THE LION by Nelson DeMille
In his latest novel THE LION author Nelson DeMille pits his hero John Corey against the deadly assassin Asad Khalil. This is not the first time these two have gone mano a mano. They have met before, fought before, and each has sworn that the next time they meet it will be a fight to the death. That time is now.
Corey is a retired New York policeman who now works for the government agency, Anti-Terrorist Task Force (ATTF). His wife Kate and he both are employed by that group but she is FBI. On a break from their government activities Kate decides they will go sky-diving. John is a reluctant participant but he agrees in order to keep Kate happy.
Before they jump John has one of his eerie premonitions that something is wrong. He is so right about this because this where they learn that Asad is back in the country and wants them dead. It is really a novel idea as to how he makes this first attack.
The action starts with the jump and never lets up until the book has ended. These breathtaking descriptions of action sequences along with a huge dollop of humor are DeMille’s trademarks. He is one of the few authors alive who can combine humor, suspense, gore and hilarity. You will find yourself laughing out loud on one page and stifling a shudder on the next.
As much of a fan as I am of DeMille’s writing I found this book to be too pat, too by the numbers. It has all the ingredients you expect to be in a book of this type but they are spelled out in rote fashion. A follows B follows C and on and on. DeMille has never been predictable or illogical and in this book he is both.
It is good to have a story about the battle of skills between Corey and Khalil but you want it to be fresh. This plot feels rehashed. Maybe that is because you have some many of the people in this book who were in previous stories.
Still there are jolts in the plot as one character or another is killed without the reader expecting it. No one is safe from termination. This keeps the reader moving through the story at a rapid rate.
Even if the plot of the book were terrible, which in the case of THE LION it is not, the book would be worth reading for the humor DeMille injects. Between the words he speaks and the thoughts in his head Corey could be a stand up comic. He is funny, funny, funny.
So read THE LION for the action and the humor. It may not be one of DeMille’s best works but it still entertaining.
THE LION is published by Grand Central Publishing. It contains 437 pages and sells for $27.99.