Why You'll Love This
A local double murder on Long Island shouldn't have global consequences — until you find out where the victims worked.
- Great if you want: a wisecracking detective untangling a conspiracy hiding in plain sight
- The experience: breezy but sharp — moves fast without feeling cheap
- The writing: DeMille's John Corey voice is dry, self-aware, and relentlessly sardonic
- Skip if: Corey's smug interior monologue wears thin quickly for some readers
About This Book
On the eastern tip of Long Island, where old money meets open water and secrets have a way of washing ashore, a burned-out NYPD detective stumbles into a case that refuses to stay local. John Corey is supposed to be recovering from a bullet wound, not investigating the murders of two young scientists who worked at Plum Island — a federal research facility shrouded in rumors about biological weapons. What starts as a small-town homicide quietly expands into something with global stakes, and DeMille handles that escalation with the confidence of a writer who knows exactly when to tighten the screws.
What makes this novel genuinely rewarding is John Corey himself. DeMille gives him a voice that is sardonic, self-aware, and relentlessly entertaining — every chapter carries real personality, not just plot. The prose is crisp and propulsive, but it's Corey's irreverent interior monologue that sets the book apart from standard thriller territory. DeMille also has an affectionate command of the Long Island setting, using landscape and local culture to ground an increasingly high-stakes story in something that feels lived-in and real.
