Book Review: THE MAZE By Nelson DeMille

THE MAZE by Nelson DeMille (Scribner, October 11, 2022 release date) Kindle edition, 448 pages. ASIN # B08LFTRTNX  

Synopsis on the Goodreads website . . . . .

 

#1 New York Times bestselling author Nelson DeMille returns with his best thriller yet featuring former homicide detective John Corey who is called out of retirement to investigate a string of searing, grisly murders that take place a little too close to home.

In his dazzling #1 bestseller, Plum Island, Nelson DeMille introduced you to NYPD Homicide Detective John Corey, who we first meet sitting on the back porch of his uncle’s waterfront estate on Long Island, convalescing from wounds incurred in the line of duty. A visit from the local Chief of Police results in the legendary Detective Corey becoming involved in the investigation of the murders of a married couple who were scientists at the top-secret biological research facility on Plum Island.

Fast forward through six bestselling John Corey novels and The Maze opens with Corey on the same porch, but now in forced retirement from his last job as a Federal Agent with the Diplomatic Surveillance Group. Corey is restless and looking for action, so when his former lover in Plum Island, Detective Beth Penrose, appears with a job offer, Corey has to once again make some decisions about his stalled career—and about reuniting with Beth Penrose.

Inspired by, and based on the actual and still unsolved Gilgo Beach murders, The Maze takes you on a dangerous hunt for an apparent serial killer who has murdered nine—and maybe more—prostitutes and hidden their bodies in the thick undergrowth on a lonely stretch of beach.

As Corey digs deeper into this case, which has made national news, he comes to suspect that the failure of the local police to solve this sensational case may not be a result of their inexperience and incompetence—it may be something else. Something more sinister.

The Maze features John Corey’s politically incorrect humor, matched by his brilliant and unorthodox investigative skills along with the surprising and shocking plot twists that are the trademark of the #1 New York Times bestselling author, Nelson DeMille.

My Four-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

      John Corey is not your typical detective fiction character, which is one of the many reasons why this novel held my attention and kept me going. It's the eighth book featuring Nelson DeMille's character-with-swagger, and my first experience with him. I'm interested enough to read more especially PLUM ISLAND, which is referenced throughout THE MAZE.

     THE MAZE takes an incredibly long time to get Corey involved in the main investigation and even longer for any real action to occur. This is not a fast-paced book that will have readers giving up leisure time or staying up late in order to finish it. Rather, it's a slow, slow burn that takes time to develop and introduce all the players and show character reveals/insights. THE MAZE is dialogue-heavy. If you're looking for a thriller, you'll have to hang around until about 85% through the novel. 

     That enabled me to read this at my leisure, in small several-chapter-at-a-time doses, and I found the experience refreshing compared to other books I've recently read in the crime fiction genre. On the downside, THE MAZE is a bit repetitive and could benefit from some editing/trimming. 

     It was the promise of action in the early chapters of the book (various criminals looking to locate Corey and exact revenge/murder) and the inherent danger/risk in his new assignment that kept me reading on. Then, it became the mostly humorous first-person narration that really spotlighted the arrogant, smart-ass, quick-witted rapier that Corey is. His descriptions of each scene and sharing of his innermost thoughts (sometimes what he'd prefer to say to another character but doesn't) kept me turning the pages. 

     I don't know if Corey reveals as much of his sexual longings and often misogynistic tendencies in the other novels, but that was the one thing that I could have appreciated less of in THE MAZE. There is a good amount of sex in the storyline itself due to the nature of the unscrupulous enterprise that Cory is investigating. Yet, it's his irrelevant attitude towards authority, the bending of the rules, his often ill-timed insults, and tendency to take extreme chances that endeared him to me. Sure, I'll read more John Corey and more Nelson DeMille.

     I received an advance review copy through NetGalley and wrote this review without obligation.