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Summary: Fun and well written!
Review: Gold Coast is one of my all-time favorite novels. It is tons of fun and well written.
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Summary: Lifestyles Of The Rich And Infamous
Review: This is essentially a story about what happens when a Mafia don moves in next door. Well, moves into the Gold Coast mansion next door that is. The Gold Coast is on Long Island's northern shore, an area of great history and wealth. The area of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Gatsby. Old money. Old roots. Private clubs and gatehouses. The protagonist is John Sutter, a big-time tax lawyer who traces his ancestry to Walt Whitman. His wife, Susan Stanhope, traces her roots back even further. They live in the guesthouse on her family's estate. The main house, Stanhope Hall, has been empty since her family move out many years before. It and its neighboring mansions are relics of the gilded age, and are characters in the story in their own rights, threatened by modernity. All is well and dull for the Sutters until the most powerful Mafia don in New York ends up moving into the neighboring mansion. That's when the fun begins. Frank Bellarossa is a master at seduction and manipulation, and it's not long until the Sutters are lured into his web by his power and charisma. Don't go into this book expecting much action and suspense. The draw is the great storytelling and dialog. This is a story about relationships, seductions, and customs. It's also about an area and the lifestyle of its inhabitants, and the irresistable force of change that is beginning to overrun them all. The dialog and voice of narration are top-notch DeMille. His wit and observations are uncanny, making for many hilarious moments. Like his observation of the way his wife speaks with her friends in that high-society way without moving their lips. How perfect. One can actually picture that. I'm reluctant to give away 5 star ratings, because they're used so cheaply. But this one gets it. It's fascinating and fun. A page-turner without the typical page-turning elements. Next up, Lion's Game.
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Summary: Classic Demille
Review: I contemplated giving this book only 4 stars, but then realized I just wanted it to end differently! Demille describes this book as "The Gatsbys meet the Godfather". This is a great way to think about this book and will give the prospective buyer an insight as to the plot. Be prepared to deal with the Gold Coast materialistic depression and the charm and excitement of the Mafia. Characters are built very well and altogether a fun book to read. If you like any other Demille books you will love this one. I think this is probably his second best book, trailing only "Plum Island".
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Summary: Wow!
Review: Thoroughly enjoyable! Nelson DeMille's best book! I don't think he'll ever be able to top it and I've read them all!
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Summary: Great Gatsby Today
Review: DeMille uses two characters, John Sutter, a Wall Street attorney, and Frank Bellarosa, a Mafia don, to take a peak into social change. While these guys are neighbors, their worlds collide, as Sutter and his wife are unknowingly drawn into mafia violence. Because I often have the opportunity to step into various communities, to interview them for stories, I related this navel to my sense of some of the wealthiest neighborhoods where people say that they know their neighbors, but they don't. Often there is just an image to uphold, to keep everyone distant, while each does what they damn well want to do. Despite the violence, as I read this book, there was so much character development, and so much humor that I enjoyed reading this book. And I hope that you too will enjoy it.
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Summary: Nelson Demille is the greatest!
Review: Nelson Demille is the best! I have read them all! My favorite is The Charm School.
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Summary: My first book review
Review: "The Gold Coast" was a book that touched me much deeper than anything I've yet to read. The transformation of the protagonist, Jon Sutter, was, in a way, inspirational. Though over the course of the story his life essentially fell apart cosmetically and socially, he grew in spades. Armed with only his mean wit and a desire for a different world than his cold starchy Gold Coast existence, Jon Sutter takes a voyage through the life of the Mafia Don, Frank Bellarosa, that moved in next door. Though Bellarosa is the antagonist, he's easy to like, and I found on more than one occasion that I was pulling for him. Even more surprisingly, Sutter and Bellarosa develop a sick kind of friendship that is impossible to mistake. The ending of the book does not disappoint and almost leaves the reader saddened by the events that transpire. I highly recommend "The Gold Coast" to anyone that questions the world they live in, or for those of us that don't believe material gain is the real measure of a persons success.
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Summary: Simply Captivating
Review: This book was phenominal! I read it in a day and couldn't put it down, I would definitely recommend it.
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Summary: DeMille at his Best!
Review: This is a fantastic first-person account of two lives crossing: a gangster and a long island WASP (even worse than the kind we have in Chestnut Hill). Narrator is sickly funny. PLotting is tight and fast, though it's long. Demille sets the standard for first-person narration!
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Summary: It will stay with you
Review: I read this book back to back with Dennis Lehane's Mystic River. These two books are quite different from each other in plot, but they are also quite similar in many ways. The Gold Coast, like Mystic River, is a very realistic (and dark) look at society and human nature. It is quite different from the fast paced action novels I usually read. The Gold Coast took me longer to read, but it has stuck with me since I finished it. It has a lot less action than most of DeMille's work, but it is a great book in it's own way. The Sutter's (especially John - the first person narrator) and the Bellarosas are very well developed characters. Sutter's cynical sense of humor was great, and had me laughing out loud at times. DeMille also does a great job of creating the setting (which he is obviously familiar with). Then there is the feature of a DeMille book that is always excellent: the dialog. He doesn't disappoint with this one either. It is a great read, and I highly recommend it. Then, if you like this one try Dennis LeHane's Mystic River or DeMille's Word of Honor. If you like DeMille's writing style, but prefer more action try Plum Island, The Lion's Game, and Cathedral.
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