The Firefly

By: P. T. Deutermann

Narrated by: Dick Hill

Length: 15 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

At midnight, in a secret medical clinic in Washington, D.C., two foreign doctors and their team are completing plastic surgery on an anonymous client who is changing the appearance of his face, among other things. After the procedure, the client begins to stir - and suddenly the operating room erupts in violence, and the clinic is ablaze.

Washington police conduct an arson investigation, with inconclusive results. But one tantalizing fragment of evidence suggests that a terrorist bombing may be imminent.

The presidential inauguration is quickly approaching, and Washington's police, fire, intelligence, military, federal, and White House security teams are making frantic preparations. Because of the strain on manpower, retired Secret Service agent Swamp Morgan is recalled to active duty. His task: investigate the incineration of the medical clinic as a "firefly" - Washington-speak for something that looks like a threat but isn't.

As Swamp begins what he thinks is a routine check-and-dismiss, the clinic's missing client begins preparations for his mission: to launch an attack on the American government - a decapitation strike intended to wipe out both the outgoing and incoming administrations. As the crucial day approaches, Swamp, the only agent to take the firefly seriously, must operate alone as the clock clicks down to a breathtaking finale.

Filled with brilliant twists and turns and heart-in-your-throat suspense, The Firefly offers first-class entertainment from beginning to end.

©2004 P. T. Deutermann (P)2004 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A top-notch thriller from a top-notch writer. The Firefly may be Deutermann's best novel to date-reminiscent of The Day of the Jackal." (Nelson DeMille)
"Addictively enthralling...(wait till you get to the jaw-dropping ending!)." (Entertainment Weekly)

Good thriller but with a lunatic edge

I suspect P.T. Deutermann is something of a political wacko. The government is really, really, really out to get his character, as well as (easily) control the news media, the courts, the police and anybody else with half a brain and a memory of his spine. In this version of America, it's so easy to push people around and hatch absurd plots to control the world. If it wasn't so silly, it would be pretty good, meaning, the writing is solid, the central characters are alive and the plot is fast and fluid.

One of his best

Really one of his best and his work Is almost always exceptional. While you may lose some sleep and not want to stop listening the story is worth it !

great performance by Dick Hill.

great performance by Dick hill. Story was interesting, was choppy at times, difficult to follow, fell apart in 15 minutes before the end. Was not one of all the best

really enjoyed it

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This is exactly what I expected - a well paced story that kept me listening. What more can you want!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Too long for one sitting, but I listened to a lot of it while mowing and the rest while painting a living room and kitchen.

OK YOU GOT ME more possible than we think

Dick Hill is great story is quite plausible and scary
TRUST NO ONE !

My first Deutermann

For most of the book the writing was quite adequate, the narration was very good--more like a performance than a reading--the plot gradually built suspense, the main character was fairly well developed, and then it just went off the rails. It spent most of the time being a thriller about a crime and a pending act of terrorism, plus an interesting, if slightly paranoid, look at the convoluted redundancies and insular natures of the Dept. of Homeland Security, FBI, Secret Service, and CIA, Then out-of-the-blue it dove south into a politically bizarre and scary "solution".

If that ends up being an indication about the POV from which this author writes, it may be both my first and last of his books.

Would read this one again

Great story, and Dick Hill does a great job with the narration. I would like to explore this author more.

Another fantastic story

They just get better and better with each one I listen too. Can’t wait for the next one

Firefly: How Washington, D.C. Works

I am a Deutermann fan. I enjoyed this novel. It is basically about the interactions of the bureaucracies in Washington, D.C. during a terrorist attack: the Secret Service, the DHS, the CIA & the FBI. Altho I enjoyed this book, it was not as good as Deutermann’s novels about WW II in the Pacific. Those seven novels are outstanding. The climax of Firefly was not convincing. It was just too much. It could not happen in the real world and would not even be attempted. That said, the work is still a fun listen. Buy it and enjoy it.

Great stuff... no place to quit.

I was going to say that P.T. Deutermann's books are very much like Lee Child's Jack Reacher series, but that's not quite right. Better to say that the Jack Reacher books remind me of P.T. Deuttermann. They're similar in story and tone -- a loner, an outcast, who refuses to give up, set into a high-tension story that just doesn't quit, with lots of high tech -- and some fascinating low tech -- hi-jinks that leave you wondering, 'No kidding! Would that really work?' And of course they're both narrated by the more-than-excellent Dick Hill, so even to the extent that the two series differ, they sort of seem alike. Same voice.

Although there are a lot fewer Deutermann books than Lee Childs, I've come to like them better -- for one thing, Deutermann's male protagonist, whoever it is in each book, doesn't feel the need to fall into bed with every female who walks into the room -- a refreshing change over Reacher bad habit of bedding anything in sight. Child's plot device of having Reacher 'love 'em and leave 'em' in every single book is getting old. Deutermann skips all that Harlequin nonsense and sticks to the thriller aspects. Fine with me.

Maybe more importantly, Deutermann never bows to political correctness. His villains are the world's REAL villains, the ones we read about in the newspapers and see on the news. He doesn't sugar coat who the really evil people out there are.

And somewhat similarly, Deutermann constantly takes after the government for ineptness, for being more concerned about inner-governmental rivalries and turf battles, and in the process, forgetting to do much of anything about dealing with the evil people out there. Look at a few of the more recent terror attacks, and you realize Deutermann is exactly right about that. Too many gov agencies are willing to overlook real terrorists in the name of PC, and to fight among themselves for territory and honor, instead of fighting the US' s real enemies. There's an element of realism in Deutermann's books that is seriously refreshing.

All that said, if you like Lee Child, you'll like P.T. Deutermann -- in fact, you'll probably like him better.