The Gold Coast

Lots of twist and turns, funny, definitely worth it

The book I received was in excellent condition, was very well priced and delivered in a timely manner.

This was my introduction to Nelson DeMille and I am thrilled to have discovered him. THE GOLD COAST is a fast-paced, thrilling, and highly irreverent read set in a fabled and affluent section of Long Island. Life will never be the same for attorney John Sutter and his beautiful wife Susan after the most famous Mafia don of New York purchases the estate next door. John seems to have it all---a good profession, a quirky and sensual wife, an enviable estate---but he is facing the doldrums of a mid-life crisis and needs excitement in his life. Enter Frank Bellarosa, a man Sutter describes as "an unindicted and unconvicted felon as well as a citizen and a taxpayer. He is what federal prosecutors mean when they tell parolees not to consort with known criminals." A chance meeting at the local nursery leads to friendship, to favors, to Sutter representing Bellarosa when he is charged for murder, and even to perjuring himself to save the Don. I haven't read as compelling a book about the Mafia since THE GODFATHER nor such a poignant tale of longing since THE GREAT GATSBY, both novels to which this has been compared. But it is DeMille's writing in the first person voice of John Sutter, his wickedly funny lines, his clever repartee, his upper class snobbery, his ability to capture the heart and soul of the Mafia don that lifts this book to greatness. DeMille's relentless foreshadowing of doom builds tension with each chapter until the reader is totally caught up in the life of John Sutter, his wife Susan, and the next door neighbor who both enhances and destroys their lives. I'm sure these characters will stay with me a long time and I will often remember John Sutter saying "Mamma Mia! It shouldn't happen to a High Episcopalian."

This is one of those books that stays with you long after you have read it, however I find myself rereading it every so often. I catch myself making references to it and recalling favorite lines and scenes. Gold Coast has everything. It is suspenseful, poignant and surpisingly witty. The protagonist John Sutter has a great dry humor that is actually laugh out loud funny. It helps to live on Long Island and spot landmarks such as Hicks Nursery, CW Post College, and Oheka castle, but the themes are universal.This is truly a modern Gatsby. DeMille borrows imagery from that previous Long Island classic. Most notably the hauntng image of a green light that represents all that could be. I have read all of loved most of DeMille's other work (Lion's Game and Plum Island are wonderful action novels), but Gold Coast is truly literature. The suspense growns and you wonder when Sutter truly got caught up in the world of the mafia.The finely woven dicotomoy of two fading worlds is complex, as is Sutter's own growth in the spring and summer of his own diasastrous mid life crisis.I recommend this book to every person I meet. When I spent a summer working in a public library I asked countless patrons, Have you read Gold Coast. I wish I could give it more than five stars as it surpasses every other book I have read!

I think this is my favorite DeMille. However, the first time I tried to read it, I didn't make it past page 100 and people to whom I have since recommended this book have expressed complaint that the middle third is quite tedious. Most of these same folks prefer "Charm School" or even "The General's Daughter". Yet you are reading these reviews because you either are already a Demille fan or are looking for a story about this geographical area. If so, try this one. As I understand it, Demille has captured the modern nuances of the latter all to well, possibly to discomfort. More importantly to me, he captured some of the discomfort of modern romance as well. The sexual, versus the sensual, nature of his yarn hit far to close to home, but with Demille's often brilliant panache of humor, I identified with his cynical character less depressingly so. In fact, he all but became my hero. Besides, I am sure many a 'Sopranos' fan will be as seduced by the more typical Mafioso characters. Hey, if you read this far you might as well take the plunge, because like 'Fitz' you will ultimately be drawn in, happily, enjoying the ride.