Rating: Summary: I've read better De Mille books Review: I found "John Corey's" constant sarcastic comments ridiculous. The book (which was 926 pages long) could have been a much more compact read without them. His annoying character spoilt what otherwise would have been a good thriller, despite the disappointing ending. Not up to the standard of his previous novels.
Rating: Summary: Me Thinks I Smell A Movie!! Review: This was a great read and I love the character John Corey. I also liked the alternating storyline. But, it appears Mr. Demille has succumbed to "hollywooditis." Instead of ending the story with a conclusion that would have been more in line with John Corey's unlucky love life and over-the-top bravado (ala Plum Island), Mr. Demille left me "suspended," as if I should be waiting for the sequel! I feel unfulfilled when an author chooses to write for "movie deals" instead of the reader. I hope his next effort is worth almost 900 pages of my time.
Rating: Summary: Maybe his best Review: I've been a fan since reading Gold Coast and was not disappointed. It was terrific-- clever, suspenseful, laugh-out-loud funny and I didn't mind the ending at all. Hope it means we'll see more of some of these characters!
Rating: Summary: Good book! Review: I loved Plum Island so when this came out I ran to the store to pick it up. It was a large book that took a little longer to read (about a week) but it was very much worth the extra time. Something about his characters that keeps your eyes to the pages. I have no regrets in buying this book.
Rating: Summary: Awsome book Review: THIS WAS THE BEST BOOK I'VE READ IN A LOOONG TIME! THE WHOLE BOOK WAS LIKE THE PART AT THE END OF A THRILLER THAT YOU CAN'T PUT DOWN, IT WAS LIKE THE CLIMAX THE ENTIRE BOOK. I LOVED IT! THIS WAS MY FIRST NELSON DEMILLE BOOK AND I HOPE THE OTHERS ARE JUST AS GOOD!!
Rating: Summary: Non-stop excitement Review: I bought this book on a whim, when I was stuck in the Philadelphia train station two days before Christmas, waiting for my daughter's train, which was four hours behind schedule. Needing something to pass the time, the heft of this book seemed to be appropriate. This was a very good purchase, because I enjoyed the work very much. The action begins on the first page, and continues until the very end, some 900 pages or so. It kept my interest, and the pages turned quickly, and the time passed. DeMille certainly knows how to write a thriller, and he settles some festering scores with critics of the movie version of his "The General's Daughter", which tickled me. This book is going to be a good "beach book" next summer, but it's worth reading anytime you want to be caught up in a very exciting and interesting thriller.
Rating: Summary: Lion's Game flawed thriller Review: Nelson DeMille is a great storyteller, not a great writer. He starts too many sentences with "I mean," or "Anyway," and his dialogue, while clever, is often too well scripted to sound genuine. Still I get a kick out of characters such as John Corey (Plum Island and The Lion's Game) and John Sutter (The Gold Coast), who are similar protagnists: waspish-Irish, wise-cracking, self-deprecating and, after awhile, a bit annoying. In spite of the Spillane-like prose, DeMille often makes you laugh out loud, frequently at the most incongruous moments. These come especially in The Lion's Game, in which he shifts from the first-person lighthearted narrative of John Corey to the grim, evil Asad Khalil. This is a page-turner, to be sure, as DeMille builds a slightly implausible plot into a dramatic showdown that you anticipate in the end, but it never quite comes off. That's where the Lion's Game disappoints. I suppose the pat ending would have the bad girl captured or kill and the good guys(add Kate Mayfield) riding happily into the sunset. Well, John and Kay fulfill the latter, but Khalil's "disposition" is less than satisfactory. No doubt kept alive to live in a sequel, for he vows to kill the happy couple no matter how long it takes. Khalil makes for an interesting if somewhat cardboard villain. He's too perfect in that he never comes close to being caught or recognized despite a thin disguise and his photo being plastered all over. Americans are dumb, Arabs are smarter than we think, is the common thread. I also found it unbelievable that Corey and Khalil could talk on the cellphone for several minutes without anyone knowing where the bad guy is. DeMille glosses over this as a technological hurdle but somehow I think the spooks could pinpoint him as easily as a satellite can make out a license plate from 200 miles up. And, at the end, when Khalil takes potshots at John and Kate at the heavily guarded Reagan ranch, he slips away into the night without explanation. This defies logic, but then this is a check your brains book that entertains more than illuminates. Charm School was better. But, as with any DeMille book, you can't go wrong with this one. It's a pretty good yarn.
Rating: Summary: Definitely not his best work.....slow read. Review: I usually read right through DeMille's books in one sitting but this one took me 2 weeks because the pace would pick up then it would SLOW>>>>>>>down and be soooo boring and then pick up a little again and slow down yet again. I had to force myself to finish the book and in the end was left with an overall disappointed feeling about Demille's latest effort. Hopefully the next one will be as good as he usually writes. If you are a first time Demille reader and found this book boring...go back and read some of his earlier works like The Charm School and Plum Island and my favorite Spencerville.
Rating: Summary: Greatread, but factually sooo incorrect. Review: This is a well written book; an unputdownable read. Love his characters.But... now about Libya. Why the heck did he not do some BASIC research? I used to work in Libya from 1980-1984. In Tripoli as well as the desert. Libya is a socialist people's republic. Not an Islamic state in the sense that Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan is. They do not stone people, behead people, etc. There is no 'executioner's sword". Pistaol maybe, nut no sword. They do not spend the whole day quoting the Koran. Women, especially younger women, are generally not veiled (one af Ghadaffi's achievements) and are educated. In fact the Islamic fundamentalists are Ghaddafi's biggest enemies. Libya calls itself the SPLAJ: "Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriyah" (=republic). They are not the kind of "Kill The Infidels" state Mr Demille seems to suggest. They drive the same Toyotas you and I do and have the same aims in life. Mr Demille apparently thinks, like all Americans, that Islamic countries are full of terrorists. One distrusts what one does not know, and like most Americans, he is not blessed with much knowledge. But I would have expected better from him, really. Note: I am not writing this because I agree or disagree with his stand on Libya - but factual inaccuracy is hard to accept. A few google searches would have made this book better! Michael
Rating: Summary: Entertaining -- One of Mr. DeMille's Better Books Review: I really enjoy sarcastic humor. Throughout this tale of intrigue, John Corey continues with his keen sense of the perfectly wrong thing to say at the right time. This book definitely is entertaining. The story will keep you going to the end. However the key thing for me was that the characters in the book where very vivid and real. I am tired of the good guys being vanilla good and the bad guys being loathesome. I found myself identifying with the small roles and really getting into the subplots. Why did the Lion decide not to kill one person, but instantly another? Why did the FBI treat the main characters one way for this situation -- but completely switch for another? I thought that the book seemed to follow reality... If this chain of events really were to happen -- then it would work out pretty close to the book. While this may or may not have been the author's intention, it definitely made this book seem much more interesting.
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