The Gate House
by Nelson DeMille
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Book Reviews of The Gate House
Book Review: Review
Summary: 4 Stars
John Sutter has returned back home to the Gold Coast, after being away for three years. It seems already though news of his arrival has made its way to the Bellarosa family. It's like John is seeing an old ghost in Frank Bellarosa's son, Anthony. Anthony has a plan to try and convince John to head back into the dark, gritty world and work for the Bellarosa family again. As if that wasn't enough, John runs into his wife Susan. Susan and John are willing to give their relationship second change but will John be able to forgive Susan for her infidelity?
Three years ago, Susan took a lover. Her lover was none other than Frank Bellarosa. Something terrible happened and Susan ended up killing Frank. Now Anthony would like nothing better then to exact revenge for his father's killer.
John was just this normal guy who is trying to piece things back together in his life. I think because I felt sorry for John I felt a better connection to him then to any other characters in this book. I really thought John deserved someone better than Susan after what she did to him. Some of the comments that would come out of Anthony's mouth were so cheesy they made you just want to roll your eyes but at the same time you couldn't help but find them funny. Don't let the fact that this book sits at six hundred and eighty-eight pages scare you as it is a good read. The Gate House is the long awaited sequel to The Gold Coast. Though I had not read The Gold Coast I do believe that The Gate House will make fans happy as well as being worth the wait. Mr. DeMille really knows his stuff!
Book Review: Keep the Gate House Closed
Summary: 1 Stars
I've read most of Nelson DeMille's work, so I've earned the right to complain when he turns out a stinker. The Charm School was great. Plum Island was good, too. Up Country was a disappointment and I started taking a pass after that one. I should have kept taking a pass, but I was hungry for a good page-turner and bought his latest, Gate House.
If you buy this book, or check it out of the library, be prepared not to like any of the characters, at least not for the first 500 or 600 pages. The hero, John Sutter, is not heroic; he's a sarcastic wimp, who except for his single-handed sail around the world is subject to manipulation by everyone from his blue-blooded ex-wife to the wheel man of a Mafia don. (What would you expect from a tax lawyer?) On a regular basis, you scream at him, "Get a life! Go back to sea! Go back to London!" His inability to make a manly decision is made worse by the incessant reminders, in the first person, of the fact that his ex-wife bedded the Mafia don and how he "feels" about this. Enough already. It's like trying to get through a dinner party with a woman who has told you a hundred times about her hysterectomy. After awhile, you stop taking her invitations.
If someone gives you this book and you feel obliged to answer when they ask you how you liked it, do this: Read a couple of hundred pages if you can bear it, then skip to page 600. Read the first line or so of every other paragraph until you get to the end. You won't have missed anything and you will be out of your misery.
Book Review: Thank god I bought the audio version with a top notch narrator
Summary: 3 Stars
Nelson is like the little girl with the curl - when he's good, he's very, very good but when he is bad he is horrid.
If I were "reading" this book I'd have given up about a third of the way in. Turns out I bought it on audio and the narrator was as good as they get. He kept the plot moving along even when for several hundred pages it was only listening to the wife whine, want sex, and dismiss the urgency of the situation that she (yes, she) put the couple in. Turns out she came from money, had an adulterous affair with a mafia king pin and then killed him. "Boo Hoo - why did my husband sail off on a yacht around the world and not stay with me? After all, my lover is dead now". Come on, Nelson, are you auditioning to write for a Romance Publishing House?
Our main character, John Sutter, would have been comfortable in any DeMille novel. DeMille writes the best "snappy patter" out there - on a par with Aaron Sorkin. His male characters are lovable rogues who talk the talk of a Mickey Spillane tough guy with the humor of George Carlin.
This whole book circles around the rich and snooty section of Long Island called the Gold Coast - but - in homage to 911 maybe, Demille has thrown in an Iranian on the lam from his home country. This guy is the landlord and is "in and out" of the story in a few sentences. Now if Nelson had followed this theme we may have had a good story. His international espionage stories are some of his best.
The best I can say is that The Gate House is not horrible.....bg
Book Review: I admit it - I really enjoyed this!
Summary: 5 Stars
Before reading this review please note. If you haven't read DeMille's The Gold Coast, and plan to, please don't read this, as it will spoil that story for you.
Though this book is very long (670+ pages) I wouldn't have minded it if it went even longer. I am a huge fan of Nelson DeMille and would enjoy his description of how grass grows. The Gate House is the sequel to The Gold Coast, and much of Gate House rehashes the thrust of that book. I enjoyed this, as it's been awhile since I read the first one. Clearly, though this is a sequel, it's meant to be read by anyone, even those who haven't read The Gold Coast.
Ten years have passed since John Sutter's wife, Susan, killed her lover, a Mafia Don, and got little more than a slap on the wrist for her trouble. After divorcing Susan, John spent ten years sailing the sea and making a living in London. Now he's come back to the Gold Coast for an impending funeral, and all the ghosts of John's past, and some new ones, are waiting for him. He hasn't lost his clever sense of humor and sarcastic wit, which keeps this story moving along, and kept this reader eagerly turning pages. There isn't a lot of action in most of the book, but tension grows wonderfully as the characters bounce off each other; the ending is the way only DeMille can do an ending.
I have read some unfavorable reviews, and, while I can see the reviewers' points of view, I couldn't help but enjoy this book all the way through - DeMille's style is something I really enjoy and I love his biting wit. I am still a DeMille fan.
Book Review: This Gate House needs downsizing
Summary: 2 Stars
Weighing in at 677 pages, this book needs to be downsized. The story starts tantalizingly enough with young Tony, aka "Anthony" Bellarosa, insinuating himself into the life of John Wittman Sutter, the husband of the woman who killed young Tony's father, Frank Bellarosa. Great lead in so lets see what then evolves. Nothing. For approximately 400 pages nothing happens except John Sutter's sparkling repartee and witty sarcasm, oh, and a return to Susan's eclectic sexual antics. Now, don't get me wrong. This repartee and sarcasm is well written (and the sex ain't bad either). I believe I read an interview done with Mr. DeMille about why he was doing a sequel to this book. He said that readers kept wanting to know more about John and Susan's characters. Well, you get more than you want and then find out that you really don't like them. And there are questions: Why would John Sutter even think about working for Anthony, why do his inlaws hate his guts, what kind of a relationship did he really have with Samantha in London if he could so easily dump her, and why did it take 500 pages to get to some plot movement?! Unless you consider the conflict with the inlaws and their dislike of John and the wrangling over money, plot movement. I have read all of Mr. DeMille's books and other than Up Country, this is the only other book I have not thoroughly enjoyed. I will always read his books and am looking forward to reading the sequel to The Lion's Game. But, please, revert back to your other writing style and give us some action!!