Book Review: Wild Fire

By Sandy Amazeen Dec 13, 2006, 2:04 GMT

Detective John Corey’s suspicious nature is aroused when colleague Harry Muller is sent off on a weekend surveillance mission to upstate New York with a suitcase full of high tech gear and instructions to photograph any comings and goings at the Custer Hill Club. From all outward appearances, the Custer Hill Club is a luxurious men’s club, catering to some of the biggest names in Washington. Harry quickly realizes something much bigger is going on. What hunting lodge needs a twelve-foot high fence topped with razor wire, an armed private security force and the latest, camouflaged relay tower hidden in it’s back yard?

When Harry fails to return from his assignment Corey and his wife, FBI Agent Kate Mayfield team up to find out what happened and glean what information they can about the real story behind the Custer Hill Club. What they uncover is a frightening plot to reshape the world through nuclear Armageddon and once it begins, there’s no stopping, no going back and it will certainly kill millions of people worldwide.

DeMille constructs a terrifying scenario where money, power and fanaticism overwhelm morality. Corey’s smart aleck inner dialog interjects a predictable if humorous tone to the tried and true formula story of a country launching an attack upon itself in order to justify going to war. Confrontations frequently break down into repetitious rounds of “f*** you” leaving the reader yearning for expanded vocabularies and meaningful dialog, still this is an entertaining suspense novel despite its shortcomings.