Bestselling author and Long Island resident Nelson DeMille has died at the age of 81.

Bestselling author Nelson DeMille has died at the age of 81, the Post has confirmed.

His children, daughter Lauren DeMille of Sleepy Hollow and son Alex DeMille of Brooklyn, confirmed his death Tuesday evening, according to Newsday.

DeMille died Tuesday of stage 4 esophageal cancer.

The Long Island-born DeMille was known for his suspense and action novels, such as “Plum Island”, “The Charm School” and “The General’s Daughter”, which was adapted into a 1999 film starring John Travolta.

In a March 2000 interview, the prolific author told January Magazine, “It wasn’t a bad movie. Travolta did a good job. I liked most of it. They overdeveloped some things and forgot some things and put in things that weren’t in the book and didn’t need to be put in… But I mean, overall, the movie was solid. The critics gave it very poor reviews, though.”

According to his website, Nelson DeMille was born on August 23, 1943, in New York City before his family moved to Long Island. He attended Hofstra University.

Before his writing career, DeMille went into the military and earned a Bronze Star in Vietnam.

DeMille wrote 23 novels in his lifetime, 17 of which were bestsellers. He wrote his novels in longhand with a pencil and a legal pad.

His first novel “By the Rivers of Babylon” was published in 1978.

Many of his novels, such as “The Lion’s Game,” feature a character named John Corey, a former NYPD officer who works for a fictional counter-terrorism task force.

Speaking about his character of John Corey, he told the January magazine, “He’s not politically correct.”

“If you’re an employee of the federal government you should be careful about your behavior. You should be careful about what you say to women, about women. You should be careful about what you say in terms of racial slurs. But John Corey doesn’t care about any of that, he just keeps doing it and everybody is shocked by it.”

He added, “And it was fun. It was fun for me and if it was funny for me I knew it would be funny for the reader too.”

In a 2022 interview with Crime Spree Mag, DeMille said he had issues with his publisher who wanted to make “politically correct” edits on John Corey.

“There was some resistance to the role of John Corey,” he said. “They wanted me to make some changes, but I didn’t do anything except make a few changes.”

DeMille said, “I know who I’m writing for, and this book will be in the top three. The problem is not that these books are losing readers or not selling well. These are huge bestsellers. Publishers are not concerned about the financial end, but the politics of it, the awareness. They’re nervous about character. I replied, ‘I’m writing for my readers, not for you.'”

“He’s always been a person who brings people together,” his son Alex told Newsday.

“I have so many fond memories of sitting at the dining room table, the Christmas tree or in the kitchen drinking coffee or wine, he was a truly wonderful host. He loved being around people.”

Lauren said that her father was a storyteller as well as a good listener.

“He was interested, asked the right questions and understood what was really funny or interesting in what you were sharing,” she told the outlet. “Very engaging, which is why so many people liked him. You felt great when he was interested in what you had to say. He had a very interesting and generous mind.”

DeMille, whose wife Sandra died in 2018, is survived by Lauren, Alex and another son, James.