The Panther

September 24, 2012
Former NYPD detective John Corey brought down Libyan terrorist Asad Khalil, aka The Lion, in 2010's The Lion, and now he's hunting another big cat: Yemeni-American Bulus ibn al-Darwish al Numair, aka The Panther, one of the Al Qaeda masterminds behind the attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors in 2000. After being baited by their boss, Special Agent in Charge Tom Walsh, Corey and his FBI agent wife, Kate Mayfield, volunteer for the dangerous mission in Yemen, and they soon find themselves at the top of Al Qaeda's assassination list. A corrupt and ineffective government barely controls the cities, tribal chiefs rule the hinterlands, and U.S. operatives fear that Al Qaeda is growing stronger. Plus, Corey doesn't even trust other members of the U.S. team. Essentially chosen to serve as panther bait, Corey and Mayfield are equally dangerous predators and DeMille puts them through the wringer as attacks come from all sides when they head into the Badlands with a daring plot to trap their target. Tricks and twists abound in this fast moving thriller where everyone has their own agenda and survival is the ultimate goal.

September 15, 2012
Prolific thriller author DeMille (Night Fall, 2004, etc.) sends his NYPD detective John Corey into Yemen in pursuit of Bulus ibn al-Darwish, an Al-Qaida operative known as al-Numair, the Panther. The Panther, a first-generation Yemeni immigrant from Perth Amboy gone bad, was in on the USS Cole attack while the ship refueled in Aden's harbor. Now, the Panther lurks in Yemen's unstable tribal lands. Corey and FBI agent wife Kate Mayfield serve in New York City on the Anti-Terrorist Task Force. The FBI wants the couple in Yemen to hunt the Panther. Corey and Mayfield are reluctant, especially because Corey was there earlier investigating the Cole bombing, and he knows that Yemen is a near-anarchic hotbed of terror and tribal wars exacerbated by the brutal Yemeni Political Security Organization and corrupt National Security Bureau. He also suspects they're bait, primarily because Corey killed the Lion, a Libyan terrorist, and earned a slot on Al-Qaida's kill list. And Corey is suspicious of any CIA involvement. Kate once killed a rogue CIA agent and "inadvertently messed up a CIA plan to turn most of the Mideast into a nuclear wasteland." Corey thinks a mission called Operation Clean Sweep could disguise CIA revenge as friendly casualties. While it takes DeMille 600-plus pages to unreel the complex, double-dealing, fog-of-war tale, his narrative moves rapidly and sparkles with interesting historical tidbits about Yemen, Noah's Ark and Arsh Bilqis, the throne of Sheba. DeMille's CIA agents are old-school William Buckley-types; the patrician Buckminster Harris and the crazy patrician scion Chet Morgan. Paul Brenner, embassy DSS chief and two-tour Vietnam veteran, is a competent third wheel, and PSO Col. Hakim proves a useful foil. Quintessential DeMille: action-adventure flavored with double-dealing and covert conspiracy.

COPYRIGHT(2012) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 15, 2012

The author's most recent novel, The Lion, which featured his popular hero John Corey, debuted in a tie for the top spot on the New York Times Best Sellers list in 2010. Now Corey is back, working in antiterrorist capacity with his wife, FBI agent Kate Mayfield, in Sana'a, Yemen. Alas, things are not quite as they appear.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 1, 2012
Following closely on the heels of The Lion (2010), this gripping thriller (set early in 2004) finds antiterrorist agent John Corey and his wife, FBI agent Kate Mayfield, joining an investigative team in Yemen. Their stated mission: to continue looking into the suicide bombing of the USS Cole, the military vessel that was attacked by al-Qaeda in the port of Aden three-and-a-half years earlier. Their unstated mission: to bring to justice the mastermind of the Cole bombing, the man known as the Panther. As with previous Corey novels, the book balances suspense and action with humor: Corey relates the story in the first person, spicing his narrative with witty or sarcastic asides and other entertaining verbal meanderings, as though he's telling us the story at a far remove, when the tense and potentially deadly events of the mission have been tempered by time and distance. Packed as usual with memorable characters (including one who's starred in a couple of his own DeMille novels), political commentary, gritty atmosphere, and action, the book will be gobbled up by the author's many fans, but readers unfamiliar with DeMille's work (if there still are any) should be steered in its direction, too. It's a first-class thriller, regardless of whether John Corey is the reader's old friend or a new acquaintance. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: DeMille's latest will draw on both the author's sterling track record and an A-list promotion campaign to vault it onto best-seller lists.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)