Wild Fire (A John Corey Novel, 4)

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.

Plum Island (the first in the John Corey series) was one of the best crime thrillers I've ever read. I thought John Corey was one of the most interesting characters I'd run into, and I couldn't wait to devour the rest of the series. But as I've progressed through the series, some of the luster has worn off. Wild Fire was still a great book, and John Corey is still a great character, but he is progressing toward an exaggerated caricature of himself. He's even more insubordinate, more sarcastic, more irreverent, more everything. More and more I find myself cringing rather than laughing; and the fact that he still has his job with ATTF indicates a break with reality that undermines plot credibility. I'll keep reading the series, but I'm down to 4 stars and I hope the trend doesn't continue.

"Wildfire" is a huge disapointment and not worth the time it takes to slog through nearly 700 pages. What starts out as a fairly compelling idea of purposely nuking a U.S. city to provoke an attack on the muslim world, quickly bogs down into a generic police procedural. The main character, John Corey is without doubt the most annoying person in any novel I have read in a long time. His in your face attitude and NYC cop schtick grows old very fast. In the real world this guy would be beaten up every other second as he mouths off to everyone. For some reason I keep reading Demille's novels hoping at least one will live up to "The Charm School". No more, I won't be fooled again. "Wildfire" is a bad boilerplate "thriller". Don't waste time or money on this one.

I have really come to love the John Corey story line DeMille created with his book, Plum Island. I would put this one up there just behind The Lion's Game for quality story line. I thought the interaction between John and his wife Kate was really cute. I love the attitude DeMille has given his primary characters and look forward to another in the future. I hope DeMille doesn't quite writing on other topics and limit himself to the John Corey story line because he has some excellent reads in his library of novels. As for this one, good job, Mr. DeMille.

Nelson DeMille's WILD FIRE is the fourth in the John Corey series. The wisecracking Corey, ex-NYPD detective who now works for the Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force in the City, continues his quest to save the world from bad guys.
It becomes obvious in the early chapters that DeMille has done some diligent research for this novel particularly in the area of nuclear weaponry. The story is about potential nuclear annihilation of American cities and the Arab world. It is instigated by a very wealthy but very evil man with the help of powerful persons in the highest positions of our government and business world. The evil plan is revealed to the reader in the first few chapters. John Corey and his FBI agent wife, Kate Mayfield, defy direct orders from their boss and, on their own, try to avert a nuclear terrorist plot. As in the past John Corey has a problem with authority and continues to strike out on his own dragging his sometimes reluctant wife (and boss) along with him. Together, the husband and wife team give the story sex, humor and personality.
The book, no different from previous Cory books, is laced with Corey's smart aleck, wisecracking one-lines. I suppose I have become more tolerant of this personality flaw as it didn't bother me as much as in previous writings.
The book has enough scary twists and turns to keep the reader engaged. The last half is more interesting and intriguing than the first part. I recommend Wild Fire and give it a rating of 4 out of 5.

Wow, what a loser this book is. First of all, the premise is preposterous and insulting to the reader. Secondly, like other reviewers here have noted, the narrator has an attitude which fast becomes old. And thirdly, well, I don't know because I quit reading around page 100. I can put credulity on hold in the interest of losing myself in a good novel but, come on, the premise of this book is simply not credible. DeMille is capable of writing a good book but this one is so bad I might just quit reading him.

I really enjoy DeMille's books with the John Cory character and I ordered this for my buddy who lives out of state. Today I asked him what he thought of the Cory character and he didn't know what I was talking about. Turns out he received "The Quest" by DeMille, not Wild Fire. Bummer!

This is the third Corey book I have read, and they seem to be going downhill fast. Why, like a James Bond movie, do the bad guys never just kill Corey when they have the chance. The conclusion was so predictably unbelievable with the "race against the clock" ending. However, the worst part of the book is Kate, Corey's wife. These two could never exist together, and her character seems to change back and forth from weak to strong character. Take a pass on this one.

Traditionally, DeMille has written excellent thrillers with unexpected plot twists & generally witty dialogue between Corey and the antagonists. This book has absolutely none of those characteristics.

Plot:

Fiction writers are generally afforded a lenient artistic license allowing them to stitch otherwise ludicrous plots together. This book takes those liberties and abuses them to the fullest. Under no circumstances is the plot of this novel made believable to the reader. Proper writing along with effective plot development can make nearly any scenario appear realistic, DeMille fails miserably at this task.

Characters:

Corey is not up to his usual self in the book. The other characters offer no intrigue. Unlike the villains in his other books, Bain offers us no insight as to why he is such a lunatic. His cache of supporters are all merely "present", there is no effort on DeMille's part to explain to the readers why they have all gone mad.

Dialogue:

This is the worst part of the book. I will not elaborate, however it should be obvious to most readers that this book was rushed into publication. The dialogue is awful. In fact, nothing significant happens between the 1st two chapters and the last 2 chapters. Everything in-between is filler material (consisting primarily of weak dialogue).

I'm at chapter 30 and I cannot go on . The infantile "humor" of John Corey is so irritating that I have to stop. I loved "Night Fall" and "the Lion", but this is so riddled with moronic one-liners that it is completely implausible. One reviewer said he thought this book had less of the John Corey mouth. That seals the deal for me. Not reading any more DeMille !!