I sat here for a good while considering what to rate this book. I came very close to giving it 5 stars and am still thinking it over (I reserve the right to come back and up the rating if I decide to, LOL).

This is an excellent book in a genre that I don't usually find my favorite. It's well written with a likeable yet infuriating protagonist. (Not too unlike Harry Dresden if that's a reference you're familiar with.) He does hit one of my annoyance buttons which I'll mention later under a spoiler More...

I probably wouldn't have picked up this book if it weren't for a group I was in suggesting it. I have never read anything by this author, and to be honest I never really heard of him before this.

I really enjoyed this book. It started off a little slowly, and the main character John Corey was such a sarcastic SOB that he was great! I liked his style and his humor... although I'm not sure I was really supposed to like him. John is a homicide detective with the NYPD and is currently recuperating in More...

Ah...sarcastic narrators. This book's got one.

"I gripped my right ear and twisted, which is how I tune out idiots."

Unfortunately, it's apparent that everyone except John Corey (our fearless, convalescing-from-getting-shot-on-the-job narrator/hero) is an idiot. I sorta wish that his ear had been turned off for some larger chunks of the book -- because the reader has to wade through a lot of red herrings and schtuff to get to the meat of the book.

For example, getting a tour of Plum Island, the sp More...

First book in the series, and I really liked it!

When I found out that DeMille wrote The General's Daughter, I did a little more research on his 'John Corey' series. It seems that he hadn't wanted to write a series, but there were too many of his readers who wanted another John Corey book. He'd been afraid of his female readers; what they'd think of John as a character. He's cocky, tactless, crude, and a real ass, but I adored him. I loved how his mind worked, how he processed what he saw, what h More...

While this book is not a literary achievement, it is an entertaining diversion and a great summer beach book. The central characteric Det. John Corey, NYPD, even endears himself by the end of the book where he decides to give Det. Penrose a second chance and delivers a few philosophical musings: "A century ago, people occasionally came to a crossroads in their lives and had to choose a direction. Today, we live inside of microchips with a million paths opening and closing every nanosecond. What' More...

Unlike the author's The Gold Coast, which SPARKLED, this one is up and down. I remember looking at the DeMille section in a local bookstore, and the bookseller said, "So, you're looking for some Velveeta cheese today?" I think this sells the author a little short. My problems with the book were its occasional overly long passages and overly long overall length, if you follow my attempted meaning. But the lead character, John Corey, really is funny most of the time (but certainly not all of the t More...

Nelson de Mille y yo somos viejos conocidos. Hace mucho tiempo, como 3 años, me encontré tirada en un hotel de Mazatlán una novela de él llamada Spencerville, donde narraba las improbables y “mafufas” aventuras de un muchacho que se fue con todo y Trans Am a recorrer la Unión Soviética en su propio automóvil y andando por los obscuros caminos de la madre Rusia le pidió “raite” en plena noche un americano escapado de un pueblo fantasma donde tenían secuestrados a varios americanos para que instru More...

Three and a half stars. Not my usual cup of tea, and would not have read this had it not been a book club pick, but it was entertaining. The narrator, John Corey, is a NYPD detective who is recuperating from three bullet wounds on Long Island, when he is asked to help solve the murder of a brilliant young couple in an apparent burglary gone bad. Turns out the couple were friends of his, so John has more of a stake in this case. Everyone, including the feds, is worried that their deaths are relat More...

In my opinion, without knowing his work and based on his reputation of being 'great', he phoned this book in.

First the good - The settings and character descriptions were SO well done. I could completely see everything happening in my mind. Very nice!

The not so great - DeMille really went for the now SO common convention of "he [main character] knew it was wrong but...." Ugh. Clearly Dan Brown has studied with him. :-) In any event, so many things that happened in this book led the title charac More...

This was the first book I recieved as a gift in the hospital, from Judy Walker. I greatly enjoyed it, even though it's not the type of book I usually grab for myself. The main character/narrator had a wonderful voice, smarmy and charming and just witty enough for you to realize he's a more worldly person than he lets on. I'm not sure if DeMille has written any other books with the John Corey character, but if he has, I will read them.

The plot on this one, without giving anything away: John Corey More...

3 ½ stars. An enjoyable escape, good suspense. A couple parts felt too lengthy and dragged a bit.

STORY BRIEF:
John Corey is a New York City homicide detective who was shot in April. He has been convalescing for several months at his Uncle’s home on Long Island, not far from Plum Island. Plum Island is run by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture to study vaccines and viruses like Ebola and Anthrax. Tom and Judy Gordon were scientists working on Plum Island and were killed. The local sheriff hires John as More...

A sort of modern day version of Film Noir meets Action Movie. Blend together the smarmy talk of an old Bogart mystery (only with more modern chauvinism)with bordering on unbelievable action of a Willis in Die Hard and you get the sort of story and suspense that DeMille has put together.

The "more modern" language of the book is a turn off to some, as our hero is more straightforward descriptive and less prone to using the phrases that have become running jokes of Noir (i.e. "She was no longer wea More...

1st in the John Corey series.

Corey, a NYC homicide detective on leave after being seriously wounded, is recovering at his uncle’s house on Long Island. The police chief of the small hamlet, a long-time family acquaintance, persuades Corey to become involved in a double murder homicide of two biologists whom Corey has met and liked. But since the couple worked on generating genetically altered viruses for vaccines at a Department of Agriculture animal biological research station on Plum Island, a More...

There once was a time when I'd read any murder mystery set in the New York metropolitan area. I've stopped that, but must've had some residual tendencies come to the fore, because that's why I picked up Plum Island, by Long Island resident Nelson DeMille. At any rate, the novel opens with its hero, NYPD homicide detective John Corey convalescing at his uncles Victorian house in the Long Island township of Southold (home to farmers, wine vinters, fisherman, and a few fiesty ladies belonging to th More...

I had been looking for crime fiction with humour, for characters who deal with gruesome crimes but don't take themselves too seriously. Mostly, I was looking for authors who can pull it off. I'm glad I've discovered Nelson DeMille.

From the get-go, I liked the voice, which was strong, self-assured and witty. Sample quote: "I should mention that I was convalescing, not from the mumps, but from three bullet wounds, two 9mm ones and one .44 caliber Magnum, not that the size of the holes matters. As More...

John Corey, homicide detective for the New York police department, is on leave and recuperating from three bullet wounds. He is retreating on a water property in a house that his uncle is letting him live in. His neighbors, a couple, are found murdered and the local cop, Max, asks John to lend a hand with the investigation. Thus begins the introduction to John's investigative skills. John is a sarcastic, witty guy and also a Columbo type--he appears to be bumbling around and not paying much atte More...

I will forever remember this book as the one I painstakingly read in tiny font, all 574 pages of it, and found that it could have been shortened to less than half of the pages without reducing any substance or plot whatsoever. What a waste of time.
I was expecting some big story or conspiracy to unfold, as that's what I was lead to believe by reading the back cover. Dead scientists who used to work in an animal research facility, dealing with viruses and bacteria--sounds promising isn't it? Too b More...

With this novel I've got beef. Let's begin!

1. It's twice as long as it needs to be. 700+ pages is an absurd length for a standard suspense/detective novel. And there's nothing special about this novel from a narrative standpoint to warrant this kind of length. There's an initial mystery; some intriguing facts; the plot thickens; TWIST!; plot comes together; bad guy revealed; final encounter; resolution. I've read dozens upon dozens of books with this format, and I would be hard pressed to find a More...

If you like immature (think 40-something going on 12 1/2) assholes who think they're funny and god's gift to women, than you'll probably enjoy this book. I, on the other hand, only thought it was alright.

DeMille is so generous and obvious with the clues that I had figured out the "why-done-it" before I had gotten 1/4 of the way into the story. I figured out the "who-done-it" a couple of pages later. That said, he kept me interested enough to stick with it to the end to get the particulars.

DeMi More...

I have learned from the family "Easterner" that Plum Island is actually a nature reserve but the writing in this detective story is so convincing that I believed through the book that it is actually an animal biological research center, governed by the Dep't of Agriculture, and origially a Civil War defense station. Of course, the bunkers from that war do end up playing their part.
John Corey is a NYPD homicide detective recuperating in his Uncle's house in the township of Southold far out on Lon More...

I read the Corey series out of sequence which made this book an easy read . I really loved the storyline of Night Fall but what I really enjoyed more was the author's portrayal of the lead character of John Corey . Then when I found out this was a series, I was excited to get the prequel of the character of Corey . I am now excited for my next read, where I will
be introduced to the character of Kate . It will be fun to read how these two met and how two distinct personalities became an item .
I More...

John Corey, a NYPD homicide detective was shot and is now convalescing on Long Island. When a couple, Tom and Judy Gordon, who he befriended are murdered, the local Sheriff Max asks for Corey's help. John reluctantly sets out to find out who murdered his friends.

The Gordons happened to work on Plum Island, a US Agricultural facility researching dread animal diseases. Enter all the agencies concerned, FBI,CIA and any others who want the public not to think some chemical terrorism is going on.

Core More...

My dad works on Plum Island...the real one. I was dying to read this book because it's about my home on Long Island and because I know quite a bit about PLum Island, so I wanted to see what Demille would do with the story. Indulge my rant, if you will...

Plum Island is a biosafety level 3 lab off the coast of the north fork of LI that studies animal deseases like Foot & Mouth, Mad Cow, etc., and does everything they can to keep these diseases out of the US and protect the livestock in our cou More...

Had an interest in this place ever since seeing it from the New London to Orient Point ferry so I grabbed the chance to get it as a 99 cent Nook special. Learned a lot about what goes on here with animal disease research including how residents at the tip of Long Is. feel about it. Learned a fort was established there during the Revolutionary War. Also learned interesting history of the area including Pilgrims or "First Comers" 2nd boat, the Fortune and it's founding of 1st settlement on Long Is More...

Nelson DeMille's lead character in Plum Island comes across as a bit of a jerk, highly flawed and kind of a pig around women. Turns out he's all those things. But you begin to like him and understand his point of view. He goes from caricature to real somewhere in the first third of the novel. He trudges through a case that appears impossible to solve. He asks seemingly ignorant questions during the investigation. And he probably drinks too much. He's physically damaged and possibly no longer abl More...

Although a lot of people complained about the main character, I thought he was really the only thing that made the story interesting. I love the concept of a mystery on Plum Island, a biohazard zone that works with deadly viruses. However, it makes absolutely no sense that people would be able to take their own boats there and do random archaeological digs. I also didn't really understand why they made such a huge deal out of certain characters at the beginning of the book when they really didn' More...

“Plumb Island” was my second Neslon DeMille book and every bit as enjoyable as the first. Wounded in the line of duty, NYPD homicide cop John Corey is convalescing in rural eastern Long Island when an attractive young couple he knows is found shot to death on the family patio. The victims were biologists at Plum Island, a research site rumored to be an incubator for germ warfare (Plum Island is a real high security place that actually exists off of Long Island). Suddenly, a local double murder t More...

This is the first DeMille novel I have read and so I'm unaware of his style, but if he writes all his books like this one I'm not sure I have the mental strength to get through another one. Somewhere in Plum Island a decent mystery story is trying to get out. However, DeMille d-r-a-g-s t-h-i-n-g-s o-u-t at every opportunity.

I listened to Plum Island on audio (1,356 CDs I think) and my mind kept wandering as the main character (John Corey) babbled on about nothing. Seriously, you could just list More...