The
Deserter by
prolific author Nelson DeMille is co-written with his son,
Alex DeMille. Readers will not be disappointed. After all,
what is there not to like with a DeMille novel. It has a thrilling
mystery, engaging characters, and humorous/sarcastic banter.
The story seems to be based on Bowe Berghdal, a US soldier
stationed in Afghanistan who walked away from his post, had
two of his peers killed trying to find him, and was caught
by the Taliban who kept him in supposed captivity. But then
the plot takes a twist and turn. Delta Force Army Officer
Kyle Mercer, the Berghdal supposed character, has escaped
the Taliban by beheading his captors and fleeing to Venezuela.
After being spotted by an old army buddy, the top military
brass decide to send two members of the Criminal Investigation
Division (CID) to that evil socialist country to find Mercer
and bring him back for trial of desertion. Scott Brodie, a
former infantry soldier in Iraq, now a top CID investigator,
is teamed with Maggie Taylor, a former Civil Affairs E-5 in
Afghanistan, who is working for CID. While Brodie is wise-cracking,
arrogant, and someone who has trouble following orders, Taylor
is a by the books person who tries to rein in Brodie.
“We wrote this profession as CID Officers because they
can travel anywhere in the world. If we had chosen local cops,
then the setting would be stuck in a particular municipality,
or if Federal Agents like the FBI, they would be limited to
mainly traveling around this country. The CID has authority
wherever this is an American military base.”
“We wrote the bad guy Kyle Mercer as patriotic and a
member of an elite force. Mercer was taken advantage of by
the powers that be and came to a place where he no longer
respects authority. Because of what he was asked to do, he
lost respect for himself. I would compare him to the Frankenstein
monster character. They were put on this destructive path,
but it was not their fault.”
As the investigation takes hold, it becomes apparent that
there is more behind Mercer’s desertion. Brodie and
Taylor find disturbing and treacherous secrets by lofty officials
in the military and intelligence agencies. The question becomes
has the government been involved in immoral activities; in
other words, it is the deep state implementing unethical deeds.
This is what DeMille is best at, offering conspiracy theories
to make a riveting storyline.
Nelson DeMille noted, “The common denominator between
Brodie and Corey is that both are cops, so they have the same
mindset. We changed Brodie purposely by giving him a rural
background from upstate New York rather than growing up in
East Manhattan. We also made Brodie’s thinking different
than Corey, although the sarcasm is the same. Both are arrogant,
smartasses, macho men. Much of this banter and the military
jargon was written by me.”
Alex DeMille added, “Brodie is the architype that my
dad writes, the wiseass intelligent rule breaker, but I made
him more responsible than Corey who takes pride in people
underestimating him. I wrote this book in the third person,
similar to what my dad did in his earlier novels. I wanted
to distinguish this book from the John Corey books.”
The DeMilles have written a classic Nelson DeMille book that
has politics, espionage, and suspense. Readers are taken on
a roller coaster ride in this action-filled story. A bonus
is the description of Venezuela in historical terms where
it has become a “country on the edge, economically desperate,
with weak and corrupt institutions and a government openly
hostile to American interests.”
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