Publisher: Little, Brown
Publishing Date: Aug. 1, 2009
400 Pages
Format: hardcover, purchased
Synopsis
Tom Dunleavy has a one-man law firm in legendary East Hampton. But his job barely keeps him in paperclips. His principal clients make a living serving the rich. The billionaires and megacelebrities swarming the beaches already have lawyers on their payroll.
Then a friend of Tom's is arrested for a triple murder near a movie star's mansion. Tom knows in his gut that Dante Halleyville is innocent. Dante asks him to represent him in what could be the Trial of the Cenury.
Tom recruits Manhattan superlawyer Kate Costello to help. She's a tough hire, because Kate is his ex-girlfriend, but she agrees. In their search to find who really executed three locals, tom orchestrates a series of revelations to expose the killer - and what emerges is staggering.
The finals scenes of Beach Road unveil a truth that will leave readers gasping in shock.
My Review
Wow. That last sentence of the synopsis is dead on. The whole time I was reading the story, I couldn't figure out who the killer was or what actually happened. But those last few chapters are crazy! I never, never expected that story to end the way it did. I don't know how Patterson does it; the way he tells his stories is unbelievable. If anyone is looking for a good murder-mystery, look no further! The characters in this story are so easy to relate to. I always believed Dante was innocent; he was such a good kid, how could anything this bad happen to him! When the truth about what happened that night, and the days and nights since, is revealed, you won't believe what you just read! I'll say it again and again, James Patterson is one of my absolute favorite authors ever! (:
I felt that this book had a lot of promise when I first started it (listening - I caught it on clearance and listened to it on a long drive). I felt that the characters were pretty well developed - I was pretty invested in them by the middle of the book, and definitely had my favorites.
ReplyDeleteHowever, when it came to the ending, I felt it fell apart. That last sentence of the synopsis is true, it was shocking, but not in a good way. Given the first-person perspective the book was written in, from multiple characters' perspectives, the twist in the ending did not make sense. When you can hear the thoughts of your characters, a surprise in the manner this book had does not fit with the character developed to that point. When you read a book like this in the first person, I feel like the bulk of the characters' thoughts (for those whose eyes you're seeing things unfold through) should be accurate and contain most of the significant thoughts going through that person's mind.
The audio production was well done, I thought, changing readers for each different character's chapters, and this added to the immersion into the characters' personae, and i think that's why the twist felt even more contrived and unsupported. Sure, the actions that happened could have happened in the manner they did to support the twist, but when you're in the heads of all the players, then it ends up feeling fake.
I love when audio books change people for characters! It makes then so much easier to listen to and figure out whose talking. One of the recent audio books I listened to had the reader doing different voices for each, which was pretty nice. The one I'm listening to now doesn't change voices at all and I have a hard time remembering whose talking and figuring out when someone else speaks.
DeleteThanks for stopping by! I love finding other bloggers/readers who love Patterson's work. I feel like so many bloggers just read young adult type books (though I really love those as well). I just try to vary what I read :)