppose that this might be the work of Arab terrorists, etc. Not so. Here we have members of the FBI, CIA, and State Department. Heading up this group is, of course, a representative of the most evil group of all - - big oil.

De Mille can do much better than this sad sffort.

Fun read interesting plot. It's a page tuner. If you are a fan of DeMille's other John Cory novels you will like this one. I read it in about a day and a half while on vacation.

WILD FIRE was typical and predictable in plot for Nelson DeMille. Story's setting was interesting with our country's current events.

It isn't often that a great plot and great humor are in one book. I appreciate sarcastic and ironic humor and appreciate many of John Corey's thoughts. For instance I thought he was pretty right on with his B&B views. I listened to Scott Brick's narration and had a problem turning the iPod off. There is a bit of technical detail in the book (which some may find boring) and I learned quite a bit - some of it I would probably sleep better not knowing. :-)Although some of the discussions may seem long (because you really want to find out what is going to happen) they seemed frighteningly real.

All in all a great book with the type of humor I very much appreciate. I was laughing out loud while listening to it.

Another favourite book which I recommend - The Exclusive Layguide: When Dating and Having Sex with Incredibly Hot Women is No Longer Mirage Even If You Don't Look Like a Model or Don't Make a Fortune

I was really disappointed with this one -- I had enjoyed a couple Corey novels in the past, but I had to put this one down after about 30 pages. The premise seemed so stupid, and none of the protagonists pointed out some of the obvious problems with the evil plot. And Corey was just a crass, crude buffoon in this one -- I don't remember him being so tiresome in Demille's other novels. It was unreadable. Won't read another Corey novel.

Nelson DeMille is one of the best writers in the business, bar none. He delivers captivating stories, non-stop action, interesting characters and spices it all up with a bit of humor. "Wildfire" is no exception but this time the humor is sometimes a little strained and contrived, and at times annoying. John Corey and his FBI agent wife Kate make an exciting couple and yield good stories, but this is about the fourth novel with them as the principle characters and I would like to see Mr. DeMille give us a couple of books with different protaginists. He can bring back John and Kate anytime, but something different would be a welcome change.

Overall, I liked "Wildfire". It deals with an interesting and I hope far fetched concept that I would think even our crazy government could never design. It is exciting reading and I was up until the early morning hours finishing the book. His books tend to be a little long, but to me they are about the right length for a good thriller. If you like good cop/spy/consipiracy stories then be prepared for several long nights. Highly recommended.

I've begun to notice that John Corey seems incapable of actual dialogue in DeMille's last couple of books. Every conversation seems to consist of him coming off with some smart-a$$ comment that really begins to annoy. The story in this book is half decent, it's a shame that DeMille couldn't come up with better dialogue with which to fill out the periphery.

An excellent book! If you like quality political thrillers you should check out The Trigger Event.

I've read to date The General's Daughter, The Lion's Game, Up Country, Plum Island and Nightfall. By far, the best book is The Lion's Game. Demille is a great writer. You understand this when you read someone like Vince Flynn. Yet Wildfire was a disappointment.

I will say that this is the first book I've listened to on CD read by an actor. Maybe that was why I didn't like it as much. It seemed so tedious. The action and suspense was almost absent entirely. I think John Corey needs to go away.

The Lion's Game needs to be a movie and done much better than The General's Daughter. That movie was painful to watch after reading the book.

To paraphrase Nelson DeMille's own words about "Wild Fire" ... if this novel doesn't frighten you, it certainly should!

On one level, "Wild Fire" is a well-crafted, enjoyable but relatively routine police procedural which details John Corey's doggedly skilled but definitely off-the-wall and well outside the boundaries investigation of fellow agent Harry Muller's disappearance and murder. As a character starring in his fourth outing (Plum Island, Lion's Game and Night Fall were the first three novels), Corey comes as a package with no surprises. He's brash, vulgar, earthy, outrageously opinionated, self-righteous and arrogant, in your face, sarcastic to a fault and oversexed. Yet he can also be witty, humorous, kind, warm, loving and even self-effacing on the odd occasion when his beautiful wife Kate Mayfield slaps him upside the head and brings him down to earth a little! While his personal version of teamwork is somewhat lacking, there can be no question of his loyalty to the people he believes are on that team.

On a second level, "Wild Fire" is a terrifying tale of the escalation of global terrorism in the aftermath of 9/11 and the destruction of New York's World Trade Center. A 21st century version of the 1960's Cold War MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction), "Wild Fire" is a plan to reduce the Middle East to a radioactive glassy parking plot in response to any Islamic terrorist nuclear attack on an American city. The plan, set to operate entirely automatically with a feather light hair trigger, would kill hundreds of millions of practicing Moslems and, of course, eliminate the Islamic faith in the blink of an eye. That "Wild Fire" is presented in such a fashion as to appear entirely reasoned and plausible is chilling and thought-provoking enough. That a US right wing plot to trigger "Wild Fire" by the suitcase nuke bombing of San Francisco and Los Angeles is presented as a realistic possibility given the existence of such a plan is positively terrifying!

Those who love suspense thrillers and members of John Corey's fan club will eat this one up. Highly recommended!

Paul Weiss

Somewhat typical DeMille with a terrorist plot that puts the world in danger. As always, John Cory is the adept detective while his usual amusing self.

I have read one other novel by DeMille, "The General's Daughter" and I thought that it was a terrific mystery story. However, in my opinion this book was a real disappointment for me. There are lots of detailed synopses of this story already posted and I won't create another, so I'll be brief.

The book was entertaining but not a super story. The plot is thin and the main character John Corey, the brazen detective, has no depth and is totally unbelievable. His wife, Kate, an attorney, is almost on the same level as Corey except that I thought she was mixed bag of personalities and talents. I had wished that both characters were developed better by the author at least I could root for one or the other or both. By half way through the book I really didn't care if they both took a wrong turn and never returned to the story.

There are lots of subplots with fast-paced activities that kept my interest, but overall I found it frustrating to finish reading the story. It's not a terrible book, and if you enjoy DeMille's works I'd say that it's a good chance that you will enjoy "Wild Fire". And since I had enjoyed one of DeMille novel's I'll probably try his next release, (via the library and not my cash) because I just know he can do better.

An author that has never left me disappointed in his refreshing stories is Robert L. Saunders. His wonderful mystery, The Monopoly Factor, is a must read for every mystery fan and his novel "Gathering of Cans" is a real stunner of a women's fiction story.

Have a good day!

Nelson DeMille's The Lion's Game is one of the best thrillers ever written, but Wild Fire lags far behind. If you are a DeMille fan, this may be exactly the thing you like, but it put me to sleep. First, there is no plot. From the book's dust jacket and early pages, you know that a wealthy oil man wants to wipe out the people of the Middle East by exploding black-market, nuclear bombs in two American cities, triggering a massive nuclear response onto the Middle East from the United States (Project Wild Fire). We know that it won't happen, so we already know that someone will stop it. Second, the book has endless conversation that drags on forever. Third, we again have Detective John Corey and FBI Agent Kate Mayfield investigating the case, but this is not the capable John Corey that we saw in The Lion's Game. This John Corey is a wisecracking buffoon, and an entire book of his one-liners becomes really tiresome. The story's end is exciting and ties up loose ends nicely. This is the first time that I did not like a DeMille book, but I suspect that his next will create the usual excitement.

This is not the usual DeMille - here he has written a ridiculous plot and silly, trite dialogue. Very, very disappointing!

If you love DeMille, you'll love this book. Up to his usual high standards - well crafted, a good story, and a piece one can always learn from!

I've read all four of the John Corey novels in the last two months. This ranks at the bottom, but is still about a 7.0 out of 10. For me, Lion's Game is top of the heap, followed pretty closely by Plum Island, then Night Fall.

I have liked Corey in the novels, but the most dramatic changes have occurred in his superior/wife/partner Kate Mayfield. She's become more jaded and Corey-esque in the Post-9/11 world. She used to be a nice "straight man" to his antics but now is creeping toward his female alter-ego.

Bain Madox is a decent villain but not nearly as well-done as the antagonists in the first two Corey novels. DeMille has a tendency to go into long narratives which can bog down his books in a major way. But I always learn something, so there is some redeeming value in the ramblings. And it all pays off in the end.

It was a fun read, like a good season of "24" on television. DeMille can definitely write a page turner. But how many times is he going to tell that "moderate Arab" joke?

I have read all of DeMille's John Corey books -- in order. I just finished Wild Fire.

I think the Corey character is getting out of control. The traits that made him an interesting figure in earlier books -- the bravado, the irreverence, the sharp edged humor -- are now creeping toward parody. It reminds me of what happened to the James Bond movie character -- he evolved from dramatic to melodramatic to comic book. Hope that doesn't happen here.

Book in hand, I walked into Ecco's on Chambers Street. A man fitting his description was seated at the bar, nursing a cocktail. A Dewar's and soda perhaps?

"Excuse me, but are you detective John Corey?"

He muttered a profanity under his breath. "How did you find me?"

I opened my copy of WILD FIRE to page thirteen and pointed.

"So you read the book. What did you think?"

"You want my honest opinion?"

"No, lady, lie to me."

"It wasn't my favorite. I mean, you were great. As always. Funny. Witty. Heroic. But the other parts of story with Bain Madox and those long-drawn meetings with his Custer Hill cronies and the details about Project Green, blah-blah-blah, were tedious to read."

"Told DeMille it was a bad idea to keep me out of those scenes," he said, polishing off his drink. "Guy just wouldn't listen. Said I was being too self-indulgent."

"For what it's worth, Mr. Corey. I absolutely loved PLUM ISLAND, THE LION'S GAME and NIGHT FALL."

"Well, in that case, sit down and let me buy you a drink before I get written out of this scene."

What can you say about such a professional writer as Nelson DeMille? That he's inventive, that he's imaginative, and now with Wild Fire, you can say that he's gone to the well one too many times. I used to really admire DeMille's writing because for the longest time he didn't renew any of his characters. You read them and then lamented their demise. But what is this, Corey's fifth book? What's new in this one? Nothing. Same John Corey, wise cracking problem solver extrodanaire, simultaneously being chased by the good guys and the bad guys and setting his own rules throughout. But what's bad about Wild Fire is that Corey's not in it for the first 100 pages or so. There's a different character who you don't need to invest in because you just know he won't survive to page 150. There are better books on the market; there are better books by DeMille. Still, even a mediocre DeMille book is better than half of what's out there.

An exciting tale of a presumed plot by right-wing extremists to provoke a nuclear exchange that would prompt the US to nuke the Arab world.

The ending will put you in white-knuckle suspense.