The General's Daughter

Rating:
Summary: Very good
Review: After reading 'The Gold Coast' I got a hold of a bunch of DeMille's books. He is a master and this one is no exception, however it is a different type of book than what I expected, perhaps because I started with 'The Gold Coast'.

I had seen the movie before I read this book, so I kind of had an idea what the subject matter would be, however, they are different enough that the book was still very enjoyable, in fact, I rented the movie again and didn't like it as much.

"The General's Daughter" is well written and the lead character is instantly likable, something DeMille seems to be very talented at because in this and other books I've read, I've noticed that I get into the protagonist's head almost from page one. DeMille himself must be a real character, I can't imagine that he makes his lead characters totally out of thin air, they are too believable.

This book is a great murder mystery and suspense novel, but it is also just a great novel because it gets the reader into the mind of the character so well. I highly recommend this work to anyone that enjoys mysteries, suspense, or military fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Accept this novel on its own terms and you'll enjoy it
Review: For all of the oceans of ink spilled on serious criticism and Top 100 lists, there's still something viscerally satisfying about a good straightforward read like The General's Daughter. After all, if it weren't for fare like this, what would we do for beach & airplane books? Luckily there are guys like Nelson DeMille cranking them out. DeMille, who won a Bronze Star in Viet Nam, has written a couple of excellent books, I especially liked By the Rivers of Babylon and Cathedral, though I've read some others that I didn't like as much. I'd recommend this one.

General's Daughter opens with Captain Ann Campbell, a West Point honors graduate and daughter of the general of the base, staked out, raped and strangled in an artillery field. Wisecracking investigator Paul Brenner of the Criminal Investigation Division and rape specialist Cynthia Sunhill, his former lover, team up to solve the crime. Turns out the General's daughter has a pretty sordid past, which makes just about every male at Fort Hadley a suspect. This profusion of suspects combines with normal Army red tape and extraordinary reticence about scandal, to form the basis of a briskly plotted procedural.

The solution to the mystery is pretty pedestrian and Brenner's a little too much of a wise guy, but the story hums along and DeMille does us all a favor by not piling on multiple melodramatic conclusions. He tells his story and then wraps it up neatly. The one thing I really liked was Brenner's righteous indignation at the despicable conduct of his Army brethren. At least in this novel, the sense of military honor is not dead.

Accept this novel on its own terms and you'll enjoy it.

GRADE: B-

Rating:
Summary: Real close to being the best thing he's written
Review: I am a book snob. I refuse to see a movie of a book I really like. I also seldom read a book after it's been made into a movie. That explains my reluctance to read "The General's Daughter". I was however going into Demille withdrawal and having read all of his other books had no choice. This is a great book. The story grabs you and you can't put it down. It's a fairly complicated story with a lot of villians. If fact almost every character in the book is a real jerk. All of Mr Demille's main characters are the same people with different names. The men are caustic, mid 40's, strange sence of humor. The female lead is about fifteen to twenty years younger and madly in love with caustic 40 year old men. I don't find this to be a problem. This book is a page turner. I didn't expect the ending which is unusual. I thought he laid the ground work for assisted suicide.
Read this one, it's not as good as Plum Island, The Charm School or Lions Game but it's a great book from a great author. Actually read everything he's written it's worth the time.

Rating:
Summary: Terriffic read
Review: I had seen the movie several times and enjoyed it enough to read the book. The book is better. Hard to believe. The main character has charm and yet is cynical and sarcastic. My favorite type of character. He's Paul Brenner and a wonderful character to get to know. The General's daughter is killed on post and the story resolves around her hidden life and the desire to find her killer. All the while dealing with Army regulations and rules. This book is full of mystery and lies. Amazing to see how they solve it. A definite five star recommendation.

Rating:
Summary: A Bit Fantastic, but Entertaining Nonetheless.
Review: The book is worth reading, but although I haven't seen the movie I can't help wondering how they managed to get a movie out of it. I will probably watch it out of curiosity more than anything else. The characters are only semi-interesting at best, the most well-developed one (Ann Campbell) being dead; I found myself in mourning for her. I love Brenner's quirky C.O. and their love/hate relationship. The circumstances surrounding the murder are a bit unbelievable, and the murderer's reaction upon getting caught was disappointingly predictable. As to the mystery itself, I have to admit I shifted blame several times before the culprit was revealed. I applaud DeMille for leaving a few loose ends instead of needlessly adding another chapter to explain minor details as you see in so many other books. After all, life is full of unsolved mysteries. I wouldn't call this book a literary masterpiece, but DeMille is a fine storyteller and I look forward to reading more of his work.