It is Memorial Day Weekend in the
Hamptons and the glitterati have gathered for a party at the
multimillion-dollar “Beach House” of the Neubauers. Unfortunately, some one
also invited Death to the party and at least one person will not be leaving
this party under his own volition.

The
Beach House by James Patterson and Peter De Jonge is set amid the
millon-dollar “cottages” and sparkling swimming pools of Long Island’s elite
Hamptons. As the novel opens, Peter Mullen, a 21-year old sexy townie, is
parking cars for the Neubauer’s Memorial Day weekend bash. He ruminates about
another summer filled with the sweet potential of money, women, and drugs.
Unfortunately, Peter’s summer is cut short when he meets up with three toughs
on the beach. Later that night, Jack Mullen, a third year law student and
Peter’s older brother, arrives at the Montauk train station and is greeted with
the sad news of his brother’s death. A
quick viewing of the body informs Jack that Peter did not drown either
accidentally or through suicide, but was beaten to death. When Jack approaches
Frank Volpi, a detective with the East Hampton Police, he is firmly told the
case was closed – Peter drowned. With no help from the police, Jack turns to
his home town friends – Fenton, Marcy, Molly, Sammy, and Hank – for
assistance, however, each person that Jack turns to for help soon either loses
his/her job or is threatened by a tough with a vicious scar on his face. When Jack also loses his position as a
summer associate for an exclusive Manhattan law firm and then is assaulted in
his garage, he becomes convinced that some one with money and far reaching
power wants the case permanently closed and is not above using violence to
insure that it is. Jack is forced to decide just how far he is willing to go
and how much he is willing to risk the lives and well-being of his family and
friends to avenge his brother’s death.

The Beach
House is filled with interesting characters. Jack Mullen is believable as
the squeaky-clean law student out to avenge his brother. Dana Neubauer, Jack’s
“uptown girl”, is a sultry temptress that is also Daddy’s little girl. Frank
Volpi, is pure gritty as the crooked cop and it will be hard to forget the “you
owe me” of the shark-eyed Fixer. I must admit, however, that it was Macklin,
the 86-year old Patriarch of the Mullen clan that stole my heart and the show
with his gravel voice and his “call it like it is” attitude.

James Patterson is the author of
many international bestsellers. Patterson grew up in Newburgh, New York. He
graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in English from Manhattan College and
summa cum laude with an M.A. in English from Vanderbilt University. His debut
novel, The Thomas Berryman Number
(1976), won the Edgar Award for the best first mystery novel. His novels
include: Season of the Machete
(1977), The Jericho Commandment
(1979), Virgin (1980, rewritten in
2000 as Cradle and All), Black Market (1986), The Midnight Club (1989), Hide and Seek (1996), See How They Run (1997), When the Wind Blows (1998), and Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas (July
2001). He also has two popular and successful series. The first series features
detective/psychologist Alex Cross includes: Came
A Spider (1993), Kiss the Girls
(1995), Jack and Jill (1996), Cat and Mouse (1997), Pop Goes the Weasel (1999), Roses are Red (2000), Violets are Blue (2001), and Four Blind Mice (November 2002) and the
"Women’s Murder Club" series includes: 1st to Die (2001) and 2nd
Chance (2002). He lives in Palm
Beach County, Florida. The Jester, written with Andrew Gross,
will be released in 2003.Patterson’s official website is: http://www.jamespatterson.com

Peter de Jonge has written several
articles on golf for the New York Times Magazine and other international
publications. He first collaborated with James Patterson on Miracle on the 17th Green (2000). Beach House is their second
collaboration. He lives in New York.

Gil Bellows narrates the unabridged
audiobook of Beach House. Bellows is an actor who has stared in the TV
Show The Agency and played
"Billy" on Ally McBeal and
also appeared in the films: The Shawshank
Redemption, Miami Rhapsody, and Looking for Richard. His ability to
modulate his voice to reflect different characters, especially the gravelly
Mac, is a major plus for this audiobook. The one glaring problem is Bellow’s
pronunciation of some LI towns. At first I giggled, but soon it became very
annoying. The added sound effects and eerie music are just the perfect icing to
top off this already delicious summer treat. Highly recommended.

Beach
House is very engrossing mystery. 
It will hold you to the surprised ending. I thoroughly enjoyed listening
to this novel. I highly recommended it.

© 2002 Su Terry

Su Terry: Education:
B.A. in History from Sacred Heart University, M.L.S. in Library Science from
Southern Connecticut State College, M.R.S. in Religious Studies/Pastoral
Counseling from Fairfield University, a M.Div. in Professional Ministry from
New Brunswick Theological Seminary, a Certificate in Spirituality/Spiritual
Direction from Sacred Heart University. She is a Licensed Minister of the
United Church of Christ and an Assistant Professor in Library Science at
Dowling College, Long Island, NY. Interests in Mental Health: She is interested
in the interplay between psychology, biology, and mysticism. Her current area of
research is in the impact of hormonal fluctuation in female Christian mystics.

Categories: Fiction