A Prescient Prelude to 9/11
Written: Sep 12 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Interesting characters and an inside look at anti-terrorist and law enforcement practices.
Cons: Dated from a historical viewpoint.
The Bottom Line: Wiity, sarcastic dialog. Main character keeps you interested.
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THE LION'S GAME, Nelson DeMille's best selling sequel to his previous best seller PLUM ISLAND reunites readers with his sarcastic and quintessentially New York detective John Corey. This novel, first released in 2000 and approximately 18 months before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon is something of a prescient look at many of the problems the United States was in for without even knowing it.
Nelson DeMille, himself a New Yorker and raised on Long Island, has been fortunate to have written a series of books that have garnered him a huge following and he has done so without having to resort to creating a huge series of books that rely on a single character. With the exception of THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER and UP COUNTRY featuring the irreverent Army Criminal Investigation Division's Paul Brenner, PLUM ISLAND and THE LION's GAME are the only books where he has resorted to the use of recurring characters. Having said that, I don't think this plot device is all that bad, as many other popular authors do the same.
I just recently picked up this book and reading it now, six years after its first release and the events of 9/11, means the reader will be seeing material that is dated by the events that have long since overtaken the novel's story line.
The basic premise of this novel is that a Libyan terrorist comes to the United States on a commercial airliner from France. He is supposedly a defector and surrendered to the U.S. government at our embassy in Paris. Without consulting our European allies, we wisk him off to JFK airport on what was then the newest version of the tried and true Boeing 747. Unfortunately for the 300+ other passengers on board, the alleged defector is really a terrorist who, with the help of an accomplice, murders all of them, including the aircrew with cyanide gas. The huge Boeing airliner, equipped with state of the art computers lands at JFK as nothing more than a huge flying coffin.
Unbeknownst to Port Authority, FBI, CIA and NYPD officials, the terrorist, Asad Khalil, manages to give them the slip after landing as he is the sole survivor on board (after also killing his accomplice).
Enter hero John Corey, who we met in PLUM ISLAND. Corey, recovered from his massive wounding described in PLUM ISLAND is retired from the NYPD on a disability and working as a 'contract' agent for the FBI. He is one of the first law enforcement people aboard the flying coffin and inadvertently orders Khalil off the plane, mistaking him for an airline baggage handler. Immediately after leaving the plane, Khalil begins a killing rampage, taking out the duty section in the Conquistador Club in one of JFK's terminals. Not a club for frequent fliers, it is the NY area headquarters for the Anti-Terrorist Task Force (ATTF).
Later, after the slaughter is discovered by Corey and others, federal law enforcement and intelligence officials realize that they are up against a very determined professional.
In this installment with Corey, we get to meet Kate Mayfield, his erstwhile partner and later, lover. Kate is a dedicated FBI agent and lawyer and one of those women characters DeMille invents who always fall for the wise cracking, sarcastic, anti-authority figures so common throughout his books.
I have to admit that I really enjoy the lead characters that DeMille creates and I have a special fondness for Chief Warrant Officer 4 Paul Brenner from THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER and UP COUNTRY and John Corey from PLUM ISLAND and THE LION'S GAME. Perhaps it's because I was raised on Long Island and possess many of the same qualities his characters do, but I always enjoy the snotty, snide, disrespectful, sexist lines he imbues these men with. To counter these so called negative and anti-social traits, DeMille generally creates strong and competent female characters as a foil for the witty and sometimes oafish behavior of his male leads. Kate Mayfield in this series is a prime example of these strong female characters.
After the initial massacres are discovered, U.S. authorities seem to take far longer than what one would hope to develop a motive for the killings. They are also too slow to prevent the additional murders that Khalil commits as he criss-crosses the country. As the reader knows (before the CIA and FBI), Khalil is a fanatic Moslem avenging the death of his entire family during the raid on Tripoli and Benghazi in April 1986. The raid, ordered by then President Ronald Reagan is in retaliation for the Libyan bombing of a disco in Berlin that killed several off duty GIs. Khalil's motive is quickly apparent to the reader: he is after the flight crews of the F-111 fighter bombers that carried out the raid on Al Azzizya where he and his family lived. The location, a military installation was also the known location of Muammar Ghadafi, the Libyan dictator also targeted by President Reagan.
DeMille does a very good job of providing the reader with the historical background that resulted in the raid, as well as the resulting fall-out, i.e. the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, and later, other terrorist attacks. There is a minor mention of the first WTC attack in 1993, but since 9/11 had yet to happen prior to this book's release, the Twin Towers are still standing and used as a geographical reference point for Khalil and others in and around NYC.
During the course of the story, DeMille takes the reader and federal officials on a cross country chase while Corey and Mayfield try to figure out where Khalil will strike next. Unfortunately for most of Khalil's victims, they are always one or more steps behind while he pursues his mission of vengeance.
It is not until the last 100 pages (of a 679 page total) that Corey begins to 'catch' on to what Khalil is up to and this is obviously the prelude to the final denouement. However, the book continues as another Khalil scheme is figured out and the authorities must scramble to stop him.
Without giving away the ending, here are some of the things that I liked about this book:
1) The reprise of John Corey, one of DeMille's most realistic protagonists.
2) Effective discussion of federal and state law enforcement techniques and the legendary dislike local police departments have for the FBI.
3) The revelation (how unusual) that the CIA member of the ATTF is universally disliked by everyone.
4) The realistic descriptions of locales, especially those in and around NYC. It is quite obvious that the author, from the NY metro area, knows it well. The local geography, with which I am very familiar contributed greatly to my enjoyment of this novel.
5) The use of NY mannerisms and how law enforcement officials from other parts of the country deal with them.
6) The constant injection of humor and sarcasm to break or increase the effectiveness of dialog and dramatic tension.
This is a novel that devoted DeMille fans will enjoy. While some reviewers here have commented on this book not being DeMille's best, I have to admit that I agree to an extent. Still, I enjoyed reading about John Corey and his further escapades. I just wish I had read it when first published because some of the enjoyment has been eclipsed by the events of 9/11, my knowledge that the WTC no longer exists and the fact that I have spent the better part of the last five years serving overseas involved in the war on terror.
If you haven't read PLUM ISLAND and this novel, I recommend that you do so first before reading THE LION'S GAME. So much of John Corey's personality is introduced in that book and it will add to your understanding of his character and flaws when you read this later installment.
I should also point out that since THE LION'S GAME was first released in 2000 that Nelson DeMille has published a third novel starring John Corey and Kate Mayfield. That novel, entitled NIGHT FALL concerns itself with events that transpire as a result of the fifth anniversary of the tragedy of TWA Flight 800 off the south shore of Long Island in 1996. I plan to get to that novel in the near future.
Recommended:
Yes
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