Nelson DeMille has signed a six book deal with Simon & Schuster. The bestselling author, who was at Hachette, will release his first book with S&S in 2017.

At S&S, Marysue Rucci took North American rights from Jennifer Joel and Sloan Harris at ICM Partners. (S&S's paperback division, Pocket, will handle the paperback editions of the titles.) Three books in the deal will be novels DeMille will write alone, while the other three will be written with a collaborator.

DeMille has written 18 novels to date and said, of moving houses, that he sees "his new relationship as an opportunity to get a fresh perspective on my work and to grow my readership."