Beach Road by James Patterson manages to pack thrills, interest, and suspense into an easy-to-read summer novel. It's the perfect novel to take to the beach.
Beach Road, published in May, 2006, features Tom Dunleavy, a former basketball star and local East Hampton hometown hero, who has settled in as a rarely-working small-town lawyer.
Set amidst the have-and-have-not tensions amidst the mansions of Long Island, Beach Road follows the story of Dante Halleyville, a local African-American high school basketball phenom (modeled about LeBron James, perhaps), who is charged with two brutal murders. Dunleavy, much to the chagrin of his neighbors, decides to defend him. He persuades his high school sweetheart, Kate Costello, now a high-priced New York City attorney, to assist him.
The novel is told from several points of view, including Tom's, Kate's, and Dante's. The reader is warned in the preface to assume that not everyone is telling the truth. But which one/ones, if anyone, is lying?
Beach Road is an easy read, with lots of chapter breaks and white spaces, but still manages to excite. For fun, Patterson has thrown in cameo appearances from Steven Speilberg, Billy Joel, and other Long Island celebrity residents.
In short, Beach Road is worth reading, if only for the last 100 pages.
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