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Nelson DeMille Books in Order

Browse every Nelson DeMille book in order, with series checklists, brief summaries, character guides, and clear suggestions on the best place to start his thrillers and stand-alone novels.

Last updated: June 7, 2026

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36 books

The Hammer of God

by Nelson DeMille

1974

Women are being slain by a killer dressed like a monk who believes he is destroying witches. As panic spreads, Joe Ryker follows a trail through churches, back alleys, and fringe religious circles to stop a self-appointed executioner.

The Sniper

by Nelson DeMille

1974

A coldly efficient sniper is murdering New Yorkers at random, picking targets from rooftops and alleyways. Joe Ryker leads the manhunt, determined to outthink a careful killer who treats the city as his personal shooting range.

The Terrorists

by Nelson DeMille

1974

New York reels as a violent revolutionary group launches kidnappings and mass shootings in the name of freedom. Given wide latitude to respond, Joe Ryker takes the fight to them, testing how far he’ll bend the law to stop urban terrorism.

Cannibal

by Nelson DeMille

1975

A string of brutal, ritualistic murders suggests a killer who feeds on both fear and flesh. Joe Ryker’s investigation drags him into a shadowy cult and a hunt for a charismatic leader whose followers will do anything to protect him.

The Agent of Death

by Nelson DeMille

1975

NYPD Sergeant Joe Ryker is tasked with stopping a rogue CIA assassin who has turned New York into his personal killing ground. As bodies tied to covert operations pile up, Ryker clashes with federal handlers who would prefer the whole mess disappear.

The Night of the Phoenix

by Nelson DeMille

1975

During a sweltering New York summer, a radical group plans a bombing campaign designed to plunge the city into chaos. With tensions rising and clues scattered, Joe Ryker races to stop a single night of orchestrated terror from becoming reality.

The Quest

by Nelson DeMille

1975

Amid Ethiopia’s civil war, two journalists and a photographer encounter a dying priest who claims to know the hiding place of the Holy Grail. Their decision to believe him launches a dangerous journey through jungle battlefields, remote monasteries, and competing faiths.

The Smack Man

by Nelson DeMille

1975

Someone is slipping strychnine-laced heroin onto New York’s streets, leaving sex workers and addicts dead. Ryker teams up uneasily with an undercover female detective and a cop posing as her pimp to trace the poisoned supply back to a ruthless drug operation.

By the Rivers of Babylon

by Nelson DeMille

1978

Two Concorde jets carrying Israeli leaders to historic peace talks are sabotaged and forced toward hostile territory. One is destroyed; the other crash-lands near ancient Babylon, where the survivors must create a makeshift fortress and hold off a well-armed enemy force.

Mayday

by Nelson DeMille

1979

A supersonic passenger jet over the Pacific is accidentally struck by a missile, killing or incapacitating most aboard. A few terrified survivors struggle to keep the aircraft in the air while corporate interests and the military weigh a deadly cover-up.

Cathedral

by Nelson DeMille

1981

On St. Patrick’s Day in New York, an IRA splinter group seizes St. Patrick’s Cathedral and takes hundreds of hostages. Police, politicians, and British intelligence clash over how to end the siege before hidden explosives can turn the landmark into a tomb.

The Talbot Odyssey

by Nelson DeMille

1984

Former NYPD intelligence detective Tony Abrams stumbles onto evidence that a long-buried Soviet mole code-named Talbot still operates inside U.S. intelligence. As a secret first-strike plan moves forward, he and a young lawyer race to identify the traitor and stop catastrophe.

Word of Honor

by Nelson DeMille

1985

Successful executive and Vietnam veteran Ben Tyson is suddenly accused of covering up a massacre his platoon committed in Hue. Recalled to active duty for court-martial, he must confront buried memories, loyalty to his men, and a nation still divided over the war.

The Charm School

by Nelson DeMille

1988

In Cold War Russia, a young American driver meets a fugitive U.S. POW who claims to have escaped a secret camp where Americans train Soviet spies. An Air Force officer and embassy liaison risk their careers and lives to uncover the truth behind this "charm school."

The Gold Coast

by Nelson DeMille

1990

Tax attorney John Sutter enjoys a comfortable life among Long Island’s old-money elite until Mafia don Frank Bellarosa buys the neighboring estate. As Bellarosa pulls John into his legal troubles and schemes, Sutter’s marriage and morals begin to quietly unravel.

The General's Daughter

by Nelson DeMille

1992

At a Southern Army base, the brilliant daughter of a famous general is found murdered on a firing range. CID investigator Paul Brenner and rape specialist Cynthia Sunhill must navigate military politics and buried scandals to uncover who killed the Army’s "golden girl."

Spencerville

by Nelson DeMille

1994

After the Cold War ends, former Army intelligence officer Keith Landry retires and returns to his small Midwestern hometown. Reuniting with his first love, now married to the town’s abusive police chief, he finds himself drawn into a personal war he can’t walk away from.

Plum Island

by Nelson DeMille

1997

Recovering from gunshot wounds on Long Island, NYPD detective John Corey is asked to consult on the double murder of two biologists from a nearby government lab. The case veers from stolen pathogens to buried pirate treasure and small-town secrets.

The Lion's Game

by Nelson DeMille

2000

Now with the Anti-Terrorist Task Force, John Corey watches a flight carrying a notorious Libyan terrorist land with everyone aboard mysteriously dead. When the assassin slips away, Corey and partner Kate Mayfield race to stop his ruthless revenge campaign.

Up Country

by Nelson DeMille

2002

Retired Army CID investigator Paul Brenner is pulled back into service and sent to Vietnam to solve a 30-year-old wartime murder. Traveling with a mysterious American expatriate, he confronts corruption, old enemies, and his own memories of combat.

Night Fall

by Nelson DeMille

2004

Five years after a passenger jet exploded off Long Island, John Corey and his FBI-agent wife Kate revisit the crash as a potential crime scene. A missing videotape, frightened witnesses, and official resistance pull them toward a truth others want buried.

Wild Fire

by Nelson DeMille

2006

When a fellow agent is found dead near an exclusive Adirondack hunting club, John Corey and Kate Mayfield investigate and uncover a secret plan code-named Wild Fire: a privately run nuclear response meant to reshape the world after another major attack.

The Gate House

by Nelson DeMille

2008

A decade after leaving Long Island in the wake of scandal and violence, John Sutter returns to live in the gatehouse of his former in-laws’ estate. Reunited with his ex-wife and confronted by a Mafia heir seeking revenge, he’s drawn back into dangerous games among the rich.

The Lion

by Nelson DeMille

2010

Libyan assassin Asad Khalil, the Lion, returns to America to settle unfinished business with John Corey. As bodies linked to past operations begin to fall, Corey must anticipate a brilliant enemy who has turned the hunt into something personal.

Mystery Writers of America Presents The Rich and the Dead

by Nelson DeMille

2011

Edited and introduced by Nelson DeMille, this anthology collects crime and mystery stories set among the ultra-wealthy. From private islands to penthouse suites, it explores how greed, privilege, and entitlement can turn luxurious lives into very tempting targets.

Death Benefits

by Nelson DeMille

2012

Bestselling crime novelist Jack Henry faces bankruptcy and blames his seemingly useless literary agent. Realizing they hold life insurance policies on each other, Jack begins to wonder whether he can turn real murder into the perfect business decision—and get away with it.

Rendezvous

by Nelson DeMille

2012

In Vietnam, an American infantry patrol nearing the end of its tour is stalked by a hidden sniper who knows the jungle better than they do. The lieutenant narrator battles fear, exhaustion, and doubt as his men are picked off one by one.

The Book Case

by Nelson DeMille

2012

In his early NYPD days, John Corey investigates when a New York bookseller is killed by a falling bookcase. The cluttered shop and its tight circle of employees, authors, and family members hide motives that turn an apparent mishap into a clever murder.

The Panther

by Nelson DeMille

2012

John Corey and his wife Kate are sent to Yemen to help hunt a high-ranking Al Qaeda leader tied to the USS Cole bombing. Working with a small American team, they navigate tribal politics, deadly ambushes, and the suspicion that not everyone wants them home alive.

Radiant Angel

by Nelson DeMille

2015

Assigned to surveil Russian diplomats in New York, John Corey expects a quiet posting until one of his targets disappears from a Long Island party. Following the trail, he uncovers a plot involving a covert nuclear device and a looming attack on Manhattan.

Getaway

by Lisa Scottoline

2017

Convalescing at a remote lakeside cabin, John Corey expects solitude, not trouble. When lawyer Bennie Rosato bursts from the woods chased by masked gunmen, the two strong-willed strangers must improvise a plan to survive a long, violent night off the grid.

The Cuban Affair

by Nelson DeMille

2017

Afghanistan veteran and Key West charter-boat captain Daniel "Mac" MacCormick is hired by Cuban exiles to recover a fortune hidden in Cuba since the revolution. Disguised as tourists, Mac and a young Cuban-American woman must outmaneuver state security, rival factions, and their own suspicions.

The Deserter

by Nelson DeMille

2019

Army CID agents Scott Brodie and Maggie Taylor are sent to Venezuela to find Kyle Mercer, a decorated Delta Force captain who walked away from his unit in Afghanistan. Their hunt through a collapsing, violent country reveals secrets that powerful people would rather see buried forever.

The Maze

by Nelson DeMille

2022

Restless in forced retirement, John Corey agrees to join a sketchy private security firm on Long Island. The job draws him into a tangle of corrupt cops, missing women, and a serial killer whose dumping ground echoes the real-life Gilgo Beach murders.

Blood Lines

by Nelson DeMille

2023

Reunited in Berlin, Army CID agents Scott Brodie and Maggie Taylor investigate the murder of a fellow investigator found in a park. Their search pulls them into refugee communities, Cold War shadows, and a conspiracy some in U.S. intelligence would kill to keep hidden.

The Tin Men

by Nelson DeMille

2025

At a remote Army training facility in the Mojave Desert, Scott Brodie and Maggie Taylor probe the death of a scientist overseeing war games between Rangers and lethal autonomous robots. As alliances fracture, they must decide whether the real threat is human or machine.

Where should I start?

If you want fast-paced counterterror thrillers: Plum IslandThe Lion's GameNight FallWild Fire
If you prefer military and Vietnam stories: Word of HonorThe General's DaughterUp Country
If you like Long Island wealth and crime drama: The Gold CoastThe Gate HouseThe Maze
If you’re curious about his early gritty cop novels: The SniperThe Hammer of GodThe Agent of DeathThe Smack Man
If you want his newest Army CID series with Alex DeMille: The DeserterBlood LinesThe Tin Men

Author bio

Nelson DeMille was born in Jamaica, Queens, on August 23, 1943, and grew up on Long Island in the working-class town of Elmont. His father was a builder, his mother kept the household running, and DeMille spent his school years playing football and running track as much as reading.

After three years at Hofstra University he left college for the U.S. Army, where he went through Officer Candidate School and served as a First Lieutenant with the First Cavalry Division in Vietnam. He led an infantry platoon in combat and came home with decorations that included the Bronze Star, the Air Medal, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, and the Combat Infantryman Badge. Those years in Southeast Asia would shape the moral questions and battlefield memories that run through many of his later novels.

When his service ended, DeMille returned to Hofstra and finished a degree in political science and history. He supported himself with a string of jobs—carpenter, painter, and insurance investigator—while teaching himself to write fiction in the evenings. The early result was a series of lean paperbacks about a tough NYPD sergeant named Joe Ryker, set in a gritty 1970s New York and published under both his own name and the house pseudonym Jack Cannon.

His breakthrough came in 1978 with By the Rivers of Babylon, a high-stakes thriller about hijacked Concorde jets forced down near the ruins of ancient Babylon. That book, followed by Cathedral, The Talbot Odyssey, Word of Honor, and others, established him as a writer who could combine big plots with grounded technical detail. Word of Honor in particular drew on his Vietnam experience, blending combat flashbacks with courtroom drama and later becoming a television film.

The late 1980s and 1990s produced some of his best-known work. The Charm School imagined a secret Soviet camp where Americans are held to train Russian spies, while The Gold Coast turned to Long Island’s North Shore to follow a tax attorney whose life is upended when a Mafia don becomes his neighbor. Spencerville brought the Cold War home to a small Midwestern town. These books share an interest in institutions—armies, intelligence agencies, old-money enclaves—and in the people who challenge or serve them.

DeMille’s most famous recurring character, John Corey, arrived with Plum Island in 1997. A wounded, wisecracking ex–NYPD homicide detective, Corey narrates a long run of first-person novels that move from a double murder on Long Island to battles with Libyan terrorists, nuclear plots, and Russian spies in The Lion’s Game, Night Fall, Wild Fire, The Lion, The Panther, Radiant Angel, and The Maze. The mix of sardonic humor, detailed settings, and rising geopolitical stakes became a hallmark of DeMille’s style.

He also created Army CID investigator Paul Brenner, introduced in The General’s Daughter and sent back to Vietnam in Up Country, and Long Island tax lawyer John Sutter of The Gold Coast and The Gate House. The General’s Daughter was adapted into a major feature film starring John Travolta and Madeleine Stowe, bringing DeMille’s military themes to an even wider audience.

Later in his career he wrote the stand-alone thriller The Cuban Affair, about an Afghanistan veteran turned Key West charter captain drawn into a risky mission to modern Cuba. He then began collaborating with his son Alex DeMille on a new CID team, Scott Brodie and Maggie Taylor, in The Deserter, Blood Lines, and The Tin Men, returning to questions about war, loyalty, and the future of warfare in an age of drones and artificial intelligence.

Over the decades DeMille sold millions of copies, regularly appeared on bestseller lists, and picked up honors such as the International Thriller Writers’ ThrillerMaster award. He served as president of Mystery Writers of America, belonged to Mensa and the Authors Guild, and received honorary doctorates from several Long Island universities. He often wrote longhand on yellow legal pads, drawing again and again on the landscapes and communities of Long Island.

DeMille lived for many years in Garden City, New York. He died on September 17, 2024, on Long Island, at the age of eighty-one, from complications of esophageal cancer. He left behind his children, including his coauthor Alex, and a shelf of thrillers that continue to introduce new readers to his blend of humor, suspense, and sharply observed American settings.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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All 36 Nelson DeMille Books in Order (Complete List 2026)