At every dead end is usually a left turn just out of sight. ........
At every dead end is usually a left turn just out of sight. ........
Member since:24.05.2006
Reviews:55
Members who trust:19
For those of you who have read my other reviews you will know that I have a great love of reading and in particular of novels by the great James Patterson. So much so, that when a new book of his comes out, I will instantly buy it without even reading the back cover as I know that I will love it. However, it pains me to say that I was disappointed with Beach Road. It didn't have the fast paced, page turning abilities that is so apparent in many of his books and I actually found it hard, at times, to concentrate on the story and stay interested.
Plot ********* Tom Dunleavy owns a law firm in East Hampton but his clients are usually those serving the rich as opposed to the billionaires and celebrity types that swarm the beaches. He mainly deals with real estate property and doesn't make much money to keep going. Then a friend of Tom's, Dante Halleyville, an up and coming basketball pro is arrested for a triple murder near a famous actor's mansion, after what seems to be a racial attack at a basketball court. Tom knows that Dante is innocent and Dante asks him to represent him. Knowing that he wont be able to pull it off on his own, he asks for the help of Kate Costello, a Manhattan superlawyer who also happens to be his ex-girlfriend. Kate (after some gentle persuasion) agrees. They take a lot of abuse from locals in the area who believe that Dante is guilty so have this to put up with as well. In their search to find who really murdered the three young men, they do their best to expose the killer but they discover something else which is much more shocking. *********
The beginning of the book I found particularly hard to get into because so many characters were being introduced and I had to remember who was who and I had to keep flicking back through the book to remind myself.
There is a twist at the end of the book (which obviously I wont tell you what that is!) which did make the ending more interesting than it could have been but the book in general was still very disappointing. I didn't feel it was on par with his other great novels that are not in the Alex Cross or in the Woman's Murder Club series, such as The Lifeguard, Honeymoon etc and maybe it could be the influence of Peter de Jonge as co-writer that made the difference, but Peter de Jonge was also co-writer on The Beach House which is a book that is another of my favourites of James Patterson's.
The characters didn't seem to have the same sort of flare that is unmistakable in his other books and they didn't really keep me interested. The story itself was not a bad idea but parts of the book seemed to drag on a bit and there seemed to be chapters included to simply make up the pages but didn't seem to really have any relevance (the Steven Spielberg party for example). The chapter length had the typical James Patterson short chapters of a few pages but there wasn't a fast paced, thrilling atmosphere to them. Each 'main' character takes control of the story at some point so we see lots of points of view, but this can get a bit too much at times as usually in his book there is just two or three at the most but in Beach Road there was about seven. Needless to say, again I was forced to have to flick back through the book to remind me of who the character was as they didn't seem to flow in to each other.
Overall I have to say that I wasn't very impressed with this book. It was not completely awful but I am used to the excellent, edge of my seat, thrillers that he is so famous for and this book isn't even close. If you have never read a Patterson before then you may find this book really interesting and enjoyable but if you are a big Patterson fan and have liked his other novels, then you may, like me, find this one a disappointing hard to get through read.
Thanks for reading -x-
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a shame it was disappointing, not one for me to start with then I guess.
digitalenvironmentalist 31.01.2007 22:57
This is my very first read and rate to ciao as a new member. Im also a fan of James Patterson. Havent read this yet but it seems interesting to find it out why it is not really appealing.
Tom Dunleavy has a one-man law firm in East Hampton summer home to billionaires ... more
andHollywood celebrities. But his clients are the people he grew up with the people who make a living serving the rich. When an old friend Dante Halleyville is arreste...
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Jan 23rd, 2007
very helpful by (100%):
