REVIEW | ‘Radiant Angel’

Nelson DeMille's 'Radiant Angel” is a taut thriller featuring a horrifying threat from an old American nemesis disguised as a more recent international threat. The book is the seventh featuring John Corey (the first I've read) but works well as a stand-alone novel.

DeMille alternates between third-person narration focusing on the villains and an aggressive first-person narration by Corey, a man with his own code and a disregard for rules. Corey's narrative voice is so direct - 'I'm John Corey, by the way, former homicide detective now working for the Federal government as a contract agent.”- the reader feels as if he or she's on the scene or perhaps in a bar with Corey immediately after the events in question. In fact, that sense of immediacy sometimes leads to some tricky issues regarding tense - is Corey telling us the story as it happens or after the fact?

Corey's recounting of dialogue often is awkward because DeMille apparently is not satisfied with words like 'said” or 'replied.”

Instead, he tends to structure conversations like this:

'Matt informed us, ‘I used the house next door in July for a surveillance. Nice people. Don't care for their Russian neighbors.' He let us know, ‘The Russkies partied all night. Lots of babes. Topless.' ”

That style calls attention to itself and wears thin. But it doesn't prevent DeMille from crafting a suspenseful tale that takes place over less than 24 hours and unfolds at a steady, often gripping, pace.

DeMille also skillfully complicates Corey's marriage without ever bringing his wife (who has clearly featured in previous entries in the series) on stage.

The book has a satisfying ending while leaving the door open for the next adventure in Corey's personal and professional lives.