August 22, 2022
Bestseller DeMille’s ponderous eighth John Corey novel (after 2015’s Radiant Angel) drags Corey—former NYPD detective, former contract agent with the Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force, former member of the Diplomatic Surveillance Group, and former adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice—out of his enforced retirement. One of Corey’s former lovers, Det. Beth Penrose of the Suffolk County Homicide Squad, urges him to take a job with a private investigation firm on Long Island called Security Solutions. After much dithering, Corey finally succumbs to Beth’s entreaties and winds up in a treacherous maze of vice, graft, and blackmail, and on the trail of a serial killer. Fortunately, the dirty cops and lowlifes employed by the detective agency are as old-school as Corey, who ends up looking for incriminating evidence among Security Solutions’ recent videocassettes and paper ledgers, which are stored in a basement secured by a padlock. Armed with his trusty Glock, a crowbar, and unlimited cockiness, Corey manfully succeeds in fighting crime. This is for die-hard fans only. Agents: Sloan Harris and Jennifer Joel, ICM Partners.
June 10, 2024
John Corey has been dismissed from a host of law enforcement agencies, mostly for his impulsive responses to the cases he has been assigned. This impulsiveness also played a part in the dissolution of his two marriages. He is temporarily living in his uncle's house on Long Island's North Fork when an old flame, homicide detective Beth Penrose, contacts him, wanting him to infiltrate a company called Security Solutions, where suspicious activities have aroused her concern. At least one employee and several sex workers (linked to the company's "Thirsty Thursday" boy's nights) have died under suspicious circumstances. John agrees to help, but he declines to follow orders. This results in a shootout in the neighboring hedge maze, multiple deaths, and the loss of the evidence critical to the investigation. In this eighth book in the John Corey series (after Radiant Angel) DeMille provides an unapologetically macho, testosterone-fueled story line where the "good" cop singlehandedly takes on the "bad guys." The first half of the book is mostly background; the second half contains the action. The characters are crude, rude, and lewd. Read with enthusiasm and excellent pacing by narrator Scott Brick. VERDICT Diehard fans may enjoy, but an otherwise optional purchase.--Joanna M. Burkhardt
Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.