Wealth, Wit and What comes next? (The Gate House - Nelson DeMille)

Member Name: Good_Guy

Product:	The Gate House - Nelson DeMille
Date:	10/06/09 (21 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very readable with a smile on every page.

Disadvantages: Gold Coast "a must read before hand"

Gate House by Nelson DeMille is a sequel to a book I reviewed a few weeks ago called Gold Coast. I would strongly recommend that you read Gold Coast before taking on this book; I believe it will greatly enhance your experience when reading this follow on story, set some ten years after the events that unfolded with such disastrous results in the original book. I might even go as far as to say that the Gate House would be a fairly meaningless tale to the uninitiated.

DeMille creates some great characters in all his books and this is no exception in that regard, marked by the return of John Sutter after a self imposed exile of 10 years; John was the main character in Gold Coast. He now returns as smart mouthed and wise assed as ever but he is so likeable and personable that you can't help but be entertained by John's remarks. Virtually every page will bring a smile to your face or, indeed, might have you laughing aloud. The author has a knack of creating a main player in the story line that you just want to follow because of their likeable and amusing traits.

A lot of the original supporting characters are featured as well; Susan John's ex-wife is back on the scene in every sense and just as sexy as ever and still a little nuts. Unfortunately for John the dreadful in-laws are on the scene too and they still hate the sight of John, a sentiment is reciprocates with a vengeance. A typical John Sutter remark or joke and I quote "What do you do if you miss you in-laws?" ----------------- Reload and fire again!!!" His renewed relationship with his ex-wife is blighted by the evil twosome, Susan's dad and mum, William and Charlotte Stanhope. William couldn't be more detestable if he tried (actually I think he does try) but the complication is he's rich to the tune of 100 million dollars!

Back too is the more dangerous complication of the mafia family that John became associated with as the don's "consigliateur" and defence lawyer. The element of danger grows, becoming apparently life threatening as the story line develops. DeMille excels in building the mobster characters, their life of crime, the codes they live by and power struggle for control. Again there's a mafia hit and the resultant FBI involvement in the plot; Mancuso is back on the case, determined to get Bellarosa behind bars.

This is a masterpiece of story telling building the level of perceived danger from the young don, Anthony Bellarosa to both Susan and John and all the time the added thorn in the flesh of their relationship of the evil in-laws. Plenty of great characters to enjoy along the way and with John's irrepressible wit there's never a dull moment. Get it, read it but first, you must read Gold Coast

Summary: Full of wit, engaging story line and characters