Nelson DeMille's last book, 'The Tin Men,' comes out this fall

Nelson DeMille still has one more story to tell.

Simon & Schuster has announced that "The Tin Men," the final novel from the bestselling Garden City author who died in September at 81, will come out on Oct. 28. The book, written with his son, Alex DeMille, is the third in their series featuring Army Criminal Investigation Division agents Scott Brodie and Maggie Taylor as the protagonists.

"The Tin Men" has all the elements sure to please fans of DeMille's spy thrillers. The plot focuses on a top secret military installation and the development of lethal autonomous robots. As the story unfolds, it begs the question of what happens when artificial intelligence takes on a life of its own.

Though DeMille was best known as the sole author of action-packed stories that topped the bestseller lists — including "The Gold Coast" and "Plum Island," which were set on Long Island — in recent years he began teaming up with his son. Their first joint effort from 2019, "The Deserter," introduced the dynamic duo of Brodie and Taylor, who encountered all sorts of dangers as they went in search of a missing Army captain in Venezuela.

Their 2023 follow-up, "Blood Lines," took Brodie and Taylor to Berlin for a murder investigation. In an interview with Newsday about "Blood Lines," the DeMilles discussed their writing process, in which Alex penned the first draft of several chapters and then emailed them to Nelson. The elder DeMille would then print out the pages and send his edits back to Alex within 48 hours. They also spoke via Zoom to discuss the structure and plot.

“Alex is a very good researcher,” Nelson told Newsday. 

The two also played off each others’ strengths, which included Nelson’s gift for writing taut action scenes and Alex's skill for character development. “Most of the characters I write are in their 40s. I’m not in my 40s,” Nelson added. “The fact that Alex is in his early 40s lent authenticity in terms of what Brodie and Taylor say — and don’t say."

In addition to writing, Alex DeMille, who grew up in Garden City and now lives in Brooklyn, is a graduate of Yale University and UCLA's film school, and has had a successful career directing and editing movies.