Customer Rating:  
Summary: This man needs an editor
Comment: One thought... about 250 less pages.
One more... where's the plot?
I normally enjoy DeMille's books but I got about 1/2
way through this one and gave up. At that point there
was very little plot development, just ENDLESS descriptions
of every scene.
Customer Rating:
Summary: not the best but still pretty good
Comment: ok, this this isn't a DeMille's best. FINE. We get it. Still, if you love his books as much as I do, you'll enjoy this one. It's not a page turner but it's a solid work, that explains a lot of what happened in Gold Coast. I'm glad I read this book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A book about nothing
Comment: Publishers Weekly said that the book "takes its' time getting anywhere. What an understatement! I'm on page 578 of a 678 page book and next to nothing has happened. Unless I want to count the "hero" bonking his ex-wife five times a day and being sarcastic at least 3 times a page. My advice - don't waste your time on this piece of self-indulgent trash. I'm sorry I did.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Less Action, Less Violence, Just as Much Fun
Comment: First off, you really need to have read "The Gold Coast" to fully appreciate this book. "The Gate House" features many of the same characters dealing with the aftermath of things that happened ten years before.
Attorney John Sutter has returned to America after a ten-year absence since his wife at that time, Susan, murdered her lover, the mafia's don Bellarosa. John's narrative is, again, light-hearted, tremendously sarcastic, and witty. He is juggling many things in his life. He has returned to Long Island to administer the will of a former family servant and to test the waters. The reader gets the sense that he might be ready to return to the States permanently, but he has a girlfriend, a job and a flat in London.
John dreads seeing his ex-in-laws and his ex-wife at the funeral and is finding himself strangely attracted to the former servant's daughter.
Things start to get complicated when don Bellarosa's son, Anthony, decides that he wants to hire Mr. Sutter as his tax lawyer and begins to sound threatening in the process. And John hears from several sources that his ex-wife wants to see him.
I know I am in the minority when I say that I enjoyed "The Gate House" more than "The Gold Coast." Both books are essentially comedic soap operas with some social commentary, and some mafia characters thrown in to provide the necessary action and violence that DeMille fans demand. The earlier book, "The Gold Coast," was definitely more involved with the mafia characters, more action-packed and was a more graphically violent book.
Perhaps I enjoyed "The Gate House" more because I knew more about what to expect from John Sutter and I enjoyed the less frenetic pace. "The Gate House" was definitely a fun read.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing
Comment: I am a great fan of Nelson Demille having read all of his novels and I was very anxious to start reading his latest novel, The Gate House. I was soooo disappointed ! If it hadn't been for his witty dialogue, I would have put the book down after 300 pages. But, I wanted to see if he would develop a plot. At last, after 600 pages the plot emerged and the action began ! I hope that he will get back to some basics, forget this novel, hire a better editor and start writing the great, snappy novels that he is so famous for. I can't believe that this is the same author who wrote The Charm School, Word of Honor and The Lion's Game , to name a few. Forget reading this one !
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