Deutermann, P.T. 1941–

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Deutermann, P.T. 1941–

(Peter T. Deutermann, Peter Thomas Deutermann)

PERSONAL: Born December 27, 1941, in Boston, MA; son of Harold T. (a naval officer) and Dorothy Deutermann; married Susan Cornelia Degenhardt (a horse trainer), July 25, 1968; children: Daniel Thomas, Sarah Laffan. Education: U.S. Naval Academy, B.S., 1963; University of Washington, M.A., 1970; Royal College of Defense Studies, graduated, 1987. Politics: "Conservative Republican." Religion: Episcopalian. Hobbies and other interests: Breeding ponies, carriage driving, gardening, computer science.

ADDRESSES: Home—NC. Agent—Nicholas Ellison, Ellison & Co., 55 5th Ave., New York, NY 10003.

CAREER: U.S. Navy, 1963–89, became captain; gunboat commander during Vietnam War, 1966–67; missile destroyer commander during Lebanon Crisis, 1981–84; commander of a squadron of destroyers, 1985–86; technical delegate to United Nations and arms control negotiator with Soviet Union, both 1988–89. MiTech, Inc., senior engineer, 1990–92; senior consulting engineer for Unisource Systems, Inc; member of board of advisors, SpaceVest Venture Capital Group.

MEMBER: Authors Guild, U.S. Naval Institute, Dartmoor Pony Society of America, Retired Officers Association.

AWARDS, HONORS: Nineteen military decorations.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

Scorpion in the Sea: The Goldsborough Incident, George Mason University Press (Fairfax, VA), 1992.

The Edge of Honor, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1994.

Official Privilege, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1995.

Sweepers, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1997.

Zero Option, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1998.

Train Man, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1999.

Hunting Season, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2001.

Darkside, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2002.

The Firefly, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2003.

The Cat Dancers, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2005.

Spider Mountain: A Novel, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2007.

OTHER

The Operations Officer's Manual (textbook), Naval Institute Press (Annapolis, MD), 1980.

Contributor to U.S. Naval Institute's periodical Proceedings.

ADAPTATIONS: Sweepers, Official Privilege, and Train Man have been optioned for film.

SIDELIGHTS: A decorated former naval officer who served in Vietnam and was on active duty during the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964, P.T. Deutermann has had considerable success in his second career as a novelist. In 1992 he published Scorpion in the Sea: The Goldsborough Incident, a military thriller about an outmoded naval destroyer that suddenly finds itself pitted against a Libyan submarine off the Florida coast. In his review of Scorpion in the Sea for the Florida Times-Union, Bill Roach affirmed that "the characters are interesting and dialogue is fast-paced," and added that the novel achieves "a crashing, pounding climax." A critic for Publishers Weekly stated that "Deutermann tells a convincing naval detective story."

Deutermann's successive thrillers have met with similar praise. A writer for Publishers Weekly called his second novel, The Edge of Honor, "a lot more than the standard military thriller" and an "exciting genre standout." The book's action takes place in 1969 and centers around weapons officer Lt. Brian Holcomb, assigned to the U.S.S. John Bell Hood in the Gulf of Tonkin during the height of the Vietnam War. Official Privilege, which features a murder investigation after the mummified body of a navy officer is found on a decommissioned ship in Philadelphia, was also commended in Publishers Weekly as a "fine suspense novel enhanced by solid background detail." Sweepers, which a Publishers Weekly reviewer deemed a "gripping new addition to [Deutermann's] line of naval mysteries," returns to the legacy of the Vietnam War, as Admiral Tag Sherman must confront the man he left for dead in the Mekong Delta years before. In Zero Option, a container of deadly nerve gas disappears from a Georgia army base; military investigator David Stafford encounters FBI agents and bureaucrats, as well as a psychic young girl, in his quest to retrieve the terrifying weapon. Noting that the story "fits nicely between The X Files and the reality of what could be tomorrow's headlines," Booklist writer Budd Arthur hailed the book as an "engrossing" thriller. A contributor to Publishers Weekly added that the book is "also something else: an unexpectedly resonant portrait of people, good and bad, who have been chewed up and spit out by military and government bureaucracies."

This sensitivity to character was also praised in Train Man, in which FBI shortcomings are showcased when a military train is caught in a dangerous race against a psychotic bomber of railroad bridges. Calling the book Deutermann's "most accomplished thriller yet," a Publishers Weekly writer hailed the novel as "intelligent, expertly detailed and highly suspenseful."

In Hunting Season, Edwin Kreiss is an intelligence operative who was recently forced to retire, and Janet Carter is a young agent who is new to the FBI and lacks experience. In his day, Kreiss was known for his use of violence in obtaining information. Now his daughter has been kidnapped during a camping trip, and he discovers that he is being hunted by a "sweeper" who may very well enact a similar violence upon his daughter. He and Carter must team up in order to rescue his daughter and prevent a bombing in Washington, DC. Despite their differing tactics, Kreiss and Carter come to respect each other because of their similar code of honor, which ultimately makes them allies. Writing in Booklist, Budd Arthur praised the novel for having "plenty of well-banked curves and clever twists."

Darkside is set at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where a cadet has plunged to his death from the roof of a six-story building. Suspicions abound: was he pushed or did he fall? Senior class member Julie Markham, one of the academy's brightest stars, is drawn into the scandal when the dead plebe is discovered to be wearing her underwear. Rumors circulate regarding "Darkside," the nickname for the academy's entrenched, hierarchical, and Byzantine traditions and protocol. The resulting investigation leads to another death, and some believe a serial killer is on the loose. As the investigation uncovers secrets that upset the powers that be—especially Julie—romantic entanglements complicate the case. The novel exhibits "a dead-on sense of place," wrote a critic for Kirkus Reviews, and a writer for Publishers Weekly appreciated Deutermann's ability to "[paint] a detailed picture of the lives of midshipmen … as well as the inner workings of navy bureaucracy."

Deutermann uses the newly created Department of Homeland Security as the backdrop in his novel The Firefly, in which a retired Secret Service Agent, Swamp Morgan, is called back to duty after two doctors and two nurses are killed in the firebombing of a plastic surgery clinic. Many involved in the investigation believe the incident is a "firefly," a crime that first appears to have great significance but later turns out to be an isolated incident. Morgan is not convinced; the person who was being operated on at the time of the fire—a possible terrorist—is missing. Summarizing the book for Kirkus Reviews, a writer concluded that "Deutermann always makes his backgrounds impeccably authentic, but it's those three-dimensional people in peril who drive his tales."

Deutermann once commented in CA: "My writing career began at the Naval Academy, where I wrote short stories and poetry for the school's monthly magazine. During my active duty career in the Navy I continued to write, publishing The Operations Officer's Manual, which is a textbook on naval operations, and nineteen professional articles. I wrote Scorpion in the Sea in hopes of initiating a career as a novelist, and so far, so good. Scorpion in the Sea has been classified as a techno-thriller, but I tried to differentiate it from many books of that genre by developing realistic, three-dimensional characters whose personal fates become as important as the resolution of the underlying 'thriller.'"

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, April 1, 1994, Dennis Winters, review of The Edge of Honor, p. 1423; June 1, 1995, Gilbert Taylor, review of Official Privilege, p. 1734; August, 1997, Gilbert Taylor, review of Sweepers, p. 1884; August, 1998, Budd Arthur, review of Zero Option, p. 1962; January 1, 2000, Budd Arthur, review of Hunting Season, p. 924; November 15, 2003, Michael B. Gannon, review of The Firefly, p. 583.

Florida Times-Union, January 31, 1993, Bill Roach, review of Scorpion in the Sea: The Goldsborough Incident.

Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2002, review of Darkside, p. 1332; October 15, 2003, review of The Firefly, p. 1240; September 15, 2005, review of The Cat Dancers, p. 992.

Library Journal, April 15, 1994, Elsa Pendelton, review of The Edge of Honor, p. 111; May 15, 1995, Elsa Pendleton, review of Official Privilege, p. 94; June 1, 1997, Marylaine Block, review of Sweepers, p. 146; September 1, 1998, Edwin B. Burgess, review of Zero Option, p. 212.

New York Times Book Review, June 25, 1995, Newgate Callendar, review of Official Privilege, p. 34.

Publishers Weekly, August 31, 1992, review of Scorpion in the Sea; March 28, 1994, review of The Edge of Honor, p. 82; May 8, 1995, review of Official Privilege, p. 287; July 7, 1997, review of Sweepers, p. 52; July 13, 1998, review of Zero Option, p. 63; July 12, 1999, review of Train Man, p. 75; December 18, 2000, review of Hunting Season, p. 52; October 21, 2002, review of Darkside, p. 54; November 3, 2003, review of The Firefly, p. 52.