The Panther by Nelson DeMIlle ****

The Panther by Nelson DeMille is a military/black-ops procedural. Aside from a skirmish quickly ended by Predator Drones and Hellfire Missiles, the action is delayed until the last 100 pages of this 800 page tome.

However, do not despair. The narrator and main character (John Corey) has a wonderful sense of humor, delivering more LOL moments than many comedy/humorous books I've read.

He instructed us, "If death or capture seems imminent, destroy the phones and radios." He suggested, "A bullet will do it."
If I have a bullet left, I'm not shooting my phone.

I reminded her, "Aim for the center of mass... Heart is on the right."
"Left."
"His left, your right, Doctor."

Great. I mean, you know you're bored when you look forward to a visit from Al Qaeda.

Overall and enjoyable read, but if you're looking for action, be prepared to skim great sections of "As you know Bob" info-dumps, but that is the essence of procedures, so don't say you weren't warned.

A comfortable read and ideal companion for a long plane ride (mine was 12 hours).