Review: Tin Men

September 25, 2025 / January 26, 2026 by Eddie M. | Leave a comment

This one caught me off guard—in a good way.

I went in expecting a solid military thriller, but The Tin Men ended up being much more thought-provoking than I anticipated. Yes, there’s an investigation into a suspicious death at a top-secret Army base, and yes, there’s the usual DeMille suspense and smartass banter (especially from Scott Brodie), but layered underneath all that is a chilling look at the future of warfare—specifically, what happens when AI and autonomous weapons get involved.

The setting is perfect: a remote base in the Mojave Desert, where soldiers are training alongside (and being replaced by) intelligent combat bots. The whole thing has this eerie, almost sci-fi vibe, even though it’s totally grounded in real-world tech and current military thinking. It feels like something that could be happening right now and we just haven’t heard about it yet.

Brodie and Taylor are great leads, and I liked how their dynamic plays out—familiar if you’ve read the previous book (The Deserter), but you don’t have to read that one to follow this. The supporting cast was hit-or-miss for me. A few characters blended together, and I occasionally had to flip back to remember who was who. Still, the main plot had enough momentum to keep me hooked.

There is a bit of a slow build at the start—lots of military structure, acronyms, and careful setup—but once the mystery starts to unravel, it becomes genuinely hard to put down. There are some tense moments, some big questions about morality and accountability, and a creeping sense that not everything (or everyone) is what it seems.

This is Nelson DeMille’s final book, completed with his son Alex, and it’s a strong note to end on. You can tell it’s a passing of the torch, and honestly, Alex holds his own. If this is the direction he’s going, I’ll definitely keep reading.

If you like:

🔹 Military thrillers

🔹 AI/tech with real-world implications

🔹 Slow-burn mysteries with a payoff

🔹 Desert settings & high-stakes investigations

…this will probably work for you. I’m still thinking about some of the ethical stuff it raised, which is always a sign a book did more than just entertain.