Wild Fire

By: Nelson DeMille

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 18 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's Summary

Welcome to the Custer Hill Club, a men's club, set in a luxurious hunting lodge, whose members include America's powerful business leaders, military men, and government officials. The club is a place to relax with old friends, but one fall weekend, the club's Executive Board gathers to talk about 9/11 and finalize a retaliation plan, known by a code name: Wild Fire.

That weekend, a member of the Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force is found dead. It's up to Detective John Corey and his wife, FBI Agent Kate Mayfield, to unravel a terrifying plot that starts with the Custer Hill Club and ends with American cities locked in the crosshairs of a nuclear device. Corey and Mayfield are the only ones who can prevent global chaos from being unleashed.

©2006 Nelson DeMille. All Rights Reserved (P)2006 Hachette Audio. All Rights Reserved

Critic Reviews

"The novel presents a what-if scenario that's so plausible we have to remind ourselves that DeMille is making the whole thing up." (Booklist)
"This tour de force of relentless narrative power neither stops nor slows for twists or turns, but charges straight ahead in the face of danger." (Publishers Weekly)

Great Listen

The combination of DeMille and Scott Brick has developed one of the most engaging teams in popular fiction. John Corey and Kate Mayfield. This fast-paced mystery is pure fiction, but works as plausible in our time. But more importantly, from a listener's standpoint, the combination of a top-notch thriller and the wit in DeMille's writing, aided by Scott Brick's perfect narrative, we are given an immensly enjoyable 18 hours of audiobook listening. If you loved The Lion's Game, you will love this reading too. DeMille is at the top of his writing skills, too bad it will probably be 2 or 3 years before we have a new book again. this book is worth multiple listens - not something you find very often in a purchase.

Good, but the series is getting forced.

Basically I liked the book and the narration. DeMille is a good writer, and that alone is worth a star in today's best seller market. It's a decent thriller with a timely and almost believable premise couched in humorous writing with a couple of charming protagonists and some wickedly psycho bad guys. I'm surprised Hollywood hasn't found John Corey and Kate Mayfield yet.

A couple of criticisms, though. John Corey is famous for his sarcastic humor, but it has become a bit forced. He's still funny, but in the "The Lion's Game" his humor was his defense in the complicated flow of the story. Here he often seems like a stand-up comedian, telling jokes just to be funny. At worst, he seems like a bully with his constant sarcasm, and that was not part of him in "The Lion's Game." The writer is trying too hard to accentuate what made John Corey popular, and losing some of the character's complexity and gravitas in the process.

Also, the bad guy is believable, and somewhat original once past another billionaire-reshaping-the-world cliche, but DeMille at times seems disturbingly sympathetic to his more racist rants,and has his protagonists agreeing with things no hero should agree with.

So it's forced, and maybe a bit out of touch with the moral compass, and the characters aren't impressively complex, but the prose is great, the humor is enjoyable, and the suspense lasts until the final moments. And there are some emotionally satisfying moments of tenderness and revenge, and even a couple of viable moral dilemmas.

Overall, a good read, a good listen--the narrator is brilliant--and the flaws are more warning signs for future John Corey books than fatal weaknesses in this one. On the other hand, if you haven't read a John Corey novel yet, start with "The Lion's Game."

Wild Conspiracy

Let me say that DeMille to this point has been my favorite Audible author. Lion’s game, Night Fall and Up Country, in my opinion are the best that Audible has to offer. Scott Brick is, hands down, the best narrator around and when these two have combine in the past the entertainment is off the chart. This being said it seems that DeMille wrote this with the intention of selling it to the Hollywood left. The main villain is a rich, conservative, ex-military oilman bent on evil doings. And it just so happens that all of his evil and powerful friends belong to the current presidential administration. This has all the ingredients of a Susan Sarandon – Barbara Streisand production. For me this one was just too far of a leap. This is a story line that even the kookiest conspiracy nut would strain to invent. If you are a DeMille fan then go ahead and get it but if your new to his work the previous titles are much better.

Four Out Of Five

By the time I listened to WildFire, I had been on a DeMille/John Corey Marathon. I was excited that there was another suspenseful installment to get my hands on!

Like other DeMille novels, there was suspense, plot twists, blurry lines between fact and fiction, and enough detail provided to the reader that there was no doubt that DeMille would make any researcher proud. Couple this with John Corey's mind + some great laughs... and you have another hit.

I gave this book 4/5 stars because I found some of the Custer Hill Club discussion and dialog to be a little repetitive and a bit unrealistic. That aside, all in all - this is a fine book - and as usual, Scott Brick ( my favorite narrator) is brilliant!

Corey and Mayfield at it again

Having quite high expectations after listening to both Night fall and Lions game, I can't help but to feel a little disappointed. The story, although built on an interesting idea, just doesn't have the tensity and spark, for a lack of a better word, as the previous two had.
Mind you, the first two books are on my top 5 favorites list on Audible so Wild fire had a high standard to live up to.

I love DeMille's John Corey series, but...

...I like Wildfire less than the other 6 books in the series. Still, this is a darned good book.

My issues with the book are (1) it is too wordy and (2) the scenario is very highly unlikely. Also, there is the bad CIA (Ted Nash) who refuses to die. The story is about the Custer Hill Club located in the low population mountainous area of New York state. The club's board of directors, which include key US government officials, plan to set of nuclear bombs in 2 or 3 US cities and use the results as an excuse to blame Muslim terrorists. The plan is then to have the US government vaporize every major Muslim city with US nuclear bombs.

The positive aspects of the book outweigh the negative. Those include the wise cracking Corey, his wife FBI agent Kate Mayfield, the sheer suspense as the book nears a close, and the narration of Scott Brick.

On balance the book is well worthwhile and I do highly recommend it.

Ugh! Sophomoric & Strained Dialog

I am a big DeMille fan, but this one falls short. I suspect that the abridged version may be better than the unabridged, if they cut much of the cutesy, inappropriate, stilted dialog. The premise of the book is very intriguing, but it became boorish and the dialog detracted from the suspense. If just the FU's were deleted, it would probably be 2 disks shorter, take out the sophomoric wise cracks and maybe 4 more would come out. Then, you'd have a good listen.

Scott Brick, was excellent, again.

Typical DeMille

This is an extension of the previous John Corey stories. Corey's leaps of deduction strain credibility but it is a fun read. A familiar plot whereby one person has all the blinding insight and shares little with his colleagues or boss then goes on, with the aid of his wife, to defeat the forces of evil. Hey, its fiction and its fun! Scott Brick, as always, does a good job with the narration.

Waste of time

Besides the fact that it is currently unnecessary to inflame the world further this reads like Demille has become a conspiracy theory nut case. Don't waste your time or money,

I wish I had my credit back

As always, Scott Brick does an excellent job of narrating, but this book is...

Well, I've enjoyed some of the other DeMille characters, but this one, frankly, makes me want to burn out my own eardrums with a hot wire, so I don't have to listen to one more lame joke.

The premise of the book is good, and the parts of the book told from the bad guy's point of view are all right, hence the two stars.

But the protagonist is - well, he's wickedly annoying. He's that creepy close-talker you meet at a party who follows you around telling the same three jokes over and over.

Gah! To summarize - great narration, incredibly annoying protagonist. I wish I'd saved the credit and used it on some other book.

Seriously, listen to the preview for a few minutes before you buy this; if you can sit through five minutes of John Corey having a conversation with his coworkers, go for it. Otherwise, go buy some PT Deutermann, maybe Sweepers, or Hunting Season.