Explore our new BookBrowse Community Forum!

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:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • First Published:
  • Jun 1, 2002, 464 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Jun 2003, 368 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

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.

Prologue
PETER RABBIT
1

IT'S LIKE DANCING SITTING DOWN. Squeeze -- tap -- release -- twist. Left hand -- right foot -- left hand -- right hand.

Everything unfolds in perfect sequence and rhythm, and every time I twist back the heated, gummy, rubber-covered throttle, the brand-new, barely broke in, 628-pound, 130- horsepower BMW K1200 motorcycle leaps forward like a thoroughbred under the whip.

And another snapshot of overpriced Long Island real estate blurs by.

It's Thursday night, Memorial Day weekend, fifteen minutes from the start of the first party in what promises to be another glorious season in the Hamptons. And not just any party. The party. The intimate $200,000 get-together thrown every year by Barry Neubauer and his wife, Campion, at their $40 million beach house in Amagansett.

And I'm late.

I toe it down to fourth gear, yank the throttle back again, and now I'm really flying. Parting traffic on Route 27 like Moses on a Beemer.

My knees...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

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.

Reader Reviews

jmcdaniel

This is one of Pattersons best. This is a superbly writtten story of mystery and intrigue, with a touch of romance. The Beach House is one of those books that you just cannot put down. The flow from one chapter to the next is very smooth, and each...   Read More
Sheree

I thought that The Beach House was wonderfully written, and that it proved that James Patterson is one of our centurie's greatest writers. This book made me feel that I was right in the setting and that I was a part of the character's lives. I loved ...   Read More
auri

it was a good book for those who like twists and turns
Keegan

This was one of the best books I read all year. I read it sitting on the beach, Perfect Place!

Write your own review!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked The Beach House, try these:

  • The Hundredth Man jacket

    The Hundredth Man

    by Jack Kerley

    Published 2005

    About this book

    Thundering to a stark and chilling revelation, The Hundredth Man marks the arrival of an author who raises the stakes on every page.

  • The Last Juror jacket

    The Last Juror

    by John Grisham

    Published 2004

    About this book

    More by this author

    A murderer threatens revenge against his jurors if they convict him. Nevertheless, they find him guilty and he's sentenced to life imprisonment; but nine years later he's on parole and out for vengeance.

We have 5 read-alikes for The Beach House, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member.
More books by James Patterson
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Graveyard Shift
    Graveyard Shift
    by M. L. Rio
    Following the success of her debut novel, If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio's latest book is the quasi-...
  • Book Jacket: The Sisters K
    The Sisters K
    by Maureen Sun
    The Kim sisters—Minah, Sarah, and Esther—have just learned their father is dying of ...
  • Book Jacket: Linguaphile
    Linguaphile
    by Julie Sedivy
    From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with...
  • Book Jacket
    The Rest of You
    by Maame Blue
    At the start of Maame Blue's The Rest of You, Whitney Appiah, a Ghanaian Londoner, is ringing in her...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

More Anagrams

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..