Nelson DeMille

Nelson Richard DeMille (born August 23, 1943) is an American author of action adventure and suspense novels. His novels include Plum Island, The Charm School, and The Gold Coast. DeMille has also written under the pen names Jack Cannon, Kurt Ladner, Ellen Kay and Brad Matthews.

DeMille was born in New York City on August 23, 1943. He moved as a child with his family to Long Island. He attended Elmont Memorial High School where he played football and ran track.

After spending three years at Hofstra University, he joined the Army and attended Officer Candidate School. He was a First Lieutenant in the United States Army (1966–69) and saw action as an infantry platoon leader with the First Cavalry Division in Vietnam. He was decorated with the Air Medal, Bronze Star, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, and was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge.

DeMille returned to the States and went back to Hofstra University, where he received his degree in political science and history. He has three children, Lauren, Alexander, and James. He resides in Garden City, New York.

DeMille’s earlier books were NYPD detective novels. His first major novel was By the Rivers of Babylon, published in 1978 and still in print, as are all his succeeding novels. He is a member of American Mensa, the Authors Guild, and past president of the Mystery Writers of America. He is also a member of the International Thriller Writers, who honored him as 2015 ThrillerMaster of the Year. DeMille holds three honorary doctorates: Doctor of Humane Letters from Hofstra University, Doctor of Literature from Long Island University, and Doctor of Humane Letters from Dowling College.

DeMille is the author of By the Rivers of Babylon, Cathedral, The Talbot Odyssey, Word of Honor, The Charm School, The Gold Coast, The General’s Daughter, Spencerville, Plum Island, The Lion’s Game, Up Country, Night Fall, Wild Fire, The Gate House, The Lion, The Panther, The Quest, Radiant Angel, and The Cuban Affair. He also co-authored Mayday with Thomas Block and The Deserter with his son, Alex DeMille, and has contributed short stories, book reviews, and articles to magazines and newspapers both online and in print.

Many of DeMille's books are written in the first person, and as such his books follow a linear plotline in which the reader moves along with the main character.

Although the tone of his writing varies from novel to novel, one consistent tool is DeMille's liberal use of sarcasm and dry humor.

Most DeMille novels, especially the more recent, avoid "Hollywood endings," and instead finish either inconclusively or with the hero successfully exposing the secret/solving the mystery while suffering in his career or personal life as a result. There are generally loose ends left for the reader to puzzle over, Night Fall being a perfect example.

DeMille often uses Long Island, where he currently lives,as a setting in his novels, as in The Gold Coast, The Gate House, Plum Island, Word of Honor, Night Fall, and Radiant Angel. His most recent novels have followed two main characters, John Corey (starring in seven novels) and Paul Brenner (starring in two novels, with also a part in Corey's sixth novel). In earlier works, the storylines were completely separate, but there have been hints in the novels that they are part of a larger "DeMille Universe" that references events and characters in earlier novels, such as The Gold Coast and The Charm School.

DeMille spends approximately 16 months creating each of his novels due to the extensive research involved, and because he writes them longhand on legal pads with a number one pencil.