Archive for year: 2019

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, filled with warmth and good cheer, and devoid of politics.

As I announced in my November Newsletter, The Deserter, co-authored with my son Alex, debuted at #3 on the New York Times combined print and e-book Best Sellers list. This was a tough list to crack, filled with new books by mega-selling authors, so this was something to be thankful for. The Deserter continues to sell well and reviews have been terrific. If you haven’t picked up a copy at your bookstore or haven’t ordered a copy online or downloaded the e-book or audiobook, this is the time to do it. And you can do that right here and now. The audio download has an added bonus – an interview with me and Alex done by Scott Brick, the audiobook narrator. If you listen closely, you can hear someone saying, “Are we getting paid for this?”

Alex and I have completed our book tour, which was fun but exhausting. We met lots of enthusiastic fans and signed hundreds of books. This was my 21^st book tour and Alex’s first. We enjoyed doing this together and we look forward to doing it again for our next co-authored book. Someday I will write a book about my book tours. I will title it, The Agony and the Ecstasy.

Also, let me remind everyone that all twenty of my earlier books are in paperback and they would make great stocking stuffers. Check them out here.

I’d like to recommend a book that I’ve just read: Takes One to Know One, by my good pal Susan Isaacs. Susan, who wrote Compromising Positions and thirteen other great novels, is at the top of her game here with this smart, wicked and witty novel. The New York Journal of Books says, “Isaacs’s writing is clever and funny, with laugh-out-loud moments and strong character development.  …Highly recommended for anyone who likes fast-paced storytelling, quirky and interesting characters, and a plot that keeps you guessing right along with the protagonist.”

Takes One to Know One will make a great Christmas or Hanukah gift. The nice thing about a book as a gift is that you can read it, then wrap it. Don’t spill anything on it.

Also for holiday gift giving, you can get a signed copy of The Deserter by ordering it online from my good friend Otto Penzler, who is the owner of Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan and publisher of Mysterious Press. Alex and I were in Otto’s bookstore recently and signed about a hundred copies of The Deserter. You can get one by clicking here. Act now; he’s almost sold out.

Also as announced in my November Newsletter, a major studio and major producer/director have made me an offer I can’t refuse for the movie rights to The Cuban Affair. I thought I’d be able to reveal the details at this time, but I’ve been asked to wait until the deal is announced in a studio press release, probably in January.

Meanwhile, if you’ve read The Cuban Affair and if you have a suggestion about who should play Mac MacCormick and Sara Ortega, let me know. I already know who should play the cantankerous Viet Nam veteran. Me. Maybe this is what’s holding up the deal.

A lot of readers of this Newsletter have asked me what I’m working on. I’ve answered this in past Newsletters, but let me answer again: My work in progress, titled The Maze, is another John Corey book, the eighth in the series, and the book opens where the first John Corey book, Plum Island, began: on the back porch of his uncle’s house overlooking the water on the North Fork of Long Island. John is in early and forced retirement and exploring his options, when someone from his past steps onto the porch and makes him an offer he should refuse. John Corey does not make good choices, but he makes for a good story.

As for Alex, he’s begun the second book in the new series featuring Scott Brodie and Maggie Taylor, Army CID agents who debuted in The Deserter. This book is tentatively titled No Man’s Land, and it takes place in Berlin, a city with a dark history and darker secrets. Alex and I are in a writing race to see who finishes first and gets published first. I hope we don’t get the chapters mixed up.

Christmas is coming, and whether or not this is your holiday, it is the season where we reflect on the past and remember loved ones who are no longer with us. We should also remember the men and women who serve in uniform.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukah, and a New Year of peace, happiness, and good health.

Summer is over, but spring is here if you live south of the equator. For the rest of us, it’s autumn, and there are a lot of great fall and holiday books coming out this season, so to help you choose what books to buy, let me make some suggestions:

First, The Deserter, by Nelson DeMille and Alex DeMille, which will be published October 22. I’ll give you the rest of my suggested fall reading list in the next Newsletter – or the one after.

To read some chapters of The Deserter, free of charge, click here. If you like the chapters, pre-order one for everyone on your holiday shopping list. If you want Alex and me to inscribe and sign The Deserter, come to one of our book signings. Here is a preliminary schedule of our appearances. If there isn’t a signing in your area, take advantage of our Do-It-Yourself autograph policy.

To learn more about Alex DeMille, please visit his website www.alexdemille.com and find his social media links to follow him.

And don’t forget that all my previous books are available in paperback, and they make great stocking stuffers, especially the ebooks and audio downloads which don’t take up any space in the stocking or under the tree.

This ends the commercial messages.

I just went to a gathering of my high school class, Elmont Memorial H.S., Class of 1962. It was wonderful to see old friends and classmates and catch up on life. Elmont was a tough neighborhood, and many of my classmates compared notes on their parole officers, their time doing time, and other life-changing events. When the check came, the room emptied quickly and the class disappeared into waiting cars. Just kidding, of course. It was a beautiful occasion, and if you have a chance to go to a class reunion, do it.

The Union League Club in New York City hosted a Vietnam Veterans night to honor those who served. It was a black tie affair and the Club asked us to wear our service medals, which we did with pride. The guest of honor was Jack Jacobs, a friend of mine and fellow author who earned the Congressional Medal of Honor for extraordinary bravery under fire. The guest speaker was General Petraeus who gave a very moving talk and thanked us for our service. A surprise guest speaker was Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State who negotiated the Paris Peace Talks that got us out of the war, but didn’t actually lead to peace.

So those were my two trips down Memory Lane in September, and these occasions always make you reflect on your life.

I went to both of these gatherings with my childhood friend, Dan Barbiero, who served in the Marines and was in Vietnam at the same time I was. We both made it home in one piece, right before Christmas, 1968, and we’ve been celebrating life ever since. Which reminds me of a cartoon I saw recently that depicted a tombstone with the words: ALL THAT KALE FOR NOTHING.

My sentiments exactly. Skip the kale. Have a drink. And have a great October.

As many of you may know, I lost my wife last September after a long and very brave fight with cancer, so I haven’t been writing any Newsletters for about a year. But I didn’t want to let the summer pass without reaching out to my readers, many of whom have sent me condolences, for which I thank you.

The first thing I want to share is that I just completed a novel that I co-authored with my son Alex. The title is The Deserter, and it will be published October 22 by Simon & Schuster. So let’s kick off this news with a giveaway of a signed advance reading copy. Submit the name of your favorite DeMille book on my Newsletter page and you will be entered to win

The Deserter was inspired by the Bowe Bergdahl case. You may remember that Bergdahl deserted from the Army while stationed in Afghanistan, then was captured by the Taliban and held for a number of years until he was released in exchange for five Taliban commanders that the U.S. had imprisoned. The Deserter has a different storyline, but Bergdahl’s desertion and capture gave me the idea for this story.

The Deserter introduces two new characters—Chief Warrant Officer Scott Brodie and his partner Warrant Officer Maggie Taylor who are investigators for the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division—the CID. The deserter in the story is a Delta Force Captain named Kyle Mercer who has escaped his Taliban captors and is spotted a year later in Caracas, Venezuela by an old Army buddy. Our heroes, Brodie and Taylor, are tasked with going to Caracas to pick up the trail. Why did Captain Mercer, a decorated war hero, desert? And why is he in Venezuela? All this and more will be revealed in 500 fast-moving pages.

You can check out The Deserter on my website now, and if you push the correct button you can pre-order it now.

Meanwhile, I’ll post one or two chapters on my website before the October publication. Hope you enjoy it.

So why did I choose to co-author a book, The Deserter, with my son? And how did that work out? Well, we’re still speaking to each other and the publisher is thrilled with the finished product, so it worked out fine. In fact, we’re going to continue with Scott Brodie and Maggie Taylor as a series, and Alex is setting their next adventure in Berlin.

To find out more about my new co-author, please visit his website www.alexdemille.com.

My 12-year-old son now wants to co-author a book with me about a superhero who plays computer games all day and saves the world from an alien invasion. I’ll think about that.

Meanwhile, my new work in progress is a John Corey book—the eighth in the series. The book, tentatively titled The Maze, returns John to the North Fork of Long Island where he first made his appearance in Plum Island.  In a way, John has come full circle in The Maze which opens where Plum Island did—on the back porch of his uncle’s house overlooking Peconic Bay. And, as usual, John is about to get himself into trouble. Publication of The Maze will be—hopefully—fall of 2020.

I’ll keep in touch with at least one more Newsletter before The Deserter is published in October. Enjoy the summer and live life to the fullest.