Beach Road (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Peter de Jonge (Author) "SEVENTEEN AND CRIMINALLY CUTE, Nikki Robinson sulks through the sultry afternoon trying to keep from staring at her useless shocking-pink cell phone..." (more)
Key Phrases: Dante Halleyville, Michael Walker, East Hampton (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bestseller Patterson shows signs of having gone to the well too often in this slapdash collaboration with de Jonge, his coauthor on The Beach House (2002). Tom Dunleavy, a former professional basketball player and local East Hampton legend, is getting by as an underworked and unmotivated attorney. His sports glory days and his one true love are long in the past, but he gets second chances at personal and professional redemption when three locals are gunned down, apparently in the aftermath of racial tensions arising from a heated pickup game of hoops. The police seize on Dante Halleyville, the country's best high school star, as their suspect, and Dunleavy must dust off his old courtroom skills and enlist his lost love, Kate Costello, as his partner. Patterson readers know to expect a surprise ending, but he leaves too few possibilities for many to be genuinely fooled. Fans can only hope that Patterson soon returns to the level he achieved with his Alex Cross series. (May)
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From Booklist

The gripping Beach Road returns to the world of the Hamptons, where Patterson set The Beach House (2002). Tom Dunleavy is a small-time lawyer who lands a big case when three young men he plays basketball with are found shot to death execution-style at a billionaire's basketball court. The evidence points to a rising high-school basketball star, Dante Halleyville, who scuffled with one of the other young men earlier on the day of the murder and who apparently was seen disposing of the gun used to commit the murders. Tom reluctantly takes the case, convincing his ex-girlfriend, Kate Costello, a high-powered lawyer in Manhattan, to help him prove Dante innocent. The novel races toward a conclusion so shocking that even longtime Patterson devotees won't see it coming. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (May 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316159786
• ISBN-13: 978-0316159784
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (275 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #291,163 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Totally and completely STUPID!!!!!, November 24, 2006

By	RAE - See all my reviews

Even before I got to the ending I didn't think the story made any sense. Way too many gaping holes in logic and believable behavior. Then I finished it and nearly threw it in the fireplace. HOW STUPID! It would have been more believable if aliens had been introduced at the end.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Pull-ease, September 27, 2006

By	Amy Senk "Read it, Loved it" (Orange County, CA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm with the reviewers who thought this book was ruined by the ending. I'm all for twists, but this was completely ridiculous and incongruous and dumb.

The book tells the tale of Hamptons small-time lawyer Tom, who had a brief career as a professional ball player. Apparently sometime in his youth, he dumped the woman he truly loved, Kate, who became a hard career lawyer in NYC. We know she's hard because she smokes, and has no friends, but in the end, they band together and find true love while defending a young black ball player from a multiple murder death-penalty charge.

It's twisting and turning and super derivative, but mostly it's satisfying. Until the last few chapters, when the writers throw in a major monkey wrench that turns the books into a joke.

I felt as if the entire reading experience was false, and a waste of time. Badly done. Cheap.

Patterson's books may not be the best, but they ususally don't make you feel this cheated.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars SECOND RATE PLOT, AND HO-HUM CHARACTERS, July 14, 2006

By	Sandra D. Peters "Seagull Books" (Prince Edward Island, Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I love Patterson's Alex Cross series, who doesn't, he is a master at the game of psychological suspense. Beach Road did absolutely nothing for me. When an author finds his niche, why does he have to turn a twist and venture off in another direction?

In Beach Road the character of Tom Dunleavy just didn't jibe with me. Professional basketball player turned attorney - give me a break. Dante Halleyvale, the young upcoming basketball star is tried for murder and Tom comes to the rescue. Then, throw in Kate Costello, the young attorney whose heart Tom has already broken, but she is back for round two and willing to give the relationship another whirl. The characters were weak, the plot just average.

James Patterson has won our hearts with Alex Cross, please stick with what you do best and give us more of him and less of this drivel. No offense, but I have come to learn that every time I see the name Peter de Jonge on the cover, the book will be a waste of money.