Defelice, Jim 1956-

PERSONAL:

Born August 23, 1956, in New York, NY; son of Louis (a computer programmer) and Eileen (a nurse's aide) DeFelice; married; children: one son. Education: Marist College, B.A., 1977; State University of New York at Albany, M.A., 1982.

ADDRESSES:

Home—NY. Agent—George Wieser, Wieser & Wieser, Inc., 118 East 25th St., New York, NY 10010.

CAREER:

Writer, journalist, educator, and novelist. Journalist, 1976—; college professor, 1987—.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

Coyote Bird, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1992.

War Breaker, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1993.

Kill Grandma for Me, Kensington Pub. (New York, NY), 1998.

Brother's Keeper, Leisure Books (New York, NY), 2000.

Cyclops One, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Threat Level Black, Pocket Star Books (New York, NY), 2005.

(With Richard Marcinko) Rogue Warrior: Vengeance, Atria (New York, NY), 2005.

(With Richard Marcinko) Rogue Warrior: Holy Terror, Atria Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Leopards Kill, Forge (New York, NY), 2007.

Rangers at Dieppe, Berkley Caliber Books (New York, NY), 2007.

"DALE BROWN'S DREAMLAND" SERIES; WITH DALE BROWN

Dale Brown's Dreamland, Berkley Books (New York, NY), 2001.

Dale Brown's Dreamland: Nerve Center, Berkley Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Dale Brown's Dreamland: Piranha, Jove Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Dale Brown's Dreamland: Razor's Edge, Avon Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Dale Brown's Dreamland: Armageddon, Jove Books (New York, NY), 2004.

Dale Brown's Dreamland: Strike Zone, Avon (New York, NY), 2004.

Dale Brown's Dreamland: Satan's Tail, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2005.

"STEPHEN COONTS'S DEEP BLACK" SERIES; WITH STEPHEN COONTS

Stephen Coonts' Deep Black, St. Martin's Paperbacks (New York, NY), 2003.

Stephen Coonts' Deep Black: Dark Zone, St. Martin's Paperbacks (New York, NY), 2004.

Stephen Coonts' Deep Black: Biowar, St. Martin's Paperbacks (New York, NY), 2004.

Stephen Coonts' Deep Black: Payback, St. Martin's Paperbacks (New York, NY), 2005.

"LARRY BOND'S FIRST TEAM" SERIES; WITH LARRY BOND

Larry Bond's First Team, Forge (New York, NY), 2004.

Larry Bond's First Team: Angels of Wrath, Forge Books/Tom Doherty Associates (New York, NY), 2006.

Larry Bond's First Team: Fires of War, Forge (New York, NY), 2006.

NONFICTION

(With Dominick J. Misino) Negotiate and Win: Proven Strategies from the NYPD's Top Hostage Negotiator (nonfiction), McGraw-Hill (New York, NY), 2004.

Has also written many books for young people.

SIDELIGHTS:

Journalist and educator Jim DeFelice is a thriller writer who pens standalone novels as well as collaborations with other prominent authors of paramilitary adventure and intrigue. Among his coauthors are techno-thriller scribes such as Larry Bond, Stephen Coonts, Dale Brown, and Richard Marcinko.

Larry Bond's First Team is the first book of a series of team-ups with Bond. In the novel, "a mythically capable CIA operative leads a team of intrepid, off-the-books warriors in a battle to defuse a terrorist dead-set on the destruction of Honolulu," noted a Kirkus Reviews critic. The heroes of the book, known as the First Team, rely on intelligence and cunning more than firepower as they track a terrorist seeking a large volume of nuclear waste to use in making Hawaii a radioactive wasteland. Brown and DeFelice "combine research and imagination to make the whole premise seem completely plausible," commented David Pitt, writing in Booklist. The Kirkus Reviews contributor commented that the novel contains "action on every page. Maybe in every paragraph." A Publishers Weekly critic named the book "a solid series debut."

DeFelice and Bond teamed up again in Larry Bond's First Team: Angels of Wrath, in which a group of apocalypse-seeking terrorists seek to start a religious war between the United States and the Middle East, and Larry Bond's First Team: Fires of War, which sends the First Team to search for nuclear weapons in South Korea. Larry Bond's First Team: Fires of War offers readers "aelentless action" with "no time for reflection," wrote a Kirkus Reviews contributor.

DeFelice's collaborations with Stephen Coonts also involve an elite group of extra-governmental operatives. The agents of Deep Black, a secret sub-agency assigned to the National Security Agency, work in covert operations while making the best possible use of a selection of esoteric, futuristic weapons and devices. In Stephen Coonts' Deep Black: Dark Zone, The action-filled storyline pits agents Charlie Dean and Tommy Karr against an Algerian terrorist with sophisticated chemical explosives, enough plutonium to make a small atomic bomb, and the desire to wreak havoc on selected targets in France. The novel's "suspense, action, knowledge of weapons and methods, and characterization are all up to par and frequently better," observed Booklist reviewer Roland Green.

Dale Brown's Dreamland, brings DeFelice together with former U.S. Air Force Captain and author Dale Brown. Together, they craft a novel centered on a secret military think tank called Dreamland, where brilliant military minds assemble to create new artillery, aircraft, and other modern weapons. When a spy is discovered among Dreamland's elite cadre of pilots, the future of the organization is jeopardized. Cost-cutters at the Pentagon are eyeing the group. Lieutenant Colonel Tecumseh "Dog" Bastian struggles to keep Dreamland off the closure lists, with help from his daughter, Captain Breanna Bastian Stockard, a top-notch pilot, and her husband, Major Jeff "Zen" Stockard, a former pilot sidelined by serious injury. It takes the combined efforts of all three to conduct a vital air mission and secure Dreamland's place in the Pentagon hierarchy. A Publishers Weekly reviewer observed that "experienced military-thriller readers will marvel at the fast pace of this novel."

In Rogue Warrior: Vengeance, the well-known military thriller writer Richard Marcinko and DeFelice form a writing team that "takes on Homeland Security to show how far from secure the homeland is," noted a Kirkus Reviews contributor. In the book, Marcinko assumes his fictional role as the Rogue Warrior and works to test the security arrangements of U.S. Homeland Security. As he penetrates railroad bridges, nuclear power plants, truck depots, and other prime targets, he makes it clear that there is a great lack of security in these areas. Soon, however, the Rogue Warrior also discovers that someone has taken a keen dislike to his discoveries, and is now out to get him, whatever the cost. The "action is tight" throughout the story, and "fans won't be disappointed," commented a reviewer in Publishers Weekly.

DeFelice is the solo writer at the helm of Leopards Kill, in which the CIA is on the trail of agent Mercury "Merc" Conrad, who has disappeared in Afghanistan with two million dollars of the agency's money. Ex-special forces soldier and Conrad's friend and business partner Jack Pilgrim is in Conrad's debt for saving his life three times, and sets out to find and rescue the agent in the harsh and uncivilized wilds of Afghanistan. With this novel and his "other solo efforts," DeFelice proves "that he can write and fight with the best of them," remarked a Publishers Weekly critic.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, July 1, 1993, Denise Perry Donavin, review of War Breaker, p. 1946; March 15, 2004, David Pitt, review of Larry Bond's First Team, p. 1243; November 15, 2004, Roland Green, review of Stephen Coonts' Deep Black: Dark Zone, p. 560; May 15, 2005, Roland Green, review of Rogue Warrior: Vengeance, p. 1637.

Entertainment Weekly, May 28, 2004, Marc Bernardin, review of Larry Bond's First Team, p. 131.

Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2004, review of Larry Bond's First Team, p. 284; April 15, 2005, review of Rogue Warrior: Vengeance, p. 442; September 1, 2006, review of Larry Bond's First Team: Fires of War, p. 860.

Library Journal, July 1, 1993, Grant A. Fredericksen, review of War Breaker, p. 119.

Publishers Weekly, May 14, 2001, review of Dale Brown's Dreamland, p. 58; July 28, 2003, review of Dale Brown's Dreamland: Piranha, p. 84; March 29, 2004, review of Larry Bond's First Team, p. 37; May 9, 2005, review of Rogue Warrior: Vengeance, p. 42; November 7, 2005, review of Larry Bond's First Team: Angels of Wrath, p. 52; May 8, 2006, review of Rogue Warrior: Holy Terror, p. 48; February 19, 2007, review of Leopards Kill, p. 146.

ONLINE

HarperCollins Web site,http://www.harpercollins.com/ (June 4, 2007), biography of Jim DeFelice.

WelshRogue Web log,http://welshrogue.com/ (April 10, 2007), review of Deep Black: Jihad.