The Gold Coast (Paperback)

by Nelson DeMille (Author) "I first met Frank Bellarosa on a sunny Saturday in April at Hicks' Nursery, an establishment that has catered to the local gentry for over..." (more)
Key Phrases: largest crime family, love temple, The Gold Coast, Frank Bellarosa, Stanhope Hall (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
What happens to a priggish, WASPy, disillusioned Wall Street lawyer when a Mafia crime boss moves into the mansion next door in his posh Long Island neighborhood? He ends up representing the gangster on a murder rap and even perjures himself so the mafiosostet lc can be released on $5 million bail. That's the premise of DeMille's ( The Charm School ) bloated, unpersuasive thriller. Attorney John Sutter has problems that would daunt even Fitzgerald's Jay Gatsby. His marriage is crumbling, despite kinky sex games with his self-centered wife, Susan, who's the mistress of his underworld client Frank Bellarosa. The IRS is after Sutter, and his law firm wants to dump him. As a sardonic morality tale of one man's self-willed disintegration, the impact is flattened by its elitist narrator's patrician tones. A comic courtroom scene and some punches at the end, however, redeem the novel somewhat. BOMC main selection; film rights to Guber/Peters-Columbia.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
'Captivating...addictive...irresistible.' - WASHINGTON POST 'The so-called 'Gold Coast' will never be the same again' - DAILY MAIL --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (April 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446673218
• ISBN-13: 978-0446673211
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (223 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,422 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Get Too Chummy With Your Neighbors, July 20, 2005

By	Antoinette Klein (Hoover, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Gold Coast (Mass Market Paperback)

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."

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious, wonderfully written, and a ripping read!, April 14, 2004

By	Roger J. Buffington (Huntington Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Gold Coast (Mass Market Paperback)

Nelson DeMille is my favorite author, and The Gold Coast is one of his better books. This is a hilarious novel. The basic premise is simple enough. John Sutter is an upper-class WASP lawyer who lives in the most exclusive area in America, an area in Long Island known to insiders as "The Gold Coast." He has a beautiful wife, an OK law practice, looks, class, and health. All seems well. Then, the local Mafia Don decides to move into the property next to the Sutters. And so begins the tale of a mid-life crisis to beat all mid-life crises. The rest would be telling.

As is the case with many of DeMille's novels, John Sutter is a hoot. His insights into life in general, the Gold Coast in particular, and his encounters with the local Mafia Don are very funny. The novel is written in first person, not a perspective I always like, but here it is extraordinarily effective. The reader comes to know, like, and care about John Sutter and his deepening predicament. DeMille's prose is superb. The writing is clear and crisp. The storyline starts out at a leisurely pace, but it always keeps the reader's attention and interest, and the plot quickly picks up momentum. This is an absorbing and very funny story.

DeMille is one of the great novelists of the times. I do not exaggerate; many of his books in my opinion are instant classics. The Gold Coast is one of these.

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I laughed, I cried..., May 26, 2000

By	M. Beck (Virginia Beach) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Gold Coast (Mass Market Paperback)

I am a recent convert to DeMille. My first book was The Charm School which I liked a great deal. It was a little predictable, but it held my attention throughout, actually getting better as I read. By the end I was eager to try another DeMille book, which is pretty high praise.

I picked up The Gold Coast based on the positive reviews I read here on Amazon.com and I'm writing to add my strong recommendation for this very entertaining and poignant novel. DeMille's description of the WASP community and mindset is hilarious and affecting. The Mafia component is less successful - solid, interesting, but not especially ground-breaking.

However, the transformation of John Sutter is amazing. I found myself constantly surprised by the depth of this book. Nothing in the Charm School prepared me for the last hundred pages of the Gold Coast. The last sentence of the novel will make you gasp.