Customer Reviews

Gold Coast

5 star:		(167)
4 star:		(37)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

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."

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.

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.

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.

I've read at least five or six of Demille's novels, but this one is by far my favorite. The characters are well-developed and interesting, and the plot moves along very quickly. This is also the only Demille book I can think of that's really funny, particularly in terms of the dialogue. The interaction between the WASP attorney and the Mob boss is terrific, and I'm surprised that no one has made a film out of this one yet. It's a fast read too (I think I finished it in one weekend)and I highly recommend it.

I guess I am no different than many others who are astounded by the notion that this book could not be loved. I can only assume that if you don't like this book, then you probably don't enjoy actionless movies bathed in rich dialogue either. To each his own.

"The Gold Coast" never announces itself to the reader as in, "hey man, here is the joke... ha ha ha". Instead, it is 625 pages of masterful character development, superb storytelling, and wonderfully detailed visuals of its unique settings. Humor was prevalent on nearly every page. It may have been wordy in parts, and Demille's rather egotistical foreword was a tad overbearing, but I enjoyed his painstaking attempts not to cheat. This book engrossed me for 10 days the way no other book ever has. I truly could not wait to read it every night.

Susan's character intrigued me the most. As much as I loved John Sutter and laughed with him all the way, it was Susan that challenged me. I never could figure her out. I became suspicious of her early, but was never sure of what she was up to. In the end, I felt John was far more compassionate to his wife than I ever could have been to mine if she had acted like that. Then again, what did she do that was so wrong? How was she any different from her husband in many regards? The mystery of her character was one of the master strokes in this tale.

The subtleties of this book would never translate to the big screen, and that is another reason I love it. I am tired of books being written like screenplays. Then again, in this fast food, give-it-to-me-now world, I guess that is what many people want and need. If a sellout like John Grisham -- who can be entertaining and certainly has his place - is your favorite author, then save yourself some time and don't read this book. Or, better yet, prepare yourself for a new experience, clear your mind, and read this book with enthusiasm. You may be enthralled by 3 dimensional characters, a lack of convenient shortcuts, and harsh conclusions.

"The Gold Coast" is a modern day classic. I understand why it is taught in some college classrooms, and I fully expect it to grow in popularity as the years go by. It will get better every day.

This book is summed up best by those reviews which dub it "The Great Gatsby meets The Godfather". It is, first and foremost, a detailed and well-researched tale of two disparate worlds which collide when Mafia Don Frank Bellarosa moves next door to WASP Wall Street lawyer John Sutter on the ultra-upper class North Shore of Long Island - the "Gold Coast". As a lawyer, I can tell you that DeMille, who apparently is not a lawyer, gets the legal stuff right - moreso than most lawyer-turned-authors writing these days. And he gets the mob stuff just as accurately. But best of all, it's written with an incredible sense of humor. For example, Sutter's wife's kinky lovemaking antics wiil make you laugh out loud. And if that's not enough, there's a HUGE surprise ending. Hats off to Mr. DeMille for writing an absolutely perfect novel.

I read this book back to back with Dennis Lehane's Mystic River. These two books are quite different from each other in plot, but they are also quite similar in many ways. The Gold Coast, like Mystic River, is a very realistic (and dark) look at society and human nature. It is quite different from the fast paced action novels I usually read.

The Gold Coast took me longer to read, but it has stuck with me since I finished it. It has a lot less action than most of DeMille's work, but it is a great book in it's own way. The Sutter's (especially John - the first person narrator) and the Bellarosas are very well developed characters. Sutter's cynical sense of humor was great, and had me laughing out loud at times.

DeMille also does a great job of creating the setting (which he is obviously familiar with). Then there is the feature of a DeMille book that is always excellent: the dialog. He doesn't disappoint with this one either.

It is a great read, and I highly recommend it. Then, if you like this one try Dennis LeHane's Mystic River or DeMille's Word of Honor. If you like DeMille's writing style, but prefer more action try Plum Island, The Lion's Game, and Cathedral.

Having read the book over my summer vacation, and then reading these reviews, I can agree with those who gave this book one star and also (to a lesser extent) with those who gave the book five stars. It certainly isn't like DeMille's other books. If this is the only DeMille book you've read and you didn't like it, well then try "Plum Island".

It's interesting that most of the reviewers (many whom have read other DeMille books) either disliked this book intensely or loved it. I can see it both ways (somewhat). It was rather interesting, let's say. I wanted my wife to read it, so I could "discuss it" with her. Did Susan or didn't she? What will John do next? Great literature? Compared to Gatsby? I doubt it.

The "tale" of the book certainly kept me interested. Why would John and Susan Sutter start behaving in this way? Beats me. About the only thing I can think of is that "evil" can appear attractive to some persons and drag you into it's lair.

But so much of the story is unconvincing. "Honor Thy Father" by Gay Talese, or Puzo's "The Godfather" are much better portrayals about the Mafia. It is extremely unrealistic that a Mafia Don would all of a sudden want a Tax Attorney with NO trial experience to represent him in Federal Criminal Court. It is very unrealistic that a Wall Street Tax attorney would be so helpless and cower at an IRS assessment. Hasn't he ever heard of an appeal? I would NOT want John Sutter as my attorney the way he is portrayed as a lawyer, and being a lawyer, I ought to know. What a wimp! He hardly ever works, hardly ever communicates with his wife (except when he/she is devising one of their sexual fantasies), and certainly seems to let others, including his wife, rule every aspect of his life.

So I'll give the book three stars, if only because it was an easy vacation read that was at least "interesting". But a believable story or accurate portrayal of the Mafia or life as a lawyer? Don't think so.