Christian Johnston
Best-selling author Nelson DeMille has died at 81, The Post can confirm.
His children, daughter Lauren DeMille, of Sleepy Hollow, and son Alex DeMille, of Brooklyn, confirmed his death Tuesday evening, according to Newsday.
DeMille died of Stage 4 esophageal cancer on Tuesday.
Born in Long Island, DeMille was known for his suspense and action novels, such as “Plum Island,” “The Charm School” and “The General’s Daughter,” which was adapted into a 1999 movie starring John Travolta.
In a March 2000 interview, the prolific author told January Magazine, “It wasn’t a bad movie. Travolta did a good job. I liked most of it. They overdeveloped some stuff and forgot other stuff and put things in that weren’t in the book that didn’t need to be put in… But I mean, as a whole, the movie was powerful. It got terrible reviews from the critics, though.”
According to his website, Nelson DeMille was born on Aug. 23, 1943, in New York City, before his family moved to Long Island. He attended Hofstra University.
Before his writing career, DeMille went into the Army and earned a Bronze Star in Vietnam.
DeMille wrote 23 novels in his lifetime, 17 of which were best sellers. He wrote his novels in longhand with pencils and legal pads.
His first novel was “By the Rivers of Babylon,” published in 1978.
Many of his novels, such as “The Lion’s Game,” followed the character John Corey, an ex NYPD officer working for a fictional Anti-Terrorist Task Force.
“He’s not politically correct,” he told January Magazine, talking about his John Corey character.
“If you’re a federal government worker you watch your Ps and Qs. You watch what you say to women, about women. You watch what you say in terms of ethnic slurs. But John Corey doesn’t care about any of that, he just lets it rip and everybody is aghast at him.”
He added, “And it was kind of fun. It was fun for me and if it was fun for me I knew it was going to be fun for the reader.”
In a 2022 interview with Crime Spree Mag, DeMille said that he was having issues with his publisher wanting to make “politically correct” edits on John Corey.
“There was some pushback on the John Corey character,” he said. “They wanted me to make changes, which I would not make except for a few.”
DeMille added, “I do know who I am writing for, and this book will debut in the top three. The problem is not that these books are losing readers or do not sell well. These are huge best sellers. The publishers are not concerned with the financial end, but the politics of it, the wokeness. They are nervous about the character. I replied that ‘I am writing for my readers, not you.’”
“He’s always been someone who brings people together,” his son Alex told Newsday.
“I have lots of fond memories sitting around the dining room table, the Christmas tree, or in the kitchen having coffee or wine, he was just a wonderful host. He got joy out of being around people.”
Lauren recalled that her father was both a storyteller and a good listener.
“He was interested, asked the right questions and really got what was really funny or interesting about something you were sharing,” she told the outlet. “Very engaged, which was part of what made him loved by so many people. You just felt so good when he was interested in what you were saying. He had a very interesting, generous mind.”
DeMille, whose wife, Sandra, died in 2018, is survived by Lauren, Alex and another son, James.