The Firefly: A Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

P. T. Deutermann (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 2004

According to the DC cops, the fiery destruction of an upscale plastic surgery clinic and its staff is just business as usual. With the whole city on high alert because of the upcoming presidential inauguration, the Secret Service can afford to let it go. Retired agent Swamp Morgan pulls what appears to be a "firefly" case-until he digs deeper.

Facts don't add up. A German man, the clinic's last client, has vanished. The only surviving nurse is almost killed. And a mysterious tape indicating an imminent threat against the government puts Morgan on full alert, but his handlers refuse to listen to his warnings.

Morgan's in a race against time as the deadly pieces fall into place. Fighting the odds, he's got to shut down the brilliant plan to assassinate the incoming and outgoing presidents before America falls into total chaos-or die trying!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Trust Deutermann (Darkside, etc.), veteran thriller writer and former longtime government employee, to produce what appears to be the first major action novel set inside the Department of Homeland Security. It's full of all the requisite paranoia, frustration and rivalry, and brings the acronym count to new highs. When Swamp (for "Swamp Thing") Morgan-a retired Secret Service agent sucked back into the latest crisis-asks why a top Secret Service man at the White House is so upset by Morgan's investigation into what appears to be a "firefly"-a short-lived, unimportant threat-female colleague Lucy VanMetre replies, "Because he sees OSI's decision to proceed with it as a direct criticism of PRU. This isn't about the firefly anymore. It's all about an infringement of PRU's charter within DHS." Readers able to get through passages like that without laughing will probably enjoy (and be able to follow) the twists and turns of this complicated, often lumpy story. Just days before the inauguration of a new president in 2004, Swamp, a huge man with a Neanderthal visage that hides a shrewd brain, is put in nominal charge of an investigation into a fire at a Washington, D.C., plastic surgery clinic where, at night, foreign visitors have been gradually altering their appearances. Is one of them planning an attack on the new president? Swamp thinks so, but he meets high-level resistance at every turn-especially from Lucy, a sleek, tough blonde who at one point threatens Swamp with a one-way ticket to Guantanamo Bay, where 300 individuals from the Washington area are being held in "protective custody." On the day of the inauguration, a mortar strike on the Capitol is only the beginning of a multi-twist finale. Perhaps this isn't the easiest of reads, but nobody can accuse Deutermann of not being timely.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

A lone government agent with a tortured past, a resourceful damsel-in-distress, a brutal foreign terrorist, and officious bureaucrats who won't listen--sound familiar? Yep, Deutermann's latest is another cookie-cutter entry in the growing suspense subgenre of post-9/11 domestic terrorism. Former Secret Service Agent Terry Lee "Swamp" Morgan has been called out of retirement to work for the Department of Homeland Security and given the assignment of investigating a "firefly"--a threat against the president. His investigation leads him to a shady cosmetic surgery clinic that burned down, and to the lone surviving staff member--nurse Connie Wall. The Saudis have hired German terrorist Jager Heismann to blow up the Capitol Building on Inauguration Day. But first, Heismann has to take care of some unfinished business: Connie Wall, the only one who can possibly identify him after his multiple plastic surgeries (including the addition of inflatable breasts and a "groin pouch" to aid in disguising himself as a woman). Although the characters are one-dimensional, this is a quick read with a surprise twist at the end. Michael Gannon
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks (November 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312994818
• ISBN-13: 978-0312994815
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #664,824 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Peter T. Deutermann
(P.T. Deutermann)


Peter Deutermann was born in Boston in 1941. His father was in the Navy, so he subsequently lived all over the United States and also in Argentina. He graduated from the naval academy in 1963 and served in the navy for 26 years, rising to the rank of Captain. While in the navy, he published one textbook on naval operations and several professional articles in navy-oriented journals. He held three commands: a Swiftboat in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam, a guided missile destroyer in the Atlantic Fleet, and a destroyer squadron based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. His last tour of duty was as the division director for chemical, biological, and radiological weapons arms control negotiations on the staff of the Joint Chiefs in Washington, DC.
He retired from active duty in 1989 and began his fiction-writing career. He has published fourteen novels since 1992, all with St. Martins Press, including the just-released World War II navy novel, entitled Pacific Glory. He is currently working on his next book, a thriller set at the historic mountain fortress of Masada in Israel.
In addition to a BS in naval engineering, Mr. Deutermann holds an MA in public administration from the University of Washington. He is also a Member of the Royal College of Defence Studies in London. He is married and has two children. Mr. Deutermann and his wife of 42 years live in Rockingham County, in the Piedmont of North Carolina, on their family pony farm.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well Worth The Read: The Firefly by P. T. Deutermann, April 14, 2004

By 

Kevin Tipple (Plano, Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Firefly (Hardcover)

Book marketing today is a funny business. There are many books out there with a "thriller" designation attached to their title and quite often; they aren't a thriller on any level. Then there are those books that should have the designation and for whatever unfathomable reason, don't. Those books may not have the designation but should because they are in fact, thrillers. "The Firefly" by the always very enjoyable P. T. Deutermann is a glaring case in point.

After the tragedy of 9/11, Retired Secret Service Agent Swamp Morgan was recalled to active duty, as were hundreds if not thousands of agents and investigators throughout the various federal law enforcement agencies. Swamp is now operating out of a small segment of the large umbrella organization known as the Department of Homeland Security. Swamp is assigned to investigate a strange fire at a local medical clinic as inauguration day fast approaches.

Six weeks ago, a large fire burned at a private clinic specializing in plastic surgery killing two doctors and two nurses. All the bodies, badly charred, were found in an operating room that clearly had just been used for surgery but there was no sign of the patient. The case becomes stranger as the fire burned much hotter than it should have and from all appearances seems to indicate arson. Could the missing patient have done it and if so, why? Then part of a medical transcript of a patient record is found and not only were some possibly illegal activities going on at the clinic but there is some sort of threat to the President. Swamp is tasked with evaluating the information and he is to determine whether the threat is real or not. If not real, it is a firefly and in Washington terms, slap it back down in the grass where it belongs.

Swamp begins to investigate and soon begins to discover evidence-circumstantial and coincidental in the eyes of others-that leads him to suspect this is no firefly but the real deal. Despite public statements to the contrary, control of turf and power still rule the day in Washington and as Swamp pursues his theory as tasked, he begins to lose allies and make powerful new enemies along the way. Those in power sending him out to investigate don't seem to care that he might be right and begin to openly question his judgment. They seem convinced that he is wrong but what if he is right?

This 387-page novel is classic Deutermann. This ninth novel of his features his usual high caliber tight writing with interesting characters and plenty of action. Then there is his ability to lay out the characters and the entire situation and then in a few short pages, flip everything over into a new direction before doing it again and again.

Much like Robert Ludlum did in his early novels, Deutermann creates a world where reality is far different from the perceived illusion. By coming up with wheels within wheels and multiple agendas by almost everyone else but the main character, one never really knows who the players are for real all the way to the last page of his book. In this case, make sure you set aside enough time to finish the last 100 pages in one reading because it is one heck of an intense roller coaster style thrill ride.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Talkier than needed, but lots of fun, February 12, 2005

By 

Keith Nichols (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Firefly (Hardcover)

This is a competent, entertaining action yarn that effectively conveys the panic that the author ascribes to the Secret Service during the runup to a presidential inauguration - assuming that there is such panic. Dispatched by a Saudi entity to rain destruction on the inauguration is a villain who, interestingly, admits that he isn't the most brilliant operative around. He makes up for this by being quite ruthless. But you have to feel for the guy somewhat in that his preparation for the task at hand has involved his undergoing a protracted course of plastic surgeries to totally alter his facial and sexual appearance. This includes having inflatable boobs installed under his skin. As the story progresses, it becomes pretty apparent that he could have accomplished any identity confusion his assignment calls for by donning wigs and other detachable prostheses. But the plot is heavily involved with a sneaky plastic-surgery clinic that would have been unnecessary had our bad guy relied solely on makeup and fake hair.

This novel could be improved by pruning the dialogue scenes about 25 percent. I rather quickly began to feel I was hearing every word that our protagonists have to say about every perhaps mundane point, when in many instances, all we need to know is the gist of their ruminations.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Top-Notch Thriller, February 17, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Firefly (Hardcover)

"Firefly" is a thriller that draws you in with the first chapter and doesn't let go until the surprisingly chilling ending. It provides a frightening-to-think-about terrorist plot against the U.S. government; a likable and savvy retired Secret Service agent as a protagonist; an inside look at the unbridled power of government agencies in post 9-11 America; and action that rachets up each chapter. If you really want to bring Deutermann's words to life, listen to the unabridged audio. Didn't think anything this year could surpass the suspense of "The DaVinci Code," but "Firefly" did it for me.