Book Review: Wildfire by Nelson DeMille

Wildfire is Nelson DeMille’s fourth novel about former NYPD detective John Corey, who was critically wounded in The Lion’s Game by a Libyan terrorist. This injury ended Corey’s career with the NYPD with three-quarters disability and started his career on an Anti-Terrorism Task Force, on which he serves with his new wife, FBI Special Agent Kate Mayfield (also wounded by the same Libyan terrorist as her husband).

At the start of Wildfire we find Corey’s task force sending a member to conduct surveillance at the compound of a rich oil baron in upstate New York. Bain Madox, said oil baron, is having a friendly get-together at his place with members of government all intent on the annihilation of the Muslim world justified by what might be called the Reichstag reasoning.

Madox reveals his plan to the unfortunate agent sent to spy on him shortly before murdering him and positioning his body off the compound grounds, making the murder look like a hunting accident. The characteristically loose-cannon Corey becomes interested in this surveillance gone wrong and he and Mayfield are dispatched to investigate by their bureaucrat boss, protecting his ass for the ill-informed original surveillance (which Corey was originally pick to conduct).

Corey’s nose-thumbing begins early as he clowns his way through an investigation that turns rogue quickly, to the chagrin of his special agent wife. Early on, Corey reasons that his boss was being controlled by forces in the government unknown. He willfully disobeys every order in his investigation of the mysterious Madox, visiting the compound several times. Corey plays with the local authorities, creating subterfuge wherever he goes.

Mayfield is not so much hapless as she is incapable of controlling her husband and employee. No matter, the pair get their man (or men as it were, cleaning up messes made in the previous novels.). The story speeds to a heady conclusion and the moment of Armageddon approaches, making the book a fast, urgent read.

Article Author: C. Michael Bailey

Arkansas son C. Michael Bailey has been in hiding since he revealed his family's abolitionist position prior to the War Between the States. He is a Senior Reviewer for All About Jazz and publisher of the webblog Kultur. Michael’s day job is spent as a clinical data analyst.
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