The Beach House
by James Patterson, Peter De Jonge

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Book Reviews of The Beach House

Book Review: Poorly written; occasionally interesting
Summary: 2 Stars

Jack is working with a major law firm in New York over the summer as an advocate for a supposedly wrongly imprisoned individual in Texas. But when he heads home for the weekend, he is greeted by his father, grandfather, and girlfriend, who happens to be the daughter of the wealthy Neubauer family and owners of the beach house where Jack's brother, Peter, was found dead. Jack goes to see the body only to realize that his brother didn't drown but was beaten to death. But everyone, including the local police, rule out murder, considering the death an accident or suicide.

Months and even years of follow up investigation, hampered by a mysterious individual hired by the murderers to make everything just go away, reveal that Jack is right - Peter was murdered. But the reason why is very, very complicated and ultimately requires Jack, his new girlfriend, and his grandfather to kidnap the Neubauer's, some of their friends, the Hampton's chief detective, and the Neubauer's lawyer and set them up in a mock courtroom where Jack proceeds to prove Barry Neubauer is guilty, not of murder, but of knowingly infecting others with AIDS.

As it turns out, Peter was a high-priced gigolo for the rich and one of his friends took pictures of Peter with his clients, so they could later use them for blackmail. The blackmail eventually got to Neubauer, who proceeded to kill Peter and have others kill the friend that took the pictures. But Jack, with the help of the rest of his friends was able to put everything together.

Comments:
This book is disappointing on a number of fronts. First, I listened to the CD version and even found it, as an abridgement of the novel, to be far too long. The mock courtroom set up at the end of the book drug on and on and on. It was agonizingly slow to get anywhere; anyone in their right mind that had kidnapped some of the most powerful people in the world wouldn't care to stretch the scenario out any longer than possible as it just gives the authorities more time to find them, which of course never happened.

But where the book really falls apart is in the development of the characters. Jack's father is quickly killed off from a 'freak' heart attack. Why? Because he didn't have a place in the story. But Jack's grandfather, Macklyn, did have a place in the story and was early on touted to be a very powerful legal aide in the Hamptons. But, guess what, Macklyn never actually went to a courtroom during the entire book. Instead, he spent his entire time either in a local bar or at Jack's father's house. Hmm, sounds like a real legal wonder to me. Of course, he has to have this ability because he serves as the judge in the mock courtroom, but it was really pretty unrealistic considering Macklyn didn't actually do anything related to lawyering during the entire book. The farthest he ever went towards illustrating his legal abilities was to suggest to Jack they could solve the case, but then he disappeared for entire chapters at a time.

Macklyn isn't the only character to be neglected only to play a major role in the end. Jack's new girlfriend also experiences this, along with pretty much everyone but Jack. It got so bad that I couldn't even keep straight who did what among Jack's circle of friends, who also seemed to be very important to the story but were incredibly derelict.

As far as the story goes, it was really bordering on just plain silly and definitely wasn't very original. Isn't it always a 'big surprise' when a poor, little guy takes on the evil, rich guy and wins? Well, this book is no different. Except for the porn. Yeah, I guess I have to give the authors credit for created a scenario where they could actually incorporate a male gigolo.

Overall, the book isn't well written, the story isn't compelling or convincing, and the characters are, for the most part, poorly developed. The book is really just like one big coincidence, and an unbelievable one at that. I don't think I'd recommend it to anyone but die hard James Patterson fans.

Summary of The Beach House

There are no big surprises in The Beach House, but it's vintage Patterson, with plenty of action, villains with hearts blacker than obsidian, and a working-class hero who pulls himself up by the bootstraps. Patterson and de Jonge previously coauthored the inspirational golf romance Miracle on the 17th Green, but this new game of money, mayhem, and murder clearly suits them to a tee. --Barrie Trinkle

Literature & Fiction Books

• Subjects > Literature & Fiction
• Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery
• Thrillers > Psychological Thrillers
• Suspense