The Gate House
by Nelson DeMille
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Book Reviews of The Gate House
Book Review: A Stinker.....
Summary: 2 Stars
Every now and then, Nelson DeMille who has written a number of entertaining and eminently readable novels, writes a "stinker."
Well, file this one under "S".
For most of this 674 page tome, we are retold and retold and retold aspects of the story from The Gold Coast. We are reminded more times than reasonably necessary that Susan Sutter (wife of John) shot (and killed) Mafia Don, Frank Belarossa some ten years or so before which permanently concluded their torrid affair. It also put a period at the end of the marriage of John and Susan. We are reminded of that as well. Frequently. (and often)
Now, John has returned to that part of Long Island, referred to as the Gold Coast. So has Susan. Anthony Belarossa, son of Frank and very much a part of the family business is there also. They are all living in the subdivided parts of the original Stanhope Estate (Susan's family) which must be only slightly smaller than Queens. John is in The Gatehouse, hence the title.
Now you wouldn't think it would take 674 pages for the various elements of the story, living that close, to finally collide in a meaningful way to resolve any loose ends from a decade past. Wrong. It takes over two hundred pages before John and Susan finally get it on again, with predictable results insofar as their mutual attraction for each other, notwithstanding the past unpleasantness.
After 647 pages things finally come to a head and get resolved in only 27 more. The conclusion is mildly interesting, slightly salacious and quite predictable.
I suspect DeMille did well with this effort, due to the past success of The Gold Coast. A lot of trees went to the mill to produce what could have been written as a novella. He no longer gets a knee jerk one click order from this reviewer. No way.
Book Review: Move over F Scott. The Gold Coast has a new hero.
Summary: 5 Stars
What a great Halloween treat we all got this year! The long awaited sequel to The Gold Coast! The minute I started reading The Gate House, I was hooked. All the things that made The Gold Coast work came flooding back into my head and I was off. And what a long, satisfying read it was. John and Susan Sutter are back and better than ever--with the whole cast from before minus the obvious, Frank Bellarosa, Susan's Mafia don lover and the guy she ended up killing. But in his place, the hotheaded young son Tony (now Anthony). Even lovable Sally Da Da is back for this one, well for part of it anyway. Nelson de Mille's strength is in dialogue, and his choice to write the book in the first person through the eyes of John Whitman Sutter was as brilliant as Fitzgerald's choice to write through the eyes of Nick Carraway. Only John Whitman Sutter is a whole lot funnier and more sarcastic. His inner dialogue balanced off against what is actually said is hilarious. John is home on Long Island for the first time in ten years, and very quickly he is back in his ex-wife Susan's life (not to mention in her pants) and they quickly realize they are still very much in love and Susan proposes. Which is appropriate since he is the broke, out of work lawyer from the Fabulous 400 list and she is the Stanhope worth about five hundred million dollars. I have never been so happy to "peek" at the last page number and see that the book was over 600 pages long. Believe me, I savored every minute of it.
Maybe we will hear more from Susan and John one day -- about their around the world adventures in their new yacht. But for now, I am riding on a definite de Mille high and hoping for a new John Corey story next. From all of us Long Islanders unfortunate enough to live south of Northern Boulevard, great job, Nelson. I loved it!
Book Review: Less Action, Less Violence, Just as Much Fun
Summary: 5 Stars
First off, you really need to have read "The Gold Coast" to fully appreciate this book. "The Gate House" features many of the same characters dealing with the aftermath of things that happened ten years before.
Attorney John Sutter has returned to America after a ten-year absence since his wife at that time, Susan, murdered her lover, the mafia's don Bellarosa. John's narrative is, again, light-hearted, tremendously sarcastic, and witty. He is juggling many things in his life. He has returned to Long Island to administer the will of a former family servant and to test the waters. The reader gets the sense that he might be ready to return to the States permanently, but he has a girlfriend, a job and a flat in London.
John dreads seeing his ex-in-laws and his ex-wife at the funeral and is finding himself strangely attracted to the former servant's daughter.
Things start to get complicated when don Bellarosa's son, Anthony, decides that he wants to hire Mr. Sutter as his tax lawyer and begins to sound threatening in the process. And John hears from several sources that his ex-wife wants to see him.
I know I am in the minority when I say that I enjoyed "The Gate House" more than "The Gold Coast." Both books are essentially comedic soap operas with some social commentary, and some mafia characters thrown in to provide the necessary action and violence that DeMille fans demand. The earlier book, "The Gold Coast," was definitely more involved with the mafia characters, more action-packed and was a more graphically violent book.
Perhaps I enjoyed "The Gate House" more because I knew more about what to expect from John Sutter and I enjoyed the less frenetic pace. "The Gate House" was definitely a fun read.
Book Review: when you need some cynicism, philosophy and black humor,
Summary: 5 Stars
nobody does better than this author. i thoroughly enjoy almost every sentence and paragraph he wrote for this sequel of 'gold coast'. people given low rating of this novel were probably at very different but absolutely wrong angles. the angle of reading this novel is to appreciate the cynicism, the philosophical thoughts about life and death, how time flies, how a person retrospect his past, revisiting where he came from, the inevitable changes of time and places and, look at them with regrets, nostalgia and cynicism in a pitch-dark black humor. the scenario, the storyline, the tempo of this novel are actually totally irrelevant and unimportant. demille has successfully transformed himself into john sutter, a guy who came back to gold coast after so many year. wiser? you tell me; more cynical? definitely, of course; with stronger sense of black humor? of course. stabbed even harder to the phony facade of the american culture and political environment? certainly. this is a novel in satire genre. gold coast might have more storyline and plot in it, but this 'gatehouse', in my opinion, is better and more mature, just like demille. this novel is far better than the 'plum island' & the 'lion's game', because they were not seriously written by demille, they were just like trendy fashion shows after 9/11, they both had certain time limitations. while reading 'the gatehouse', i seemed to become part of john sutter and nelson demille, and could actually look at what they saw in gold coast. don't ever consider demille a racist since there are always so many racial bashing in his novels. he is actually expose the inner thoughts and the hidden attitude toward immigrants of most white americans.
appreciate the prose of this satire, not the plot is the only way to read this sequel.
Book Review: John Sutter. . . he loves, hates and moves around the danger just the way he should. It felt GREAT to have him back!
Summary: 5 Stars
Staring with full disclosure, John Sutter is a friend of mine. When Nelson DeMille first introduced him to me, by writing Gold Coast a long time ago, I had just moved the family out of New York to Washington and was missing my hometown. More specifically, I was missing the Gold Coast where we all lived for 15 years. Actually, my part of Long Island was more like the Gold Plated Coast; but, it was close to the real Gold Coast, where John lived, so I knew his territory.
John gave me the last touch of the old place, which is what I needed to make the transition go well. His mind and mouth move on the fast side and he's pretty sure he knows everything he has to know. Truthfully, he is a little sarcastic and kind of impulsive. He's a New York kind of guy and he made me feel good just being himself. Of course, the danger he attracted like a magnet made it all the more interesting. His wife- well who doesn't like a beautiful shapely over sexed redhead. So what, when she falls in love someone seems to get shot.
I owe John a lot. When I heard he was back in Gate House, I bought the book right away. But,I was a little apprehensive. If he didn't resolve everything that happened in Gold Coast-a lot happened- in the right way, he might spoil the memory I had of him.
Not to worry, not even a little bit. I should not have doubted Nelson DeMille. John is back with great depth and color. There are really a lot of problems for this guy. Some he could have foreseen and others just seem to find him. He faces them all down, every one, to the core. John is swept along this time around, not always sure of where he is going and why, but he loves, hates and moves around the danger just the way he should. It felt GREAT to have him back!