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A review by mad_about_books
Plum Island by Nelson DeMille
5.0
From the first page, I knew I was going to like John Corey. For a New York City homicide detective, he comes across as down to earth… damn near folksy, if anyone from the Big Apple can be called that. By the end of PLUM ISLAND, he was my hometown hero… I'm originally from the Big Apple, a place with its own peculiar charm.
Detective Corey is on medical leave after being shot three times. He is recuperating on Long Island's North Fork when two of his friends are murdered. Said friends are both scientists working at the top-secret government facility Plum Island Animal Disease Center. The island is thought to be an off the books site for the development of biological weapons. The biologists here work with some of earth's deadliest bacteria and viruses. There you have it… murder with a side of conspiracy that will get your heart pumping. Except for John Corey who likes his clues to make sense with clue 'A' pointing to 'B' and so forth.
The clues and theories surrounding the deaths of Tom and Judy Gordon run hot and cold as they point to one after another possibilities of motive and perpetrator. John Corey, roped into and then excluded from the investigation, keeps his thoughts on the matter mostly to himself. Suffice it to say, his hypotheses do not agree with the official investigation and rumors.
Before I finished reading PLUM ISLAND, I googled Plum Island Animal Disease Center and found that it is a fictitious place. Yes, there is a real Plum Island. It is a barrier island located off the northeast coast of Massachusetts, north of Cape Ann, and nowhere near Long Island. The realism evident in PLUM ISLAND equals that of the very real Three Mile Island incident in 1979.
As an avid reader, I can't believe that I am reading this book 43 years after its first publication in April 1979. I'm hooked, and I plan to read the entire John Corey series.
Detective Corey is on medical leave after being shot three times. He is recuperating on Long Island's North Fork when two of his friends are murdered. Said friends are both scientists working at the top-secret government facility Plum Island Animal Disease Center. The island is thought to be an off the books site for the development of biological weapons. The biologists here work with some of earth's deadliest bacteria and viruses. There you have it… murder with a side of conspiracy that will get your heart pumping. Except for John Corey who likes his clues to make sense with clue 'A' pointing to 'B' and so forth.
The clues and theories surrounding the deaths of Tom and Judy Gordon run hot and cold as they point to one after another possibilities of motive and perpetrator. John Corey, roped into and then excluded from the investigation, keeps his thoughts on the matter mostly to himself. Suffice it to say, his hypotheses do not agree with the official investigation and rumors.
Before I finished reading PLUM ISLAND, I googled Plum Island Animal Disease Center and found that it is a fictitious place. Yes, there is a real Plum Island. It is a barrier island located off the northeast coast of Massachusetts, north of Cape Ann, and nowhere near Long Island. The realism evident in PLUM ISLAND equals that of the very real Three Mile Island incident in 1979.
As an avid reader, I can't believe that I am reading this book 43 years after its first publication in April 1979. I'm hooked, and I plan to read the entire John Corey series.