After the movie, THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER, Nelson DeMille's masterpiece of suspense, received renewed attention. Using a powerful story line, dynamic characterizations and a familiar theme of secrecy and corruption, DeMille has created a memorable piece of fiction that exposes the evils underlying an autonomous military and plumbs the darkest core of human depravity.

Characteristic of DeMille's writing, THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER unfolds with lightening speed as key players are introduced, stage sets erected and a murder revealed --- all within the first chapter. Paul Brenner, a Criminal Investigation Division officer for the Army, encounters his former love interest, Cynthia Sunhill, and between the banter and the taunts, we're given the sense that this is a romance still simmering below the surface destined to be rekindled with fireworks of one sort or another. Paul has been temporarily stationed at Fort Hadley as an undercover operative in an illegal arms sting, Cynthia, also a CID officer, is there to handle a rape case. They soon find themselves thrown together in the most explosive investigation of their careers: the rape and murder of --- you guessed it --- the General's daughter.

Captain Ann Campbell is the daughter of the base commander, a man of eminent power and influence in the highest echelons of the United States Army. Ann's own career has been distinguished beginning with her appointment to West Point, her reputation as an outstanding officer and her current position in the highly classified Psychological Operations Unit. Her brutal murder has shaken the military establishment for a multitude of reasons and CID headquarters assigns their foremost investigator, Brenner, to solve this sensitive case with an expressed emphasis on quickly and quietly.

Paul Brenner is one of DeMille's trademark heroes, slightly flawed, abundantly irreverent but unquestionably likable. Although he is a career officer, he has a reputation for pushing the limits of his CID authority and winning the admiration of his superiors, but inevitably provoking the wrath of higher ranking officers and local police authorities. As he contemplates the bizarre crime scene and the tenuous and expendable position he's placed in, Brenner hints at the magnitude of events to follow:

"...I'm part of a special CID team, a sort of elite unit, though I hesitate to use that word. What makes us special is that we're all longtime veterans with good arrest and conviction records. What also makes us special is that I have extraordinary powers to cut through Army red tape, which in the military is like having a magic mushroom in a Nintendo game. One of those extraordinary powers is the power to make an arrest of any military person anywhere in the world, regardless of rank. I wouldn't push this and attempt to arrest one of the Joint Chiefs for speeding, but I always wanted to see how far I could go. I was about to find out."