Beach Road [Mass Market Paperback]

 

 

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Tom Dunleavy is a very good athlete who never quite made it to the top. After a very few minutes of near fame as a white NBA basketball player, Dunleavy bottomed out with a career ending injury and retired to a quiet life managing a very mediocre one-man law firm in New York's East Hampton, summer home to America's über-wealthy glitterati set. Dante Halleyville, an old friend of Tom's and arguably the finest young black high school basketball player in the country has been arrested for a triple murder following a pick up game of hoops against a team of all white players. The murder has celebrity, racial and drug overtones and Tom is astonished to find himself in the thick of the affair as Halleyville pleads with him to serve as lead defense attorney in a trial that promises to be front page news across the nation. Dunleavy, intuitively recognizing Halleyville's innocence but sensibly realizing he will be way over his head during this trial, pleads with Kate Costello, an old girl friend and rising star in one of America's upper crust law firms, to join him as co-counsel for the defense.

"Beach Road" is no exception to Patterson's now easily recognizable style of writing short, snappy two to three page chapters that keeps things moving along at a rapid fire pace. But he's introduced a very interesting and quite effective twist - entitling each chapter with only a character's name and writing those few pages from the viewpoint of that particular character. That makes for some very novel fast-paced changes in perspective. But, sadly, this particular style rests for its success strictly on dialogue and action leaving absolutely no margin for error in plot development because it also leaves absolutely no room for the redeeming features of narrative description, atmosphere and character development.

"Beach Road" succeeds admirably and is a lightweight, enjoyable and quite compelling page-turner until the eagerly anticipated and much vaunted twist that the dust jacket exclaims will leave readers gasping in shock. Like a downhill mountain-biker that jams on the front brakes, "Beach Road" vaults up over the handle bars and lands flat on its face! Weak, weak, weak ... the twist is certainly an unpredictable surprise but it is so bizarrely unrealistic and utterly off the wall as to completely derail what was looking to be a pretty darn good book. Thankfully, the twist occurs very close to the end of the book so the disappointment lasts for only a very few pages. That means a summer beach or hammock reader can still derive a little enjoyment from the book and not feel they wasted hours upon hours of their time.

Recommended for die-hard Patterson fans! If you've never read Patterson before, you'd better not be starting here.

Paul Weiss

How does Patterson keep putting out this junk yet stay on the best seller list? And what is with all the beachy theme titles (perfect for a day at the beach) no matter what the book is about? I read this book against my better instincts (I used to love Patterson's early Alex Cross novels) but my Girl friend got an ARC of Beach Road (she loves Patterson and this book by the way-thankfully her taste in men is better than her literary taste!). In this uninspired story, ex East Hampton basketball legend Tom Dunleavy, is an uninspired attorney, getting by representing petty criminals and doing a little estate work. His glory days are long gone. Then a pick up game of hoops turns into a shooting leaving 3 dead, and a talented high school player destined for the NBA is accused of the killing. The kid wants Dunleavy to represent him, in spite of the fact he does not have the resume for a high profile case. This is the attorney's chance to be repudiated! Actually this sounds like a pretty decent story, but the problem is it comes off more as an average Law and Order episode- and the short chapters don't help. The characters are flat, I never felt connected to any of them. I think the problem is Patterson Is not writing these books, his co-writers are. How many books has he published in the last couple years? Ten? That's too many, no way can you produce quality. You want to read something well written, from the heart, with great dialog and enough action to keep it all interesting? Then I highly recommend "ACROSS THE HIGH LONESOME."

One of the worst books I have ever read. Implausible characters involved in a hackneyed story with a "twist" for the ending that will make you laugh. Don't read this book.

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2.0 out of 5 stars Not a great read
The story is told with different points of view; it is essential to remember who is narrating each chapter. Read more

Published on Aug 27 2007 by Toni Osborne

2.0 out of 5 stars Definitely not his best
It seems like most of the books that James Patterson writes with the help of a co-author, just aren't up to his standards... this one included. Read more

Published on Mar 8 2007 by Amy O'Connor

2.0 out of 5 stars I couldn't believe it!
I was sitting in bed last night, finishing off Beach Road. My husband came rushing out of the bathroom upon hearing my heartfelt "Oh, crap! Read more

Published on Sep 4 2006 by Beverley M. Gray

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, But not his best
The characters in this book are great. The only thing I didn't like about the characters are the fact that you really have to pay attention to the title of the chapter to know... Read more

Published on Jun 12 2006 by Christina Evans

5.0 out of 5 stars TALENTED ENSEMBLE CAST DELIVERS FIRSTRATE NARRATIVE
There's nothing like a talented ensemble cast of narrators to bring an audio book to vibrant, exciting life. Read more

Published on Jun 1 2006 by Gail Cooke

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