Product Description

Jack Mullen's life is working out perfectly. A Harvard law student, he's loving his summer job in a Boston law firm, and the weekends spent at Martha's Vineyard. Until he arrives home, and his father greets him with the news that his brother, Peter, is dead. The police believe Peter committed suicide, but Jack senses a darker, dangerous truth, and is determined to bring a killer to justice...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #601408 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
James Patterson and Peter de Jonge's The Beach House opens with the death of a handsome townie on Memorial Day weekend in the Hamptons, where being a single-digit millionaire is laughable and being poor is unthinkable. Peter Mullen is a high school dropout who parks cars at the private bashes of the super-wealthy Barry and Campion Neubauer. When Peter is found dead on the beach, the Neubauers and their friends insist that he drowned, but his brother Jack, a law student who saw Peter's body, knows he was beaten to death. As Jack uncovers evidence of his brother's secret life, he begins to realise that the very rich are indeed different from the rest of us. Revenge is a dish best served cold, and Jack's patiently plotted payback for Peter's death is one that the Hamptons will not soon forget. There are no big surprises in The Beach House, but it's vintage Patterson, with plenty of action, villains with hearts blacker than obsidian, and a working-class hero who pulls himself up by the bootstraps. Patterson and de Jonge previously coauthored the inspirational golf romance Miracle on the 17th Green, but this new game of money, mayhem, and murder clearly suits them to a tee.--Barrie Trinkle

About the Author
James Patterson's previous international number one bestsellers include Along Came a Spider, Kiss the Girls, Jack and Jill, Cat and Mouse, When the Wind Blows, Pop goes the Weasel, Cradle and all, Roses are Red, 1st to Die, and his most recent, Violets are Blue. Kiss the Girls was filmed by Paramount Pictures and became a number one hit movie, and the film version of Along Came a Spider was released in 2001. Peter de Jonge wrote A Miracle on the 17th Green with James Patterson.

Customer Reviews

The Beach House - Worth the wait? YES!!!
I'd felt like I'd been waiting for this book for a very long time, and just like all other James Patterson fans who read the book will tell you, it was really worth the wait.
Suspense, frustration, romance, this book has it all. Jack Mullen, the main character, is a young law graduate who with the help of his closest friends and grandfather, Macklin, try to gain justice for the suspicious death of his younger brother Peter. Working for a rich family, peter's death is covered up by lies and bribes, Jack sees this and his frustration grows. Their quest for justice is not so simple and on their journey other deaths and events turn this into a masterpiece of the suspense genre, and cannot fail to impress.
Short snappy chapters make this novel too hard to put down, a guaranteed success.

Murder in the Hamptons
Re: The audio-cassette version:

In James Patterson's The Beach House, intrepid law student Jack Mullen seeks revenge for the death of his beloved younger brother, Peter. In the process, he discovers Peter's secret life, and exposes some of the most powerful socialites in New York's Hamptons as the killers they are.

In typical Patterson style, this book is a very light, quick read, with 108 (!) short chapters and a doozy of an ending that ties up all the clues and makes you wish it could really happen that way. Unfortunately, the reader, Gil Bellows, does not have much energy; in fact, he sounds downright drowsy throughout. His womens' voices are overly breathy and whispery, making them sound empty-headed and silly.

This is a good book if you like James Patterson's predictable style. It's a little padded, but still a fun ride to see how the Everyman character of Jack will topple the ultra-rich villians.

excellent
Fast paced, action packed read. A handsome playboy is murdered on the beach where he is working as a valet during the most exclusive part of the season. However, the police and everyone else state that this is not a murder but either accident or suicide. His brother, family and friends set out to prove he was murdered. Witnesses are threatened, bought and murdered, the characters are very well drawn from Jack (it's his brother who was murdered on the beach), through to the multi-millionaire who can buy anyone or anything.
As the groups of friends begin to lose their jobs and receive death threats the inquest determines that Peter did die accidentally and so Jack begins his research and with Pauline, an investigator for a law firm - and love interest, they work at proving the inquest wrong and bringing the perpetrator to justice.
Beautifully written, but with James Pattersons very short chapters - no Mr Patterson it does not make you think good I've finished a chapter I'll fo to bed, work etc., it makes you think - I'll just read another one it won't take long. Hence the reason I usually read his books in one sitting.
If you like Patterson you will enjoy this both the plot line and the characters are excellent. Buy, read and enjoy - just remember - justice isn't always what it seems.