English Final Project

Cover Page
Published by Warner Books in 2001 and reprinted by Time Warner Paperbacks in
2002.

Title Page

Name Of The Book

The General’s Daughter

Author
Nelson DeMille

Publisher
Time Warner Paperbacks

First published in Great

Britain in 1993 by Harper
Collins.
This edition published in
2001 by Warner Books.
Reprinted by Time Warner
Paperbacks in 2002.
 Preface

The opportunity to widen our mental horizons and to

enrich our brains with legal knowledge does not come
so often. We got this opportunity in the form of our
Internal Assessment where we had to review a novel
that had a legal perspective to it. We surfed through
the cover pages of legal thrillers all over the Internet
when we found The General’s Daughter by Nelson
DeMille. This novel was unanimously chosen by all the
members just after having a look at its overview at its
back cover. A thrilling murder mystery of a “golden
girl” set up at an army base intrigued all of us. We
read more about the Author just to find that he was
from a military background and there might be some
truth to his fictional writings. We further got to know
that the Author had already written many bestselling
novels that were praised by one and all. We all were
found of novels that had a tinge of suspense and this
novel seemed like a blessing in disguise. This
enhanced our curiosity and we ordered the book
thereafter. The expectations from this book are very
high and I hope that it will surpass them easily.
 Acknowledgements

No creation is an individual effort and same is the case with this

project. It is a matter of absolute pleasure to express a token of
heartfelt gratitude to our English Professor, mentor and guide, Dr.
Kiran Degan. Her timely advice and optimistic approach have been
great stimulants in the completion of this project.
It is also a privilege to thank our Director Dr. C.J. Rawandale for
giving us this opportunity enabling us to read a legal thriller which
led to the widening of our mental horizons. We are thankful to our
parents for their continuous support and encouragement. Finally,
we are thankful to God who support us in all our endeavours
despite our faults.

Table of Contents

S.N Particulars Page Number

o
1. Synopsis 1
2. Detailed Summary 2-4
3. About the Author 5
4. Law Element 6
5. Character Sketches 7-9
6. Subjective Perceptions 10-14
7. Conclusion 15
 Synopsis

Nelson DeMille, through this novel brings in a

more customary stylish-suspense-novel mode but
retains a smart-aleck narrator. Captain Ann
Campbell is a West Point graduate, the daughter
of legendary General "Fighting Joe" Campbell. She
is the pride of Fort Hadley until, one morning, her
body is found, naked and bound, on the firing
range.
 Paul Brenner is a member of the Army's elite
undercover investigative unit and the man in
charge of this politically explosive case. Teamed
with rape specialist Cynthia Sunhill, with whom he
once had a complicated sexual relationship, Paul
Brenner is about to learn just how many people
were sexually, emotionally, and dangerously
involved with the Army's "golden girl" and how the
neatly pressed uniforms and honour codes of the
military hide corruption as well as Ann Campbell's
shocking secret life. Unseemly details emerge
about Campbell's life, leading to allegations of a
possible military coverup of her death and the
involvement of her father, Lt. Gen. Joseph
Campbell . Characterization in general is fussy,
though DeMille captures the intricacies of the
military regime and keeps the readers in complete
darkness regarding the identity of the murderer
till the very end.

Detailed Summary

Captain Ann Campbell, daughter of General Joseph Campbell

was found dead in rifle range six, nearby provost marshal's
office at Fort Hadley . Army CID and Warrant Officer Paul
Brenner and Rape Specialist Cynthia Sunhill, investigate the
murder as per the orders of Hall Hellmann, Colonel, Falls
Church headquarters.
Ann's corpse, was naked except for a sports watch. The body
was spread- eagled on her back, her wrists and ankles bound
to tent pegs with cord. Around her neck was a nylon cord that
bound her wrists and ankles, one leg of panties around her
neck so that the cord did not bite directly into her neck.
Ann Campbell was about thirty and well built. She was a west
Point graduate, graduating top ten percent of her class, she
went to Georgetown graduate school to get her master's
degree in Psychology. She was also an active participant in the
Gulf war, Germany, worked at the Pentagon and finally she
was working at Ford Hadley, in a psychological operation
group, with her boss General Charles Moore. Visiting the scene
of crime and with the help of interviews with the Post Duty
Guards, detectives Paul and Cynthia conclude that the time of
death was between 2:17 to 4:25 AM in the morning. Paul also
discovers that Ann Campbell was murdered by a person, who
is very familiar and well acquainted with her.
Intruding into the apartment of Ann at Victory Garden, for
collecting information about the deceased, both Paul and
Cynthia were shocked to find the weird things, showing the
double life, as a split personality woman, Ann Campbell lived.
Right on the other side of the pegboard wall, at the basement
room, there were lot of video recordings showing Ann,
stripping naked in front of a cameraman ,and other tapes
proving Ann's illegal sex life with married colonels, lieutenants
and other important Army officials at Fort Hadley. Captain Ann
Campbell, had seduced almost thirty high ranking officers and
recorded everything in video tapes, uploaded her sexual
encounters in her PC, in the form of digital dairy file and
secretly locked them with a password.
Conversations and interviews with Ann's father General Joseph
Campbell, Mrs. Campbell, General's personal adjutant, Colonel
Flower , Mrs. Flower and Ann's boss General Charles Moore,
gave CID Paul Brenner an insight into Ann's double life. He
discovers that Anna's secret sex life is due to revenge,
retribution, and a perverted experiment against her father and
relates to something worst that happened to her at West Point
Graduation College in the past.
During the summer between Ann Campbell's first and second
year at West Point Graduation college, at night while
patrolling in the woods, Anna was separated from the larger
group by accident and found herself with five males. They not
only wore camouflage paint, but also had mosquito nets over
their faces. The male personnel grabbed, stripped and staked
her out with pegs from pup tents, then took turns raping her.
They also threatened her if she reported rape. It was so dark
that she couldn't even identify the uniforms of the men who
raped her. She was reported missing until dawn. Later she was
found dishevelled and hysterical. She was admitted in Army
Hospital and was treated for minor cuts. Her father General
Campbell flew in the day after the unfortunate incident.
Though Ann Campbell didn't address the issue directly to her
father, she expected him to see to it that justice was done,
that the men who had done it were to be expelled from the
Military Academy and punished. But her father, who she loved
and trusted, did nothing and insisted her not to report the
incident for the sake of the Army, the Nation, Academy and
also for his own political interests. General Campbell, for
maintaining silence , got transferred to Fort Hadley with his
daughter.
After this tragedy , Ann Campbell turned from a warm,
outgoing and friendly girl to a distrustful, quiet and withdrawn
woman. Because of her complete loss of faith towards her
father, Ann started corrupting the people in Fort Hadley. Her
message to her father was clear, "You thought about me
nothing, you never regarded my decision to remain a virgin
until I was ready, so it is my turn to give every man in your
post what they want from me." From then on, she started
corrupting, compromising, seducing every officer at Fort
Hadley and recorded every sexual encounters. Top men such
as Army CID Bowes, Colonel William Kent, Midland cop Burt
Yardley and his son fell for Ann's charms and were included in
Ann's secret dairy and video tapes.
Finally Ann Campbell was ready to forgive her father. She
wanted to make things right again, but she wanted to show
her parents, her trauma, pain, shame, humiliation , and
suffering by recreating the West Point scene by tying herself
naked to tent pegs with cord. Assisted by her boss and
psychologist, General Charles Moore, the shock therapy was
designed to act as a relief to both Ann and her parents and to
bring them back to happiness and peace. But between the
time gap, while her father went to colonel Fowler's house, for
getting help, somebody murdered her, and everything went
wrong. This started the detailed investigation mentioned
above. At her house, the computerized diary of Ann Campbell,
showed the word by word narration of Ann's sexual
encounters. Paul and Cynthia finds , a provost marshal Colonel
William Kent's name appearing frequently. From the computer
printout taken from Ann Campbell's computer, Paul discovers
that Kent was gotten in to mental disease called sexual
asphyxia, a dangerous ritual of putting a noose around his
neck for generating sexual desire by erotic asphyxiation and
performing this on Ann Campbell too. He also discovers the
letter written by Ann Campbell to Kent's wife, mentioning his
mental problem and his over possessiveness towards her.
The evidence found, including the motive in the dairy entries,
foot prints, tire marks found in the crime scene all confirms
Colonel William Kent as the murderer. Before Paul arresting
him, Kent kills himself, by putting the revolver to his temple
and pulling the trigger.

About the Author

Nelson DeMille is the New York Times bestselling author of

twenty novels, six of which were #1 New York
Times bestsellers. His novels include The Deserter, The Cuban
Affair, Radiant Angel, Plum Island, The Charm School, The
Gold Coast, and The General’s Daughter, which was made into
a major motion picture, starring John Travolta and Madeleine
Stowe. He has written short stories, book reviews, and
articles for magazines and newspapers. Nelson DeMille is a
combat-decorated U.S. Army veteran, a member of Mensa,
Poets & Writers, and the Authors Guild, and a member and
past president of the Mystery Writers of America. He is also a
member of the International Thriller Writers, who honoured
him as 2015 Thriller Master of the Year.
Although the tone of his writing varies from novel to novel,
one consistent tool is DeMille's liberal use of sarcasm and dry
humour
Nelson Richard DeMille was born in New York City on August
23, 1943 to Huron and Antonia DeMille, then moved with his
parents to Long Island. He graduated from Elmont Memorial
High School, where he played football and ran track.
DeMille spent three years at Hofstra University, then joined
the Army where he attended Officer Candidate School and
was commissioned a Lieutenant in the United States Army
(1966-69). He saw action in Vietnam as an infantry platoon
leader with the First Cavalry Division and was decorated with
the Air Medal, Bronze Star, and the Vietnamese Cross of
Gallantry.
After his discharge, DeMille returned to Hofstra University
where he received his bachelor’s degree in Political Science
and History. He has three children, Lauren, Alexander, and
James, and he and his wife reside on Long Island.

Law Element

No doubt, God cannot step down on earth to

protect one and all from the negative
circumstances that arise, thus humans created
“Army” which includes a group of people that are
equipped to fight for their mother land and
protect it. However, Nelson DeMille through this
 novel aims at making each of us aware of the
very fact as to how the Army for its own personal
whim can actually go against the law to protect
its own honour and pride. Ann Campbell is
brutally gangraped by military soldiers and she
expected his father to punish the men so that
justice could prevail. But her father, who she
loved and trusted, did nothing and insisted her
not to report the incident for the sake of the
Army, Academy and his political interests. We
may term this entire plot as a “web of crimes”
which necessarily requires a legal action. The
blatant corruption prevalent in the Army is
uncovered in the novel as all the military soldiers
try to create obstacles in the investigation. It is
pitiful to see how heinous crimes like rape and
murder are being hidden from the society. And
all this is happening in the army which is known
for maintaining discipline and equality amongst
all. The novel deals with sex scandals at the
military academies, on the battlefield, and
among some of its highest ranking officers. The
questions explored in this book are still looking
for answers.

Character Sketches

1. Paul Brenner
Paul Brenner is an officer in the United States Army and works with
the Criminal Investigation Division. As a specialist, he must go to
the inconvenience spots of the existence where American
representatives should likewise go to help shield the threat from
decimating crucial strategic missions. It is one of those unpleasant
occupations that if a specialist does effectively on numerous
occasions, nobody contemplates it. In the event that he fouls up or
if the foe is only somewhat better or more fortunate, his profession
is likely finished, expecting he is alive to mind. He was currently
working undercover at a fictitious Army base in Georgia when he is
drawn into a case involving the murder of a female Army captain.
The case is highly sensitive for two reasons: the victim was found
on post naked and staked spread eagle to the ground, an apparent
rape victim; the victim, Ann Campbell, is also the rising-star
daughter of the fort’s commanding general, a hero of the first Gulf
War with political ambitions. He is paired up with Cynthia Sunhill
with whom she had a previous sexual relationship when they were
stationed at Brussels Paul is found to be descending and dismissive
toward Cynthia, while she in turn, seemed to always be in the
background, her character never fully revealed. On the physical
front, he is a middle aged guy with a strong muscular well – built
body. To conclude, he is a wise-cracking, middle-aged guy, very
good at his job but doesn't play by the rules.

2. Ann Campbell
Anne Campbell is the daughter of General Joe Campbell. She was a
highly decorated soldier until her body is found naked and bound at
Army Base Fort Hadley. Her murder is being investigated in the
novel. She is a young beautiful women, but that beauty only
persists on the outer side as she has become psychologically
imbalanced after she was gangraped during her military training.
She wanted her father to realise what pain she had gone through,
and take action by putting the culprits behind the bar but her
father, who she loved and trusted outrightly refused in order to
maintain his reputation. This proved as a shock for her after which
she decided to lay a trap of all the illustrous Army Colonels and
Generals by seducing them and recording their sexual encounters
with her. She had a nick of doing different things. She had a Master
in psychology yet she put her name on several duty rosters that
she didn’t have to be on. It is later revealed that all the strange
things she did had a clear motive behind them. She wanted to let
her father go through the pain and struggle that she went through.
She wanted to then reconcile with him after he understands her
position. To bring this to reality, she plans to recreate the scene
where she was tied and gangraped. All this couldn’t happen as
Colonel William Kent murders her for upholding the reputation of
the Army and the General. To conclude Ann Campbell was a lovely,
talented girl who fell prey to the circumstances she didn’t deserve.

3. Colonel William Kent

Colonel William Kent, the post provost marshal, was Fort Hadley’s
top cop. Kent is about fifty, tall, medium build, with a pock –
marked face and icy blue eyes. He’s a bit stiff at times, not clever,
but hardworking and efficient. He is the military equivalent of a
Chief of Police, commanding all the uniformed military police at Fort
Hadley. He is a stickler for rules and regulations, and, while not
disliked, he is not anyone’s best buddy either. Kent was a decent
sort of guy, but like most MP types, he wasn’t overly clever, and
the CID made him nervous – which is a hint towards he being the
murderer. On the professional front, he is everything a prosecutor
could ask for in a cop : believable, logical, unemotional, and
organized in his testimony. There is something about him that
didn’t play right. He comes across as a little too stiff and unfeeling.
When the army has to court martial somebody, he has no
sympathy whatsoever. He rarely smiles. He is over possessed and
attracted towards Ann even though he is married. This all led to
him murdering the General’s daughter to save his pride as he knew
of the scene Ann was recreating and he couldn’t see the image of
the army or the General get tarnished. He is stubborn and didn’t
accept to the murder even when all evidences were against him. He
is still conscious of his image and prefers to shoot himself rather
than getting his reputation to dirt when the news of her
wrongdoings would surface out.

These are the three main characters. In addition to this

there are three smaller characters which play a small role in
the novel. We would mention a few lines about them too.

4. Cynthia Sunhill
 Cynthia is a Warrant Officer (a rape specialist) who once had a
complicated relationship with Paul. She partners with Paul for the
investigation. She is much younger, smarter but less experienced
female who keeps Paul humble and is handy with the snappy
retorts.

5. General Joe Campbell

General Joe is a reputed Army General who also runs an Academy.
He is the father of Anne Campbell. He is selfish and keeps his
political interests over the dignity of her daughter.

6. General Moore
General Moore is a smart and sophisticated General. He was deeply
in love with Anne and also had a sexual relationship with her. He
helps Ann to set up the scene.

Subjective Perceptions
(Perception of the novel and its Law Element)

The Perceptions of all the individual

members have been provided below :
1. Shubham Maheshwari
 Division – C
PRN – 18010224156
Batch – 2018 -23

The General’s Daughter focuses on Warrant Officer

Paul Brenner, a sergeant who is working undercover
with the army’s criminal investigation division.
Though a non-commissioned officer, he seems to
have the authority to bust personnel as high as
generals, but not just to apprehend them. He is
conveniently paired with Warrant Officer Sarah
Sunderland with whom for no reason other than to
create romantic tension when none would ordinarily
exist he once had a dalliance. The story opens on Lt.
General Campbell, who is receiving a retirement
banquet from hordes of officers as the great man
prepares to accept a vice presidential nomination.
When the general’s daughter, Capt. Elizabeth
Campbell, is raped and strangled, Brenner and
Sunderland take swift action to get to the bottom of
the crime, but not before Brenner proves his vigor by
ridding Fort MacCallum of a racist gun-runner.

2. Vardaan Suri
Division – C
PRN – 18010224162
This book grabbed my attention from the very beginning and
didn’t let it go till the end. The author's introduction makes it
clear that it is intended to explore the role of women in the
modern military, particularly in relation to how sexual
misconduct is handled. The story was so intricate, that I did not
have a clue where it was going or how it would evolve.
Throughout the reading, I was intrigued and interested in
finding out who the killer was. This was because the
mystery of the murderer was quite well done with several
people all seemingly having the to kill. Many characters were
portrayed as seedy thus enhancing the mystery. I know very
little about military protocols and treatment of different kinds of
officers, so that was interesting to learn. The author has
developed a distinctive style depending on witty first-person
narration and technical details that are as delicious as they’re
cleverly integrated in the flow of the action. I loved the witty
banter between investigators Paul Brenner and Cynthia
Sunhill. The dry humour and the sarcastic comments used by
the protagonist are pretty fun to read.
From the legal perspective, I got to know that all the
branches of the US military – Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines
and Coast Guard all operate under the Uniform Code of Military
Justice.
When I analysed the law element of this particular novel, I
found it quite ironic that men and women in uniform, who are
sworn to defend the constitution, do not enjoy all the rights and
safeguards they are defending. The level to which some
people in the Army can stoop down in order to maintain
its honour and reputation is quite scary as shown in the
novel. The blatant corruption prevalent in the Army is
uncovered and it is pitiful to see how heinous crimes like rape
and murder are not being allowed to come to the forefront. And
all this is happening in the army which is known for maintaining
discipline and equality amongst all. To conclude I would like to
say that this was the first Nelson DeMille’s book that I read and
I found that it brilliantly alternated moments of fun with
deep moments of emotions. I now plan to read more works
of this author.

3. Shivika Chadha
Division – C
 PRN – 18010224181
Nelson DeMille through his novel has pointed out the ignorance of
law by the army officials, who are considered to be  the idols of one
and all in a nation and are often seen as a source of inspiration to
the youth. Personally as a reader of this novel, I have gathered that
cases of corruption and crime have spread their roots all over in
such a manner that it has basically left no field of work or
profession which is not completely pure anymore. When we look
around or read books based on people’s real incidents, only then do
we come to know that this world has become completely heartless
and inhumane. Whether it is politicians being included in sex
scandals or as in this case, army officials themselves hiding an act
of rape, no person on this land can be looked upon anymore. Acts
of inhumanity are quite visible in the novel , whether it be in the
manner of rape or for that matter hiding of a rape case of a
daughter by her father himself , which is completely disheartening
and disturbing. As idols to nation, the army force should stand up
to their values instead of disobeying them , for as many of the
youngsters aim at walking on their footsteps. Not only this, there is
a common saying in the field of law, which is “law is common for
all” which forms a backbone to this entire novel and puts a deep
thought into the readers mind that no one in this world, has the
power to disobey law and that law does not take into consideration
a person power or reputation. Laws are made to be followed, not
broken and thus, no one has the right to go against the law.
Everyone from a common man to politicians to army officials to
actors, law is to be obeyed by all. As a student of law, I could
gather that such heinous crimes like that of rape and murder
cannot be ignored and need to be brought out in the eyes of law
and the defendants for the same shall be held liable for all that they
have done. I can conclude, that this novel aims at pointing out the
very importance of law for one and for all and forcing a reader to
think about the inhumane environment that each of us are living in.
Being a law student, this novel has inspired me to look upon such
cases which are not paid heed to and at the same time this boom
has made me aware of the very fact that people today have started
disobeying law for they think their position is above the law.

4. Parth Gaur
 Division – C
PRN – 18010224164
Military police detectives Paul Brenner and Sarah Sunhill
investigate a horrifically bizarre rape and murder of a
respected female Pysch-Ops officer who is also the
daughter of a renowned retiring general. Yet the case
becomes more complicated when the autopsy showed no
evidence of sexual assault. Furthermore, that is but the
beginning of the twists when they discover the victim’s
secret life, her past and a disturbing determination by
senior staff to keep this investigation short and quiet.

5. Abhinandan Sharma
Division – C
PRN – 18010224123
The General’s Daughter represent a minor masterpiece of
genre. It starts with a formal conversation by Paul Brenner
(C.I.D officer in U.S.A Army) and his old college Cynthia
Sunhill. The story is first person narrative narrated by Paul
Brenner, latter summoned to investigate the case of General
Joseph Campbell (The General Daughter).There are great
dialogue between Paul Brenner and other characters. Excellent
procedural material, with enough details to keep myself
interested in the mechanical aspects of an investigation. The
writing is skilful and create a sense of curiosity. The General’s
Daughter is a very well-crafted mystery novel.

Conclusion
As a group, we all after having read this novel have
concluded that we as a society should now always
think before looking up to influential people like the
Army, Air Force, Navy or other celebrities because no
one on this earth is completely pure. We all come
across the harsh realities of life, wherein the father
himself betrayed his own daughter. Captain Elisabeth
Campbell, a respected Psych-Ops officer, is found
naked, dead, and staked to the ground on the urban
warfare practice range of Fort MacCallum, Georgia.
She happens to be the daughter of Lieutenant General
Joseph "Fighting Joe" Campbell (Cromwell). Two Army
CID detectives and ex-lovers, Warrant Officers Paul
Brenner (Travolta) and Sara Sunhill (Stowe), are
assigned to investigate and plunge into a mess of
secrets, divided loyalties, and coverups. Things get
more confusing when an autopsy reveals the victim
was NOT sexually assaulted. We learn that this world
is uncertain and we should be the prepared for the
worst. Man is not a force and can be easily dismantled
by time as it spares no one. We learn to be calm and
patient. We need to take care of our mental health
the way we take care of our bodies. To conclude, we
would like to say that we are certainly not the same
as we were before reading this novel. We now are
improved and more conscious citizens of our country.