Nelson DeMille


Nelson Richard DeMille (born August 23, 1943) is an American author. DeMille was born in New York City and resides in Garden City, New York, a village on Long Island. He is a graduate of Hofstra University and served in the Vietnam War. He is also a member of Mensa.

DeMille has also written under the name Jack Cannon, Kurt Ladner, and Brad Matthews.
DeMille often uses Long Island as a setting in his novels, for example in The Gold Coast, Plum Island, Word of Honor, and Night Fall. His most recent novels have followed two main characters, John Corey and Paul Brenner. At first, the story lines 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."

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 their 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.

Another characteristic of the most recent novels, in addition to the reoccurance of the main character, John Corey, is a bit of a stylistic change. Here, under the secure cover of a more renegade Corey, there exists the creative license to develop more of an entertaining sarcasm and wise guy wit. Through this character, the author serves up a more rough around the edges, non-politically correct, fare. Stylistically, what has been missing lately is the prior trademark high brow sentence structure, instead now giving way to an easier yet more simplistic read.

Fictional themes, people and places in general can often have a germinated basis in reality. Some have speculated whether John Corey's personna, could be one of the author's alter egos.
The Fictional Army post in The General's Daughter was a combination of Fort Benning and Fort Stewart.