The Lion's Game : The Good Guys vs. The Bad Guys
Written: Jun 18 '07 (Updated Jun 24 '08)
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Pros: Easy to read style with a gripping story.
Cons: Perhaps a bit too much language for some.
The Bottom Line: Nelson Demille once again brought me into a fast page turning tale that had me on the edge of my seat at one moment and laughing out loud the next.
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| popsrocks's Full Review: Nelson Demille - The Lion's Game |
I've now read a number of Nelson Demille's books. I like his easy to follow style, distinct and colourful "good" and "bad guy" characters and most important the underlying history that creates a hostile world with an "US vs. Them" attitude. More on that later.
A Familiar Character
This is Demille's second book with the retired NYC detective John Corey as the investigative protagonist. Corey is a street-hardened, smart-mouthed, intelligent cop who also teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He is now a temp sharing his services with the Anti-Terrorist Task Force (ATTF). Demille has since written two more with Corey in them.
This book starts with Libyan Asad Khalil committing a deadly terrorist act under the noses of the US agencies killing hundreds on an aircraft. We learn early on that he wants to avenge the deaths of his family taken from him in a military raid on Libya in the 1980s under president Ronald Reagan.
The FBI, CIA and also John Corey with ATTF are united to help solve the case. Because much does at first happen in the NYC area John Corey uses some of his street smarts and connections to help break the case. The action takes place in the New York area, other states of continental USA and some in Europe and also Libya.
After this first mass killing all the investigative services are trying to capture a man who may have stayed in the US or made his way out. We do learn early on that he has NOT finished his goal and we do follow him committing up-close gruesome killings. The book follows the killer and Corey as they play the "Hunter and Hunted", even switching roles, for the rest of the book.
Real Life and Fiction "Connect"
A very chilling scene early in this realistic novel that came out in 2000 has the killer Khalil riding in a cab over a bridge in the NYC area. A cab driver notes the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center standing in lower Manhattan after an attempt to blow one of them up in 1994. The terrorist character states, as he crosses the bridge, "I'll be back for them". Hearing the evil and determination in this fictitious killers voice and knowing that 9/11 happened in "real life" a year after this book was printed sent chills down my spine. Other pre 9/11 references continued throughout the book. Demille, like some other observant Americans saw it coming.
Nelson Demille, a New Yorker and Long Islander has a knack for being ahead of the real world in his story telling and honest appraisals of world political situations. Though his characters are easy to like and dislike, at least for me, he does give enough background that makes one think, "When will this "tit for tat" killing, stop. Is action always necessary and can it stop or is that a dream of impossibility. He both opens eyes to impending terror and in his own way opens those questions of how will it end.
My Reason For Following Demille's Books
I suppose more than anything else it is Demille's character John Cory who solves cases with his intelligent analysis and yet gets himself in trouble with his foul-mouth, smart-aleck remarks and penchant for pretty ladies, that attracts me. I'll mention here that he and some of the other detectives and such do use four letter words freely. Though I'm not comfortable with such language in my daily living, I found Cory's colourful banter not only tolerable, but actually beneficial to the feel of the character and his surroundings.
Not having a computer has given me some free time to read at night. Next, while on vacation I'll read Nelson Demille's latest book Wildfire. For those purists, I did already read Nightfall his third of the four John Cory character books of his, but out of order. That said, this book, The Lion's Game can certainly be read on its own without first reading the other books. The author does bring the reader up-to-date early in the book. Still though, if you can, read them in order.
Demille does have about eighteen on the book shelves now. I have been able to recommend every one I have read including The Charm School, Plum Island and Night Fall that Demille references parts of in Lion's Game.
Plum Island
Night Fall
Up Country
Mayday
This is an entry into France/Britain W/O Barbara. be sure to join the W/O!!
The tie-in is found as we recall France's actions and those of Great Britain during the raid on Libya. Some action, though not much, also happens to takes place in Paris, France and in England.
Recommended:
Yes
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