Book Review - Beach Road by James Patterson and Peter De Jonge
Category Book Reviews
Another one of the post-surgery recovery reads I had stockpiled was Beach Road by James Patterson and Peter De Jonge. It seems like every Patterson read is a gamble of late... some are great, and others are less than wonderful. This one unfortunately tended towards the latter of the two extremes.
Tom Dunleavy is an ex-NBA star who is now a small town lawyer barely making ends meet in the Hamptons. His career catapults into the national headlines when he ends up as the attorney for Dante Halleyville, the next Michael Jordan coming out of high school. Halleyville has been accused of murdering four people in a gangland style killing, most likely the result of an altercation from a pick-up game earlier in the day. Halleyville is the least likely person to commit the crime, given his stellar background and his potential future. But all the facts out there point to him being involved. Dunleavy thinks he was framed, and is trying hard to do something that has meaning for once. He's also trying to win back the affections of an ex-lover who he dumped after his career-ending injury, and he's able to enlist her legal help in proving that Dante is innocent. The fact that East Hampton is white and Halleyville is black stirs up a lot of prejudicial feelings in the town, and there are some people who wish Dunleavy would just let things go and not dig too deeply...
When I first started the book, I thought it looked pretty good. Typical short chapter Patterson pacing, and things were moving. But the love interest between Dunleavy and his ex isn't well explained, or at least I didn't follow it. As a result, the whole "working to win her back" didn't flow well. Then there is a huge mondo twist at the end that made no sense at all, and I still don't understand the motivation for it. It almost seemed to be a case of "how bizarre can I make the ending?" exercise. This is a book that I don't necessarily regret reading, but I wouldn't have missed anything if I had bypassed it either...
Another one of the post-surgery recovery reads I had stockpiled was Beach Road by James Patterson and Peter De Jonge. It seems like every Patterson read is a gamble of late... some are great, and others are less than wonderful. This one unfortunately tended towards the latter of the two extremes.
Tom Dunleavy is an ex-NBA star who is now a small town lawyer barely making ends meet in the Hamptons. His career catapults into the national headlines when he ends up as the attorney for Dante Halleyville, the next Michael Jordan coming out of high school. Halleyville has been accused of murdering four people in a gangland style killing, most likely the result of an altercation from a pick-up game earlier in the day. Halleyville is the least likely person to commit the crime, given his stellar background and his potential future. But all the facts out there point to him being involved. Dunleavy thinks he was framed, and is trying hard to do something that has meaning for once. He's also trying to win back the affections of an ex-lover who he dumped after his career-ending injury, and he's able to enlist her legal help in proving that Dante is innocent. The fact that East Hampton is white and Halleyville is black stirs up a lot of prejudicial feelings in the town, and there are some people who wish Dunleavy would just let things go and not dig too deeply...
When I first started the book, I thought it looked pretty good. Typical short chapter Patterson pacing, and things were moving. But the love interest between Dunleavy and his ex isn't well explained, or at least I didn't follow it. As a result, the whole "working to win her back" didn't flow well. Then there is a huge mondo twist at the end that made no sense at all, and I still don't understand the motivation for it. It almost seemed to be a case of "how bizarre can I make the ending?" exercise. This is a book that I don't necessarily regret reading, but I wouldn't have missed anything if I had bypassed it either...
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Comments
If you were to recommend a Patterson book for a beginner, which one would it be? Do you have a favorite?
Thanks.
Posted by Curt Stone At 16:50:41 On 22/09/2006 | - Website - |
Posted by Rob and Robin At 17:07:42 On 25/11/2006 | - Website - |