Started out very slow. Probably one quarter of the book wasted before action started. I did want to keep reading to know what would happen. A lot of extraneous material before the final showdown. While I always liked John Corey, this time I grew very tired of his wise cracks, whether spoken or thought. All in all, the major plot was good, but this book did not live up to the series. Bring back Kate and the Feds.

I had to step away for a couple of days after reading this book. I am so disappointed in it to be perfectly honest. I actually wanted to shut the book and stop reading.
I picked this book to read and was given an advanced reader's copy by the publisher and NetGalley. My choice was due to the wording that it was about the investigation into a serial killer. As I read, I noted that the main character, John Corey has a good sense of humor. Then in my notes I wrote, "I don't particularly like him, lousy attitude about women. Constant liar. Not a magnetic character for me at all. Language." So degrading.
I became quite irritated with the plot; no investigation was showing up and I was at 44% of the story. This was not at all what I expected.
All in all, I was disgusted by the character and the story line was disappointing.
This is my opinion. I wanted this to be a riveting story of investigation and it just isn't. I feel badly as I know a lot of work was put into this. Definitely not a character I can care about.

John Corey has been relaxing at his Uncle's place on the North Fork (Southold) of Long Island. He has broken up with his latest partner when he left his latest gig with a government agency. All the rest of the woman in his life were off the radar except his ex-wife who he was trying to work out a divorce settlement with, though she gave him the NYC Condo (all he had to do was pay the mortgage).

He gets a call from Detective Beth Penrose of the Suffolk Police who had worked with previously and that relationship also hadn't ended well. Beth has a suggestion for a job for John at a private investigative group run by an old friend of his that's based in the area called Security Solutions. John doesn't seem that interested even after he sleeps with Beth, but his friend Chief Maxwell who is the head of a local Police force also asked him to do it.

Planning to blow off the interview, Beth has told him and old enemy works there and that it's run by a guy that John doesn't trust. Penrose and Maxwell suspect that Security Solutions is involved with the murder of seven woman whose bodies were dumped on a secluded spot on Fire Island. John gets the job. But nothing turns out the way he and Beth plan but in the end everything comes up smelling of (Pen)Roses.

I received an advance reader copy of this book for an honest review. Interesting book with lots of action and very interesting concept. Things didn’t turn out the way I thought they were going to at all. This is the first John Corey book I have read so maybe I should go back and read the others to see how he usually operates and how his mind works. Good book that I would totally recommend.

The Maze
By Nelson DeMille

Nelson DeMille is a prolific writer whose novels are generally well plotted and satisfying reads. This is yet another in his series about John Corey, former NYPD, FBI, etc. Corey is an arrogant wiseguy and outstanding detective, especially in his own opinion.

While a fan of DeMille's books, I must admit that this one was kind of a letdown. It is lacking in suspense and ultimately, while implying who the chief bad guys are, never really reaches a satisfying conclusion, thus paving the way for future Corey books. In my opinion, it's time to put John Corey to bed.

I am a great admirer of some of Mr. DeMille's earlier works – The Gold Coast, The Charm School, By the Rivers of Babylon and many others. I would like to see him write something fresh and new and get away from repeating a tried and true rehash of John Corey.

I have been reading the John Corey series since the very first book plum Island, every book has been amazing, and this one does not disappoint. Love the storyline and John Corey's dry sense humor. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to readto read this amazing book in exchange for a honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for this Advanced Reader. I have read many of Nelson DeMille’s books and have enjoyed each and every one of them – The General’s Daughter for one was made into a movie starring John Travolta.
This story is one of the Jack Corey series which I had not read. Jack Corey was a Police Officer, Federal Agent, Task Force Officer. He comes across as a cocky and smart alec person. In this story, he has been fired from all of his jobs.. He takes chances. In this story he does it all over again. The story itself is kind of interesting about a private investigating firm run by a former vice squad officer who gets many officers along with their Chiefs into a position where they are put under the microscope by them and they are paying funds for its silence. Pictures and tapes of the various Captains and Chiefs and officers in compromising situations Of course, Jack Corey thinks he can bring them down - alone. I didn’t like some of the language although it wasn’t too bad – I prefer to do without it – and his cockiness got to me at times as well. The story was fair. I did not enjoy this like some of DeMille’s other books.

Thank you @netgalley for the earc of Nelson Demille's latest The Maze
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This has my favorite ex NYPD detective John Corey in it. I have loved all off the books with him in it.
John is back on his uncle's front porch, unemployed, wondering if his past is going to catch up to him. Past wives or past killers hunting him, he isn't sure which one will find him first. His ex girlfriend, Detective Beth Penrose has an offer for him. She wants him to be a Private Investigator for this man who hires a lot of ex police officers. As John begin work with them, he suspects things are very underhanded here and that a serial killer could be amongst them.
He races to find the truth, before they realize he's investigating his new firm.
Fast paced, great mystery and I always love John Corey! He is always cocky and arrogant but so very funny! That's why I love him.
This book is out October 11, 2022.
#NetGalley
#crazybooknerd
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This is my first read by this author, so perhaps that is part of the issue, but I did not enjoy this book. The writing style was bland and I didn’t feel like there was much of a plot for a good portion of the book. Once a semblance of a plot started forming, it was bland and repetitive as multiple character perspectives replay over and over. I found the jokes and some of the narrative to be distasteful and unnecessary. They added nothing to the plot and at times actually detracted from it. The pacing was slow due to the repetitiveness, and it was just very hard for me to stay engaged.

It seems this authors previous works are rated much higher overall. Perhaps I will pick up another one of his novels and try again, but this one was a miss.

Thank you to NetGalley + Simon & Schuster for the ARC.

The Maze by Nelson DeMille is his latest novel with John Corey, the character who was first introduced in the novel Plum Island. John is an extremely interesting and fascinating character who has a unique and sarcastic sense of humor which is constantly on display throughout this book.

This time around Corey finds himself involved with a number of different women and is pursuing an employment opportunity as a consultant for a private investigation firm. The writing is tantalizing and the reader is always anxious to discover what action - and there is plenty of action - unfolds and how Corey reacts both in his thoughts and actual words and deeds.

Page turner is an often used phrase; but, it is certainly appropriate for this well written thriller.

I thank NetGalley and Scribner for the opportunity to read and review this book in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t know any other way to say this - I truly disliked this book. I should state that I am - or was? - a fan of Nelson DeMille. I think The Gold Coast is a true gem. I loved his book The Charm Schoo] and others, including some of the early John Corey novels, of which this is the 8th installment.

But imagine a book written not by the author of those books, but instead by the most cartoonish caricature of a guy who finds foreign accents funny and worth making fun of - not once, twice but multiple times, of a guy who does not encounter a single female character without talking about her physical assets, what it would be (or was) like to have sex with her, etc., of a guy who talks about PBS as if it's a method of torture, or who talks about ... well, anything in a way that suggests that the only kind of real man is one who owns a lot of guns, drinks blended scotch, treats women like shit and thinks anyone from the Middle East is a terrorist.

Cause, folks, that's John Corey here. And it's somehow <I>worse</i> than that, because no one likes John Corey more than John Corey. (Or, more likely, Nelson DeMille.) The first half of the book, he can't utter a single line of dialogue without a secondary comment to the reader showing just how witty he is. Most of those witticisms fall into the prior categories of sexist, racist or toxic masculinity, which may go without saying.

I think Corey's character has always been "old school," and certainly not politically correct, and I have no problem reading those books. In fact, I have! And I enjoyed them enough I wanted to read this. But he's a complete buffoon now, and the fact that DeMille presents this character NOT as a man out of time, a guy who needs to adapt to the real world, but instead as a hero who literally ALL women fall over themselves to sleep with him, and who is simply better at everything than anyone he meets is... it's just gross.

Oh, and the plot of the novel? It's really, really, REALLY dumb. And even within that dumbness, it gets twisty and complicated at the VERY end in a way that can't be satisfying to anyone.. No action or development happens until maybe 80% of the way into the novel.

My favorite part of the book was the acknowledgements at the end, when DeMille thanks folks he consulted with so that he could portray a woman's perspective so much better, and also basically brags about what a great writer he is. DeMille seems, quite clearly, to be well past his prime and catering to a different audience than me or most anyone I would want to share a book with.

Confession time: The Maze is my first Nelson DeMille novel. Because I hadn't been a longtime reader and wasn't familiar with John Corey, the former NYPD homicide detective and center of a book series, it gave me a unique starting point for an introduction to him. Readers familiar with the John Corey series will enjoy another outing with him, while those new to his world won't feel like they need to read seven other books to get a handle on the character. The Maze finds Corey retired, spending time on Long Island, when he's asked to help out his former lover, Detective Beth Penrose with a case. The case is inspired by the still-unsolved real life Gilgo Beach murders and puts Corey squarely in the middle of a corruption scheme that involves not only local politicians and cops but some of his former coworkers. The book moves along at a great pace, and by the time I got to the last few chapters I couldn't put it down. Nelson DeMille has written a winner, and has made me want to go back and read the rest of the Corey series.

This is the first book I have read by Nelson DeMille and i will definitely be reading more of his books, especially the others in this series about Detective John Corey. I liked the humor of John Corey throughout the book, even when he was in a difficult situation. The excitement, danger, twists and turns, and not knowing who could be trusted and honest made this a page turner for me.. Thank you NetGalley and Publisher Simon and Schuster for the opportunity to read and review this book.

First, I'd like to thank Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review. I was excited to get an early peek at the new John Corey book since I've always enjoyed this series and it's been quite a while since the last one. Corey has always been snarky, politically incorrect, and good for some serious double entendres to keep other characters on their toes; unfortunately this time he comes off as a crass jerk who's trying too hard to be a macho man. Once the book gets to the actual point of the crimes, it was a pretty standard John Corey book in terms of the action and John using his smarts to get out of sticky situations, it just took way too long to get there. I truly wish that I'd liked this book more, but I'd have to give it 2.5 stars.

Overall, like all the prior John Corey novels, I enjoyed this story. Many times while reading, I burst out laughing. I did feel that the pacing lagged in places and the plan and expected results were repeated countless times, before the action actually started. I felt like this novel could have been compressed without much loss to the story.

The Maze is an apt description of this thriller. If you've read any of Nelson DeMille's books featuring John Corey, you know he has a wry and dry sense of humor, is irreverent, and gets himself into interesting and potentially lethal situations with some regularity. In The Maze, Corey has been relieved of his roles for the Federal Government and is taking a break--- and keeping an eye on the rear view mirror because some folks would like him to be dead. Staying on Long Island, he makes contact with characters we met in "Plum Island", who encourage him to try employment as a Private Investigator. And thus the action begins.

The situation is a maze of corruption, his love life seems to be a maze of former and current women, and an actual corn maze turns out to have a role in the story.

I found the first few chapters of background and set-up a bit slow, but the story increases in pace once he contacts the PI agency. This wasn't my favorite book by Nelson DeMille, but I enjoyed it -- and it gave me another reason to avoid corn mazes.

I’ve read DeMille books before and really enjoyed them. This was too much, too much double talk, what he said and what he wanted to say, too much “I’ll get to that later”, and too much in the maze. I swear it took 2 hours to read that whole part. I will continue to read books by him but it will take time to recover from this one.

Having never read any of the John Corey Novels by Mr. DeMille, I was excited to see find out what everyone was talking about. I found out.

First off, I didn't care for John Corey. He came off as narcissistic, very full of himself, proud of his womanizing and one-night stands, and not nearly as smart and observant as he thinks he is. Many times, I said aloud "Oh good grief, don't do it! Can't you see...?!" And he never saw, and he did it anyway. Which always turned out bad for him. It was frustrating.

Also, the first 3/4 of the book was a tad slow in the "excitement, things happening at lightning speed, thrills aplenty!" department. It was well written, but mostly inner musings by our hero John about the past, what he thought about the now, and who could he seduce next without pissing off his former lady friends.

Finally, things picked up in the final quarter and were satisfyingly action packed, tying up all the loose knots and putting to bed all the various relationships, as far as who was with whom and when and how many times.

I enjoyed the ending, wish it would have come sooner.

I liked the opening of this novel, finding narrator John Corey's voice humorous if somewhat misogynistic, which is fine (it is what it is when it comes to male cops of a certain age, he'd have us believe). But the story just faltered into total predictability about a third of the way in. New characters, a stranger coming in to alter a point of view, something.....something was missing. I skimmed through the rest of it to confirm my suspicion that there were no surprises.

The Maze is another great addition book in the John Corey series of books by Nelson DeMille. It was nice to return to some familiar characters, though this book can certainly be read as a standalone if you have not read any previous books by this author. I have always enjoyed Mr, DeMille’s character development, the quick yet easily followed pace of the plot, but it is the dialogue and internal conversations each character - though especially John Corey - has that I find particularly enjoyable.
I will not recap the entire plot, but suffice to say John Corey gets involved with seeking out corruption among his frenemies and acquaintances within the law enforcement agencies and confronts that evil. I highly recommend this book - grab it and hang on for another great ride.
I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.