Having Recently Discovered Nelson DeMille novels …

By Mister Schnell

My wife went to the library for her biweekly batch of recreational reading material. This collection included “The Panther” by Nelson DeMille. She was trying out a new author neither of us had read before. Charting unknown territory. Hey … No guts, no glory.

I saw “The Panther”, picked it up, read the inside jacket, and decided to peruse the novel. I found I could not put it down.

It is written in first person. Full of bantering, witty dialog and funny conversations masterfully woven into the story. Since we all read in our mind’s voice it felt like I was in the room with the main character as he carried on. Sorta like hanging out with the guys … bullshitting.

When you are retired there is a certain degree of social isolation. This book filled the void.

My wife heard me laughing and wondered what was up. I told her about the book and that I was really enjoying this author’s work. I googled the DeMille website so I could learn the order in which his books are written. I got his first “John Corey novel” called “Plum Island” and gave it to her to read. She really liked it!

She kept calling me to the room, then she’d read me a paragraph that had us both busting a gut laughing. So many things in it easily relatable.

I like his “John Corey” character … especially the wisecracks, cynicism, irreverence, and political incorrectness. I am a retired ICU open heart recovery nurse but chose to work the night shift to avoid tight ass, by the book, ladder climbing, stereotypical administration types. You know, the “self-important, chosen ones”, if you will, that dominate the day shift corporate scene. Since they sleep at night I decided that was the shift for me. (It was a career saving choice.)

Now I have books with a main character that remind me of the free spirit, free thinking, competent crowd that got the job done, without the mandatory ass kissing of today’s corporate workplace.

Yeah, yeah …. I know the novels are fiction but there is a lot of truth in them and the books are well researched. Character development is superb and the story line fun to follow.

So, if anyone is looking for me, I have 22 plus DeMille novels to catch up on. I will be out at Wolf Pup Condominiums …. reading a John Corey novel while sipping Hot chocolate.