Beach House by James Patterson and Peter De Jonge

As a writer, I have to wonder why bestselling author James Patterson has collaborated with so many different co-authors. Not that it's really any of my business, but I'm professionally curious. And so I wonder how much of this novel came from Patterson and how much from de Jonge.The writing goes at a strong pace, so it reads much like the other Patterson novel I've read. Possibly de Jonge supplied the background of The Hamptons.As someone who's always lived in the Midwest, I've certainly read about Montauk and The Hamptons, but without knowing any real details. This book's greatest strength lies in how well it makes that area come alive, depicting the tension between the ordinary people who live there and the ultra-wealthy who use it as a playground.It starts out well with the murder of a young local man while he's on duty to supply valet parking to the biggest social private party of the season. The local constabulary seems intent on covering it up as an accident. We know th
ey must know different because the local detective smoked a joint with the young man just before his murder.As a mystery, this novel doesn't work. The young man's older brother who's a law student is convinced the wealthy man giving the party committed or ordered the murder, though at the beginning he has little evidence of this.Turns out he's right, and the only real mystery involved is why -- and what to do about it. He has a strong alibi -- talking on the phone to the Attorney General of the United States during the time of the murder.In the end, quite implausibly, the murdered man's brother, the brother's girlfriend, their grandfather and a few friends kidnap the murderer and his wife plus his lawyer plus a few other people involved, and hold a fake trial they broadcast on a local cable channel. Why they didn't use a webcam to the Internet, I'm not sure. I guess that would have been quickly traced, but I suspect that the "scrambler" they used to block their address from
the local cable station could also be broken by the FBI.A lot of details are implausible. The grandfather has been a paralegal for 25 years. Conveniently giving him some credibility as the mock trial's judge.The older brother is described as a brilliant law student but he does some really stupid things.The background mystery is solved through pure luck. The rich man's wife hired the murdered man's gay friend to take pictures of the sexual activity taking place in his home (involving just about everybody except her). The older brother spots the gay friend strictly by accident in New York City. And it's not clear why that made him go to the gay friend's mother and discovered the pictures.The portrait of the wealthy man as an incestuous bisexual pedophile is simply not plausible. I suppose it's possible, but... come on, including the Attorney General of the United States in the games just makes this book too paranoid.This book's plot was patched together in a hurry, and a lot o
f stitches are missing.

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