162 of 172 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Gate House Is "Fast Out Of The Gate," Then Coasts Until The Last Twenty-Five Pages!, October 28, 2008
If The Gate House was a race horse, I'd say it came out fast from the gate, pretty much coasted for the large part of the race, then put on the speed in the last couple of lengths. For this reader, The Gate House "placed" in the race but was not the big "winner." I've been a big fan, but with diminishing intensity, of Nelson DeMille since his first book, By The Rivers Of Babylon. Demille's The Gold Coast, to which The Gate House is the sequel, is one of my favorite books of his; and so, when I recently received an ARC of The Gate House I put it at the very top of my to-be-read list. Overall, I enjoyed The Gate House but not as much as The Gold Coast. I'd grade it a B-.The main reason being that with the exception of the last 25 pages of the 667 copy I read, little of any substance happens after the first 100 or so pages. In typical DeMille fashion, his character development is very strong -- particularly in regards to his main male character, John Sutter, whose sarcastic wit permeates throughout this book -- and his narrative ability is at the top of his game. However, after several hundred pages of appreciating these characteristics I was getting very impatient for some action and thrills to occur. I would have enjoyed The Gate House much more if it had 200-300 pages less fluff/filler. The Gate House, for me, is a classic example of the adage, "Less is more." Despite these limitations, if you're a fan of The Gold Coast you're going to want to read The Gate House, which takes place ten years later when Sutter has come home to the Gold Coast of Long Island to attend the funeral of an old family servant. I doubt if you're going to dislike The Gate House. As a matter of fact, you'll probably think it is pretty good. The purpose of my review is to urge you to not -- as I did -- expect a book as good as the one on which it is based.
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110 of 117 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good, but definitely not DeMille's best, October 31, 2008
I was so pleased to be able to read Nelson DeMille's latest novel that I didn't even wait for Amazon to it deliver to me, as is my wont. Instead, I rushed out to my neighborhood bookstore to buy an undiscounted copy on the day of publication.
First, let me state that DeMille is my favorite novelist, which may be obvious from reading the paragraph above. Therefore, it is possible that I hold him to a higher standard than I do other writers. Either way, THE GATE HOUSE is a good book. It's just not a great book, though I think that most authors would be pleased to craft anything as worthwhile as this. DeMille, however, may be a victim of his own success, because THE GATE HOUSE simply is not up to the bar he set himself.
John Corey, his protagonist in a quartet of books, is a wiseguy (not the Mafia kind) who is lovable in spite of his big mouth. John Whitman Sutter, the protagonist of THE GATE HOUSE, merely seems like a self-impressed, condescending jerk. I did read and like THE GOLD COAST, which also was about John Sutter, but I don't remember having such a negative reaction then to this character.
In THE GATE HOUSE, DeMille blends some of his favorite themes, including Long Island, the Mafia and the Muslim terrorists. The only thing missing is Russian oligarchs; having read and admired THE CHARM SCHOOL, I suspect that he is saving them for his next novel.
The novel is well-structured and never seems strained, as happens with many thrillers. At the same time, Sutter and his wife, Susan Stanhope Sutter, are so unsympathetic that it is hard to become engaged in their problems. It is difficult to care about them, it is difficult to like them.
In addition, a few plot points are a bit pat. Why did Sutter's former in-laws always hate him with such intensity? By the standards of these characters, he seems an ideal consort for their daughter. And the resumption of feelings between the former spouses also seems too fast to be realistic.
As for the "Gold Coast," Long Island's North Shore, I grew up near there myself (but light years away in terms of affluence) and DeMille does an excellent job of conveying a sense of the place. Dominick Dunne, however, does it better. With the exception of perhaps Palm Beach in the United States and certain royal palaces in Britain and Europe, there are few other communities where the occupants retain the expectations and entitlements of those remaining old-money families of the Gold Coast.
DeMille also makes good work of the region's fascination with the Mafia. He explores this fascination meaningfully, and his descriptions definitely feel authentic.
As for the terrorists, this subplot turns out to be insignificant yet, ultimately, important in advancing the story.
There are a couple of oddities. DeMille gives a retired Mafia lawyer the exact same name as am important Federal judge in New York; it does not appear, from the acknowledgments at the back of the book, that this was done intentionally, as a compliment. And he gives the Mafia Don's limousine company the same name as a car service/ limo company that has been a presence in New York for decades. Just seems sloppy, when one thinks about it....
In fairness, the whole story all works. The plot is intricate, careful and plausible. Maybe it was nothing more, nothing less, than unsympathetic characters, but I was not engrossed by THE GATE HOUSE. By the end of the book, I did not care about the outcome, one way or another. And this never before has happened to me with a DeMille novel, and it is why I found THE GATE HOUSE a disappointing read.
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46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
This was an awful book . . ., November 10, 2008
Nelson DeMille has written a lot of great novels, but this isn't one of them. He gets into endless, excruciatingly boring detail and his repetitive, practically every other page sarcastic references to the affair his wife had had in The Gold Coast became tedious beyond belief.
His usually very funny wisecracking style that drew me to his books in the first place is totally absent here. I actually think I smiled three times. His comments are at best, obvious, and he even sometimes followed his remarks to Susan by ". . . (Susan) thought that was funny" as if we needed to be reminded.
From past experience, the prospect of a 677 page novel from him was anticipation of a feast to partake of, but I found myself starting to flip pages after a hundred and fifty or so, it got so tedious. After about 400, I just flipped ahead to the last two chapters to see what happened, and was met with a totally pedestrian ending.
If you have not read his other earlier work like the Gold Coast, Plum Island, The Charm School and Night Fall, you really should, but this is really not representative of his best stuff.
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