BookLife Review: The Maze, by Nelson Demille (John Corey, Book 8)

murder mystery, detective, crime-solving, John Corey, Long Island

Okay, this is a rare extra post, but it seemed like a book some might grab for Labor Day weekend—Nelson Demille fans, this one’s for you, a lazy summer read, but don’t get too excited. I love Nelson Demille (@nelsondemilleauthor) and his sassy irreverent hero, retired NYPD (and various and sundry other acronym agencies, state and federal) detective, John Corey. But this 8th John Corey story, The Maze, spends much too long (264 pages to be exact) setting up the action. When it finally gets underway in earnest on page 265, I had grown a bit resentful and critical of the never-ending set up, foreshadowing, doubt-sowing and red-herring-planting.

A huge fan of Plum Island (the book where it all began), there was much too much referencing of and exposition related to the characters that had peopled Corey's life in Demille’s past books, before the action of this book took hold. The current whereabouts of Corey’s past wives and former lovers really had no bearing on the action of this story. The chemistry with Beth Penrose felt staged and artificial from the start, something Corey would have sniffed out in a hot minute, likewise his old pal Max.

The snappy, wise-cracking humor which the author awards to Corey are the jewels that keep the reader engaged (and chuckling) until the fast paced encounter with the bad guys unfolds at the end. On another note, the presence of the maze, coincidentally situated next to the suspect's office was a stretch and felt like literary artifice. It might have made sense and felt relevant if the bodies of the unsolved murders had been discovered there; instead, it just made for a cinematic back drop for the climactic chase and shoot out scene. Maybe try this as an audio book, or wait for the movie.