Summary and Reviews of The Beach House by James Patterson

The Beach House by James Patterson, Peter de Jonge

The Beach House

by James Patterson, Peter de Jonge
  • Critics' Consensus (5):
  • Readers' Rating (10):
  • First Published:
  • Jun 1, 2002, 464 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Jun 2003, 368 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

A searing summer thriller - an unstoppable tale of love and vengeance among the super-rich and super-ruthless.

Jack Mullen is in law school in New York City when the news comes that his brother, Peter, has drowned in the ocean off East Hampton. Jack knows his brother practically grew up in the water, and that this couldn't be an accident. Someone must have wanted his brother dead.

But the police say otherwise. As Jack tries to uncover details of his brother's last night, he confronts a maddening barricade of lawyers, police, and paid protectors who separate the wealthy summer residents from local workers like Peter. Motivated by a hundred forms of grief, Jack rallies his hometown friends to help him find the truth of Peter's death-no matter how rich or corrupt the people who stand in their way.

Jack's relentless crusade puts him into a head-on collision with one of the most powerful and ruthless men in New York, a man who wipes out resistance with a snap of his fingers. As it unfolds that his brother was involved with some of the richest women and men in America-in ways Jack never imagined-his dream of justice fades. Only if he can somehow beat the rich at their own game will he be able to avenge his brother.

The Beach House is a breathtaking legal thriller of deceit and revenge-with a finale so shocking, it could only have come from the mind of James Patterson.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

Amazon - Barrie Trinkle
There are no big surprises in The Beach House, but it's vintage Patterson, with plenty of action, villains with hearts blacker than obsidian, and a working-class hero who pulls himself up by the bootstraps.

Book Magazine - Chris Barsanti
Much of the book is breezy and lighthearted, devoid of the sadism that characterizes Patterson's thrillers. By the end, fans may start to miss Alex Cross, whose presence could have given this flyaway story some weight.

Booklist - Kristine Huntley
.... the novel races along to a somewhat implausible climax. But if Patterson fails to completely convince, he certainly doesn't fail to thrill, and readers will be turning the pages until the end.

Kirkus Reviews
Not to fear Just because megaselling Patterson has teamed up once more with journalist collaborator de Jonge (Miracle on the 17th Green) doesn't make the pace of this slick, ludicrous thriller any slower, the puppets any more complex, or the sentences any longer.

Publishers Weekly
Smooth as a vanilla milk shake and no more sophisticated, written in 113 short chapters that won't tax anyone's attention span, this is smart, market-savvy, populist entertainment.

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Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

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