Rating: 
Summary: A long way behind his earlier efforts, Rivers of Babylon, et
Review: This book like some of his previous tales, Spencerville, Gold Coast are a long way behind his earlier books. His earlier tales were of the unput downable, but I struggled through this one. I think Mr Demille like a number of his peers is living on his past reputation and not putting the effort into his work. I will think twice before investing in any more of his work, always assuming of course he does go to the trouble of publishing any more!
Rating: 
Summary: A loveable hero, in a near perfect book
Review: Nelson DeMille is one of the true novelists. He writes novels and not novelised scripts, neither novels for scripts. This one is a pure detective story with noir hints as to the description of his characters, while turning into an adventure some- where at the end and falling into a trap for this latter (we'll speak about it later). Taking into consideration the above, his plot is not original as conceived, but with some interesting twists and uncovered slowly. In some points though he seems widening and becomes very slow, but his reasons are character wise, not that we readers can't pin- point this chatter. From a point an on (the ending chapters) the plot becomes "how will it end" and not "what is going to happen now" since the adventure element takes away the unexpected. As to his characters, the main hero is mostly illumina- ted and you come to love him: he's cynical, humo- tous, macho and most masculine, hidding very well his sensitive side, trying to resemble Mickey Spi- laine's Mike Hammer, thus the noir element. Then the most attention is given to the women charact- ers and finally all the others become decorative characters, receiving from the author the respect- ive attention. Characterisations are deep but vey much focused. And DeMille's speech is of a pure novelist: picturous but not overburdened and to the point, witty at times and real. The reader is not tired by the speech, but by the widening (as aforementioned). So, the scenes flow, not fastly, but flow; the tempo being also of a noir (novel or film if you prefer). The trap that Demille falls is of the "adventure couples": the sidekick never stands aside and appears like an ancient Greek tragedy God to save his friend/mate. It is a very complete book, a tru novel, but these minor de- tails, fail it from being a perfect book. An it is a pity for DeMille, who shows exactly what he can achieve by his writting.
Rating: 
Summary: Terrific-The main character has great style
Review: I don't know what planet a couple of my fellow reviewers are on--the couple of folks who hated this book. I live right where it supposedly took place and the locations are very accurate. The main character has a terrific style you may recognize and feel a kinship for if you've been out there in the workforce for 20 or so years and have been around the block a few times. You see, when you've been dealing with people for a long time you get to spot personality types and have a very good feel for human nature. Peoples egos, how they will react to how you craft what you say, etc. It's precisely this ability that Plum Island's main character, the detective uses to size-up the personalities he encounters in a very canny and funny way. He handles his superiors in law inforcement as deftly as the snooty lady from the historical society. And it's the detective's style of dialogue that helps makes Plum Island so good. However, buy the book instead of the audio cassette version. When they picked what to abridge for the cassette version, they picked most of this wonderful dialogue. And they removed the tour of Plum Island's labs, which you need to know about to get a real feel for what they do there. I loved it. The only place that isn't real by name is the Olde Towne Taverne...it's actually called Cliff's Elbow Room. Living here, I can't tell you how many collegues from around the country have called to ask about the locales from Plum Island. They all enjoyed it, too, to a person. Sorry a couple of others hated it so much, maybe they should have been out walking their rat.
Rating:
Summary: Plum Island: A mystery told with a sense of humor!
Review: I would highly recommend Plum Island to mystery lovers. Nelson Demille is hilariously funny as he describes his characters...though some women may find his humor offensive in that the main character is very sexist and quite horney throughout the novel. The story itself is interesting and provocative! If you're intrigued by pirate legend and government coverups...you'll enjoy this book!
Rating:
Summary: Not worthy of a "Demille"....
Review: A poorly written novel that is extremely predictable and has the feel of something manufactured, not a story. The first person perspective does NOT work since the main character is not defineable and has no redeeming qualities. The books feels like several scenes were stretched out to hit an editor's target like a lazy student trying to achieve a 10k word essay.Demille's Charm School, Cathedral, Rivers of Babylon are excellant stories, and books I plan to re-read. But Plum Island, (like Spencerville) left me with a feeling I had been cheated. A bad movie, I will walk out on, but a book is an investment. Don't make it on this one.
Rating:
Summary: Right up there with DeMille's "Gold Coast"
Review: Great book. I enjoyed it and was sorry when I reached the end.
Rating:
Summary: funny, entertaining, enjoyable read
Review: As with all of DeMille's books, I couldn't put it down. A very very enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: The best book I've read all year (1998)
Review: This book was absolutely riveting. I thought that DeMille spent a little too much detail on Plum Island itself, but otherwise, this was one of the more pleasent reads I've had in some time. I had never read a DeMille book before this one, but after this one, I picked up Spencerville right away. A definite must-read for any adventure loving readers.
Rating:
Summary: It was horrible!!!!
Review: I live in the little village of Greenport, which the author mentions once or twice. The novelty of reading a story involving a place I lived in was gone by page 10. Silly me, I stuck with the book until about page 50. I found the main character to be extremely obnoxious and annoying, and found myself skipping some of the paragraphs because the writing was so tedious. Do yourself a favor and forget about this one. Dr. Suess is more suspensful that this book!
Rating:
Summary: witty, sarcastic, fabulous plot, a 5 star page turner
Review: I absolutely loved this book. For two days I could not put it down. It moves a quick pace that makes it virtually impossible to put this book down. I would definitely read this book again.
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