I love this series and the main character. He is full of himself but I like that about him! I think the suspense was good and I really liked all of the other characters in this book. You need to read the whole series to appreciate the main character. Thanks for letting me review this book!

The most amazing mid-summer gift fell into my lap last week. Yes, of course, it was a book. Not just any old book though. It’s the latest from Nelson DeMille. Titled The Maze, it’s scheduled for release in October.

I’ve been waiting for it for a while since its protagonist is retired NYPD homicide detective, John Corey who was introduced to us in 1997 in DeMille’s bestseller, Plum Island. That thriller was set on the North Fork as is my own latest thriller, Fool Her Once. In The Maze, DeMille was expected to bring John Corey back to the North Fork. To say I was waiting impatiently would be an understatement.

Then, out of the blue, I received an email from NetGalley, a service that provides advance digital review copies, aka galley proofs, from authors and publishers to bloggers and book reviewers. Regular consumers too can request books but are not always likely to be approved — like I was not several years back before my blog took off and before Fool Her Once was published.

Total Surprise

Anyway, there it was, an unexpected, unsolicited email from NetGalley with the subject line: “Read Nelson DeMille’s The Maze now.” I downloaded the review copy into my Kindle immediately.

Then, I cleared my schedule for the day. Which means I interrupted my clean-up and re-vamp of this website (It’s going very slowly which is why my blogs are a little sporadic lately!)

Also, I temporarily set aside The Last Goodbye, the novel I was in the middle of reading (Sorry, Eldon, I’ll be coming right back to it!) I cooked hardboiled eggs for lunch (10 minutes!) and settled into my summer reading nook.

Hooked From The Start

Nelson had me hooked me from the very first sentence of Chapter One: “You can’t drink all day unless you start in the morning.” Yesssss!!!

John Corey is back in all his retirement glory, sitting with a beer on the back porch of his uncle’s North Fork house overlooking Long Island’s Great Peconic Bay.

Of course, the idyll doesn’t last because pretty soon his former lover, Beth Penrose, a detective in the Suffolk County homicide squad stops by and co-opts him into helping solve a string of murders close to home. The nine victims are mostly sex workers who have been found on deserted marshland on Fire Island, the barrier island on the Great South Bay.

Sound familiar? It should –if you’ve been following the real-life Gilgo Beach murders either in the news or as a dramatized version on HBOMax. The real life murders are, as of today, unsolved. DeMille in his Author’s Note acknowledges that The Maze is inspired by these real-life murders.

Undercover

In The Maze, Corey is persuaded to go undercover as a consultant to a sketchy private security outfit located in Riverhead. As a sideline, the private security firm organizes “Thirsty Thursdays” — social events featuring exotic dancers and escorts for a slew of well-connected Suffolk County politicians, judges and high-level cops and law enforcement officials like the Chief of Police, Ed Conners and the county District Attorney.

Any one of these could be the serial killer, but one of the chief suspects is the Police Chief himself who in The Maze has ordered his homicide squad not to co-operate with the FBI; and who has a history of abusing women including sex workers, and carries a bag of snuff porn and bondage paraphernalia in his SUV, with his misdeeds being covered up by — maybe the D.A. himself?

Based on Real Life?

Again. Sound familiar??? It certainly should to any reader of this blog or anyone who has read Jimmy The King, the real-life, true crime account of how Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke and Suffolk County District Attorney, Tom Spota were convicted and sentenced to jail terms. Burke for the bodily assault on a suspect –who stole a bag (containing porn and dildos) from Burke’s SUV –and Spota for helping him cover it up.

Author/journalist Gus Garcia-Roberts steers clear of certain media reports and accounts which raise a suspicion that former police chief Burke was involved in some way in the Gilgo Beach murders other than not co-operating with FBI profilers who tried to assist.

But The Maze Is Fiction

So, what will John Corey uncover in this spine-chilling, fictional thriller where he finds himself in “society’s worst nightmare” –where the law and order guys are themselves criminals? That’s the question that made me race to the finish of The Maze.

On the way, I revelled in the return of the brash, sometimes politically incorrect, John Corey. I loved him from the very first Corey book, Plum Island. Okay. Okay. Corey may sound like a bit of a throwback sometimes in this book, but his sardonic, often self-deprecating humor and wit has always made me laugh. His inner monologue which runs alongside his first-person narration is deliciously-paced and brilliant. I could have enjoyed this novel just for John Corey’s banter and dialog alone.

Full Disclosure
In the interests of full disclosure: Nelson DeMille wrote an author blurb for the cover of my very first thriller, Scandal. That was back in 1996, as anyone who has spent any time on this website knows. But, even before then, I was a total DeMille fan after reading Gold Coast (1990) The General’s Daughter (1992), and Spencerville (1994)

Then, came Plum Island (1997) which I referenced in a CrimeReads article after Fool Her Once was published. In that article, I wrote about the paucity of thrillers set on the North Fork of Long Island.

None of this has any bearing on the fact that my review of The Maze is honest and unbiased and my very own. I’m sorry the rest of DeMille’s fans have to wait till October to read this one.



Like1

First bookI’ve read by the author. It kept my attention for most of the book. However, if it had been about 50 pages shorter I would have liked it a lot better. The story was too drawn out for my liking.

I’ve been a fan of Nelson DeMille for yours and was excited to get a chance to read The Maze. That is until I was 1/4 of the way through the book and NOTHING had happened. I’m not sure that I’ve ever tried to read such a plodding, dull book. Life’s too short for boring books, so this one is going on the digital DNF pile.

Many thanks to Netgalley for the chance to read it.

I received this book from Netgalley as an ARC.
This was my first book by Mr. DeMille, and it will be my last.
My review and opinion of the book are not good.
The 'humor' is humorless and the descriptions of his former
female partners are crass and demeaning.
After several chapters in there is still no meat to the story,
mostly only reminisces of his former relationships.

I couldn’t wait to read this book, one of my favorite authors, one of my favorite characters John Corey,, and my obsession with the murdered girls on Long Island, couldn’t get any better than this, Right, no wrong.
I was totally disappointed in this book..I don’t if it was me. Knowing too much, about the girls who were killed and yes, it was committed by a crooked policeman and, everyone who lives on the Island knows this..
But I found John to be a little more self center and immature. I guess if you are a fan, get this book, read it and decide for yourself..

The Maze by Nelson DeMille is brimming with intrigue.
The book opens well, with characters that held my attention throughout the entire novel.
This is a novel that thrills and engages while possessing a clever plot that will keep the most astute reader guessing right up to the stunning climax.
My first book ever by DeMille and it was a good time.

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Scribner,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Make sure you read "Plum Island" before reading "The Maze". Previous knowledge of John Corey's personality is important to enjoying the book. Without prior knowledge and likability, John Corey will come off as sarcastic, obnoxious and misogynistic. He is all that but when you like the guy you are more willing to enjoy and forgive the ridiculous things that come out of his mouth. This is a fun summer beach read with some laugh out-loud moments. While it didn't keep me up late into the night, it did keep my interest and most importantly I would have purchased this book had I not been given an advanced copy.

John Corey returns, he’s been forced into retirement, but he’s got itchy feet and an itchy trigger finger. He observes a suspicious boat cruising past his family home on Long Island and when he gets a plea for help from former colleague and lover, detective Beth Penrose for help tracking down a serial killer, he makes a connection between the boat and the killer. DeMille based the killer on some real, and as yet unsolved murders. Readers who have read other John Corey novels may find the character much changed and I have read many reviews that are unhappy with those changes. While I’m not a fab of the many bad “dad jokes” sprinkled throughout the book, I see Corey’s changes a natural progression of a character who has aged realistically

The Maze is the new John Corey novel by Nelson DeMille. It is told in the first person, including humorous, politically incorrect humor asides which are thought but not voiced.
Readers of Stuart Wood, Janet Evanovich, and James Patterson will enjoy this quick, entertaining crime novel.

John Corey has retired, or so he thinks. He can't continue in his prior careers, and his body is showing a lot of wear and tear. Now he sits on a Long Island porch that belongs to his uncle, watching a cabin cruiser that seems a little suspicious as it maneuvers offshore. He picks up his Glock and has it ready if the boat is part of an attack on him.

He's made a lot of enemies in his life, and they didn't retire when he did.

A noise in the kitchen causes him to turn, gun ready, only to see an old acquaintance who doesn't want to kill him...does she? She's actually got a job offer for him. A serial killer is stalking prostitutes, and nobody can catch him. Does he want to have a try at it?

He's never considered working as a private investigator before. Is that the direction he wants to go?

Corey still dishes out a steady diet of sarcastic one-liners like a comedy club performer working a police precinct. It's a chance to revisit a popular DeMille character, perhaps in his last appearance in the pages of a mystery, one based on a real unsolved case.

This story was not for me. The humor in it was not funny at all to me. Kinda gross. I just wasn’t a fan.

I want to preface this review by saying I waited for this new Nelson DeMille novel with great anticipation. I have been an ardent fan since 1985's Word of Honor. Unfortunately, I didn't think The Maze was what I was expecting. I think I was just as skeptical about the plot as John Corey. And to compound my sense of unease, I found the level of crude humor a bit too much. Needless to say I was disappointed.

As much as I like Nelson DeMille's novels, I never saw John Corey as being as obnoxious as he is in The Maze. The constant lame jokes, bragging, and endless talk of his penis just became too much. The story was so slow in starting that one focused on Corey's cockiness waiting for something to actually happen. Once it did, the story was interesting and worth reading. The soft porn turned me off.
Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I have read all of the John Corey books, so I excited to read this one. Unfortunately, it was just OK and not what I expected. I would give it 2.5 stars. It's not action packed at all. It's the exact opposite. I admit Radiant Angel was not one of my favorites and I don't remember much of what happened. The book was so slow moving and nothing, absolutely nothing happens until the very end. It took half the book, to find out the reason why Beth and Max were pushing John to join Security Solutions. The ending was terrible. Nothing was resolved, nothing was revealed. There's just a lot of dead bodies, no evidence and no one broke down and revealed the truth about anything. I wouldn't call this much of a mystery/thriller. I hated the relationship between John and Beth. It seemed fake. She keeps telling him that she loves him. Seriously??? They dated a short time, years and years and years ago. He left her for Kate. I still don't get the Kate estrangement. It really doesn't fit. John and Kate were great together. Better suited than Beth and John. Beth only wanted John so he could bring down Security Solutions. If John is such a great detective how did he not see all of this from the beginning. I didn't enjoy his sarcasm in this book. It was so over the top. He was definitely a pig. He's so in love with Beth, but his interaction with Amy tells otherwise. Thirsty Thursdays at Security Solutions was not your usual employee get together(Bring Your Own Broad, Stag Night, Exotic Dancers.) Those upstairs rooms need to be sanitized.

If you are a John Corey fan, I recommend reading the book. Hopefully there's another book that will clear up everything that happened in this book. Maybe John will come to his senses, see Beth for who she really is(not in love with John) and get back together with Kate. Look forward to reading more books by the author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Scribner through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I just couldn't get through this book. I love Nelson Delmille Books, but I was in over 60 percent and still waiting for something to happen. I used to love Joh Corey.but he was just too obnoxious in this book. DNF at around 60 %

Thank you NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the opportunity to read and give an honest review of this book.

I have always been a fan of DeMille, having read many of his series. The John Corey series has always been a good one.

In this book John re-unites with a couple of characters from his past and they convince him to go undercover in what appears to be a crooked private investigation business.

As he is snooping and investigating the PI firm, he gets tripped up and a battle ensues. Corey is clever and capable enough to take care of himself. That is a good thing.

I don’t ever remember Corey being such a snarky, crass character as he was in this book. The book seemed long and drawn out for such a small plot. There was a lot of dialog, but it did not seem necessary to move the story along. This is not the best book in this series.

I loved Nelson DeMille but this was a struggle. It really felt like nothing happened in the story. It was mostly John Corey being kind of a jerk to the people in his life. I wanted more of the story about murders, I feel like it just left things open.

It’s been a while since DeMille’s previous John Corey book, 2015 to be exact (or was it 2012?). No matter. Corey can be summed up simply – world class homicide detective for NYPD – piss of his bosses – then work for NY Joint Terrorism Task Force – piss off his bosses – then work for the feds in the Diplomatic Surveillance Group – piss off his bosses – get married to a lawyer – piss off wife #1 – remarry a different lawyer – piss off wife #2 and she moves to DC with an FBI coworker of John – along the way, he thinks more with his little head than his big head bedding (or fanaticizing about) various lady cops – gets shot a few times – may or may not have a GRU or Islamic shooter looking for him - smart ass jerk with a never ending stream of insults/swears/tirades/put downs that sometimes are warranted, other times, maybe not.

All in all. John Corey is a hoot, and a helluva ballsy cop.

He’s back out on the far eastern end of Long Island (again). He’s been shipped out by the feds on a ¾ disability and is recovering in a house owned by an uncle. One of the local cops he knows from an earlier adventure, Max, alerts him that a local private investigative company is looking, and Max thinks Corey is a good match. The office, a converted farmhouse, sits in the rural outlying area where the primary landmark is a next door corn maze.

So does Beth Penrose, Max’s subordinate homicide detective and former paramour to Corey. Corey doesn’t think the PI business (wayward husbands, stakeouts, tracking down missed alimony payments, etc.) is too interesting. But he needs something seeing as how his uncle has rented the house and Beth Penrose not only is trying to help John find a job, but she’s also willing to take him in to be more than a roommate.

John’s not interested in the job, but he is interested in Beth so he agrees to an interview. The boss PI, Steve Landowski, is a former vice cop from NYC. On the payroll are two other former cops as PIs, a slew of freelancers, a disbarred lawyer, a deviously hot receptionist, and a couple of middle-aged bookkeepers/file clerks. Landowski wants to hire Corey to use Corey’s notoriety to snare new and bigger paying clients and maybe do a little actual PI work. Besides, Landowski offers some enticing perks like invites to Landowski’s ledgendary parties and his weekly Thirsty Thursdays (exotic dancers one week, Date night the 2nd week, open bar and poker the third week, party girls/all-bets-are-off the fourth week-attendance by invitation only).

The invitation list for the 4th week is a who’s who of Long Island and New York law enforcement bosses, defense and district attorneys, judges, politicos and other elected officials. And being no fool, Landowski has the entire office space covered with cameras. Anything that happens on the Island that might help or hurt the business can be handled with a little arm twisting and video evidence.

What Landowski wants from Corey differs from what Beth and Max want from him. They have some long-standing cold cases. Nine ‘working’ women have been found in various shallow graves on the outer reaches of the island. A part-time PI committed suicide. A reporter hasn’t been heard from for a couple years. And for reasons not initially apparent to John, the local cops don’t seem too keen to do much investigation. Max and Beth want John to go undercover to learn what he can learn.Everybody want something from John.

John, Max, and Beth spend an inordinate amount of time playing the ‘maybe’, ‘what if’, ‘why’, ‘or’ game as they try to piece together just what the hell is going on in that farmhouse, who might be involved, who benefits, who kills.

I’ve read many of DeMille books, all of which are top shelf. DeMille also wrote what I still consider to be the best espionage book I’ve ever read, The Charm School. With that at the top of my DeMille pile, the John Corey books are right behind. Written for a male audience (ya think?), most any guy with an ounce of testosterone who likes police mysteries will find a friend in John Corey. If he’s a new character to you, start with Plum Island and work your way forward. Each book can be a standalone, but Corey’s work/relationship history will be clearer by reading them in order. There’s 7 or 8 as I recall.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance reviewer opportunity. The Maze will be released on October 11.

This is the eighth in the series, but the first one that I have read. This book was a major disappointment. The main character has the hormones and mindset of a high school male. It rare that various references to sex were not included within a page or two throughout the novel. The storyline was also weak as far as believability making it a real slog to get through. I came close to giving up reading a couple of times, but managed to plow through it. I am sure that this book will be a hit with some, but it was an utter waste of time for me.

I received a free ARC copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my nonfiction book review blog.