The Beach House Paperback – May 1, 2003

Good book, keeps you interested, surprises throughout. But a bit of an unbelievable ending. Still a really good book..I would recommend.

This novel deals with the seamy side of the nouveau riche and the dual justice system, i.e., higher priced attorneys and all the witnesses money can buy for the rich, contrasted with public defenders and execution of the poor (see Bernard Cornwell's "Gallows Thief" for a novel set in an earlier time period). When a young parking attendent at a posh private party is found dead on the beach, there is a strong effort by powerful people to sweep everything under the rug. There are unanswered questions about motives and circumstances of the death.The brother of the deceased is a law student working as a summer associate at a New York City law firm. He returns to the family's Long Island home, and gathers support from his childhood friends. It becomes a battle between the townies and the rich summer resident who appears to be implicated in the death. The rich man has a shady past and some evil strong-arm associates who can intimidate witnesses, or even make them disappear.Money talks, and efforts are brought to bear to quash the case. The backlash creates a determination to punish evil and the investigation continues as the balance swings back and forth between the bad guys and the good guys. The wheels of justice grind slowly, but they grind very, very fine. The investigation reveals many surprises and some sordid relationships. Like the earlier novel by G. M. Ford, "The Deader the Better," this novel has a corrupt law enforcement officer and public exposure of villains.The novel has strong sexual content and violence. Parental discretion is advised.

Books like this are the reason for half-stars! I would give this 2.5 if possible. It wasn't AWFUL or I would not have finished it. But it was an audio and it was the only one I had for a long car ride.The thing that attracted me to this book was that it was set on Nantucket. I love that place. But I wasn't far into the audio when I realized that was the best part of the book!I have never commented on the production of an audio book - I guess because most are well done. But this one...the narrator barely took a breath between changes of locale, time, or scene. This was quite annoying,Character development was uneven at best with some characters hardly fleshed out. There were way too many coincidences and the action was very predictable. And the writing itself was awkward.The thing that really annoyed me were the factual errors that could have been so easily remedied by a good editor. The author had hydrangeas blooming on Nantucket before they bloom in Baltimore! And Nan was fixing her overgrown, heavily laden tomato plants at the same time in June that school had just let out for the summer! No one north of the Mason-Dixon line has tomatoes that early. There were quite a few other mistakes like this which makes me wonder if any editor was involved at all.

Grab your beach chair and prepare to be entertained! Reading Jane Green's latest novel brought back wonderful memories of a Nantucket summer vacation spent in our own beach cottage. While reading this story I was easily absoarbed into the world of Ms. Green's characters and the wisdom of a wonderful woman I wish I would be lucky enough to rent a room from. I recommend you tell the kids to order pizza and spend a few hours with your nose stuck in this book.

I don't read Chick Lit or romance novels and I usually read non fiction. So this was a total departure for me... but I read a review for this recently and thought I wanted a light read and the Kindle price was right on. I have a Kindle (OMG if you don't have one RUN to the home page and order it!!!).. This edition came out a few days after the publication..I loved the story and I couldnt wait to get back to it.. I was up way too late finishing it in one day.. its not a tough read but you fall in love with these people.. its a great beach read but its not "dumbed" down as so many books in this type of genre are so I am off to find more Jane Green, this is the first one of hers I have read and I really really enjoyed it! And again thanks for the Kindle Edition. I wouldnt have considered buying this before.. Kindle changed that, and introduced me to new authors such as this one.

When you think things can't get any better! Patterson pulls another rabbit from the hat.Another page turner that kept you guessing to the very end. More wonderful characters who you feel you know personally by the end.Plenty of twists and turns to keep you transfixed to the very end.

I found this a truly terrific book. I read the reviews before I bought it, and although some of the reviews found this to be an excellent read, others were not very complimentary. I, in fact loved this book. and found it very tense and most enjoyable. As I stated previously, I am a great fan of James Paterson, and I do believe this was one of his best. I do like the short chapters because you have complete continuity with this story, as you don't have to keep checking back to remind yourself of the various characters within the story. This is a book I would recommend to anyone looking for a great crime novel.

OMG this was fantastic. How far would you go to prove your beloved brother didn't commit suicide. How far would you pursue his killers. One brother goes balls out to find justice for his brother against the rich and famous and a corrupt police force and I bounced in my chair and cheered him on.. Masterful and scary as hell had me on the edge of my seat. Brilliant.

This is the second novel of James Patterson's that I have read and I can tell you now it won't be the last.An excellent story about a law student who is after the truth. I read the novel within 24hrs as I couldn't put it down.Keep up the great work James,looking forward to reading the next. :-)

I liked the jist of the story, but at times I found it quite diffucult to follow. There seemed to be a lot of characters popping up, which made it hard to keep track of who's who.