About this title: When Jack Mullen's brother, a valet parker working in the Hamptons, is found murdered on an exclusive beach, Jack is determined to bring the killers to justice--even if it means penetrating the closed ranks of New York's wealthiest residents.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Date Published: 06/2002
ISBN-13:9780316969680ISBN:0316969680
Description: Good in good dust jacket. Good, In good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 368 p. Previous Owner's Inscription. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Date Published: 06/2002
ISBN-13:9780316969680ISBN:0316969680
Description: Good in good dust jacket. Good, In good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 368 p. Previous Owner's Inscription. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Date Published: 06/2002
ISBN-13:9780316969680ISBN:0316969680
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 368 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Date Published: 06/2002
ISBN-13:9780316969680ISBN:0316969680
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 368 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Date Published: 06/2002
ISBN-13:9780316969680ISBN:0316969680
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 368 p. read more
Edition: 1ST,
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Date Published: 06/2002
ISBN-13:9780316969680ISBN:0316969680
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 368 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Date Published: 06/2002
ISBN-13:9780316969680ISBN:0316969680
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 368 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Date Published: 06/2002
ISBN-13:9780316969680ISBN:0316969680
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 368 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Date Published: 06/2002
ISBN-13:9780316969680ISBN:0316969680
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 368 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Date Published: 06/2002
ISBN-13:9780316969680ISBN:0316969680
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 358 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Date Published: 06/2002
ISBN-13:9780316969680ISBN:0316969680
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 368 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Date Published: 06/2002
ISBN-13:9780316969680ISBN:0316969680
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 368 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Date Published: 06/2002
ISBN-13:9780316969680ISBN:0316969680
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 368 p. read more
"James Patterson kept the story going strong by not bouncing around from scene to scene. Patterson made this book very easy to follow and made me want to keep reading.
Jack Mullen came home to find his brother Peter had drowned. For everybody that knew Peter, his drowning was not accidental nor suicide. Jack was determined to find out exactly what had happened and why. For a year, Jack conducted his own investigation with his friends and grandfather to find out how and why this happened to his brother and who did it. Jack and Mack (Jack and Peter's grandfather) uncovered secrets about people they thought they knew and about Peter himself.
I would highly recommend this book to anybody who enjoys reading mysteries, stories about murder, investigation, etc..."
"The author's two page chapters and breathless descriptions careen through the parallel worlds of the super-rich and the often unimpressed townies at breakneck speed and I was caught up in the whirling dervish early. I was predictably offended by the overt inequality of the justice system for those that can afford to buy their way out of anything; that is until the "kangaroo court" sequence. There must have been some other way to provide equal justice for all. I felt cheated at the end but never the less this was a fast and fun summer read."
"Thursday, June 25, 2009 Book Review - The Beach House by James Patterson & Peter De Jonge
The Beach House
I'm going to get right into it, without any skirting around - if you've never read a James Patterson novel, here's a great place to start. I've only read one other book by him, but The Beach House impressed me so much that it gets an ultimate recommendation.
It's not that Patterson's thriller breaks a lot of ground in the suspense/thriller literary genre, in fact opting for a simple storyline touching on themes of money as power and the ease the rich have in covering up their dirty deeds. After his brother is murdered by a rich and powerful family, main character James sets out to get revenge and uncover the truth after the family is able to convince the police that the death was a suicide. It's a fairly straight-forward detective case for most of the novel, until a few twists in the plot push the intensity and mystery higher.
But what stands out as a great achievement, and factors into an extremely pleasurable read, is the voice of James. As he narrates, the reader grows closer and closer to him, almost to the point where we're so associated with James that we are as hard-pressed to uncover the truth as the characters in the story are. Patterson paints a vivid picture of each character, especially the rich family's history that leads to the reader's constant emotional attachment to James and his brother. Effectively moving and comedic at the same time, Patterson's main character gives The Beach House a much more invigorating tale.
And as we work our way into James' revenge, the plot escalates so well that it's a relief when we finally learn how James will uncover what he knows is true. It's not much of a surprise, but the elaborate and believable setup that Patterson stages is suspenseful enough to keep the reader flipping every page until they finally get to the inevitable conclusion.
Patterson does sometimes switch from James' narration to a third-person perspective, though, and it diverts our attention from James enough to be a bit bothersome. Towards the end, we find that the character that we follow in these third-person parts is actually a pretty minor character, adding a bit of frustration to those of us who want to read more of James' thoughts (or was I the only one in love with his personality?)
But that's only a minor quibble. The fact of the matter is, The Beach House is an excellent novel full of intrigue, emotion, and mystery. It may be formulaic, but the perspective from which it's told held my attention so raptly that I couldn't put the book down. And even though the "whodunnit" part of the novel is solved early on, James' solution is much more entertaining. A great book for those of you with an insatiable appetite for crime drama, with a good, if a bit trite, critique on the power of the rich."
""The Beach House" by James Patterson (from the inside flap)
Jack Mullen is in law school when the news comes that his brother, Peter, has drowned in the ocean off East Hampton. Jack knows his brother practically grew up in the water, and that this couldn't be an accident. But the police say otherwise. As Jack tries to uncover the truth, he confronts a maddening barricade of paid protectors who separate summer residents from locals like Peter. Jack rallies his friends to help him find the truth of Peter's death -- no matter how corrupt the people who stand in their way. Jack's relentless crusade puts him into a head-on collision with one of the most powerful men in New York. As it unflods that his brother was involved with some of the richest women and men in America -- in ways Jack never imagined -- his dream of justice fades. Only if he can somehow beat the rich at their own game will he be able to avenge his brother.
Wonderful book my Mr. Patterson and Peter De Jonge!! It is a typical James Patterson book. The chapters are short so the book really moves along. I read it in one day. What Jack finds out about his brother he doesn't really like, but he continues with his investigation into the death of his brother. And comes head to head with Barry Neubauer. A very rich in influential man. Jack recruits his friends and family to set up a mock trial of the people involved in Peter's death. And along the way Jack falls in love with Pauline and asks her to marry him."
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