The Gold Coast
Written by Nelson DeMille
Narrated by Christian Rummel
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Nelson DeMille
Nelson DeMille is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-two novels, seven of which were #1 New York Times bestsellers. His novels include The Maze, The Deserter (written with Alex DeMille), The Cuban Affair, Word of Honor, Plum Island, The Charm School, The Gold Coast, and The General’s Daughter, which was made into a major motion picture, starring John Travolta and Madeleine Stowe. He has written short stories, book reviews, and articles for magazines and newspapers. Nelson DeMille is a combat-decorated US Army veteran, a member of Mensa, Poets & Writers, and the Authors Guild, and past president of the Mystery Writers of America. He is also a member of the International Thriller Writers, who honored him as 2015 ThrillerMaster of the Year. He lives on Long Island with his family.
More audiobooks from Nelson De Mille
Rendezvous Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cuban Affair Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dangerous Women: Original Stories from Today's Greatest Suspense Writers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5MatchUp Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Deserter: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to The Gold Coast
Related audiobooks
19th Century America’s Forgotten Wars: The History and Legacy of the Overseas Conflicts that Influenced American Imperialism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNostromo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Soapy Smith: The Life and Legacy of the Wild West's Most Infamous Con Artist Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBe Free or Die: The Amazing Story of Robert Smalls' Escape from Slavery to Union Hero Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Deliberate Evil: Nathanial Hawthorne, Daniel Webster, and the 1830 Murder of a Salem Slave Trader Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Rage for Glory: The Life of Commodore Stephen Decatur, USN Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Empire of Shadows: The Epic Story of Yellowstone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wicked Atlanta: The Sordid Side of Peach City History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe T.R. Connection: Riders for the Maltese Cross Outfit, Val Steffanson Series, Book 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOur Man in Charleston: Britain's Secret Agent in the Civil War South Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jackson: The Iron-Willed Commander Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Captain John Smith: A Foothold in the New World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rise to Greatness: Abraham Lincoln and America's Most Perilous Year Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Three Months in the Southern States: April-June, 1863 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cold Water Crossing: An Account of the Murders at the Isles of Shoals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Road to Appomattox Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wild West: History, myth & the making of America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerica's Legendary Frontier Towns: The History of Tombstone, Deadwood, and Dodge City Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSharon Tate and the Manson Murders Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Treasure Island AND The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Two Classic Tales! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTo Kill and Kill Again: The Terrifying True Story of Montana's Baby-Faced Serial Sex Murderer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder in a Mill Town: Sex, Faith, and the Crime That Captivated a Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Phantom Killer: Unlocking the Mystery of the Texarkana Serial Murders: the Story of a Town in Terror Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flee North: A Forgotten Hero and the Fight for Freedom in Slavery's Borderland Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Iron Empires: Robber Barons, Railroads, and the Making of Modern America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/51900, Or: The Last President: The Book That Predicted Donald Trump's Presidency Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Thrillers For You
The Silent Patient Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Holly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Perfect: A Thriller That Will Grab You By Your DNA Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Inmate Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Guest List: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wrong Place Wrong Time: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Never Lie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fairy Tale Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Perfect Marriage: a completely gripping psychological suspense Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rose Code: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Local Woman Missing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Dead Zone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paris Apartment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Teacher Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The It Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bright Young Women: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Flicker in the Dark: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Sinners Bleed: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Cabin at the End of the World: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Terminal List: A Thriller Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Future Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Turn of the Key Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mr. Mercedes: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hidden Pictures: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Housemaid Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fool Me Once Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Gold Coast
510 ratings14 reviews
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5A more pompous jerk such as John Sutter has not graced many books. John has all the pluses of life-wealthy wife, prestigious job, community status; but that is not enough. John and his wife, having expended all their sexual fantasies, turn to the head of the Mafia, Frank Bellarosa, for more excitement. Nelson DeMille plants exotic sexual scenes throughout the novel that could have been omitted. The passion between Frank and Susan, explains Susan, is a meeting of the minds and not the bodies. Such extremes in one book. John loses his ganache and becomes a raging lunatic who insults family and friends. The book runs on and on and gets nowhere with John's disillusionment with life and work. Maybe men enjoy this type of novel, I did not.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was the first novel that I read by Nelson DeMille and, several novels later, I think it's his best. This tale of the clash of cultures among the uber-rich on Long Island's North Shore (the so-called Gold Coast) has all of the ingredients that you need for a high-octane soap opera: infidelity, the Mafia, a fading American aristocracy, pulse-quickening drama, and laugh-out-loud humor (or at least some audible snickers). It isn't great literature but it doesn't pretend to be. As mass-market fiction it's at the top of its class.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5loved this book before, am re-reading it for our Book Club. We decided we wanted something a little different this month and we all like DeMille.**finished it, still a very enjoyable read, will likely read again!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a very subtle book. Told in the first person, DeMille's protagonist draws conclusions from what looks at first like very little evidence, but explanations later in the book always had me nodding my head and agreeing that it all makes perfect sense when you put it that way. In the hands of a less-skilled author, I would have found this very technique very annoying, but DeMille made it all work very well. I was very impressed.Add to that overall good writing, including a narrator who tells his story in a very likable chatty voice (even if said narrator isn't himself always a likable character), a really interesting take on the Mafia, and a story that has some interesting twists and turns, and it all comes out to quite a good book.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I received a free copy at the LA Book Expo several months ago. This is the second Nelson Demille book I read. Godfather meets the Great Gatsby.The characters were certainly interesting, but often defied belief. The relationship between the main character and his wife was especially difficult to fathom.The writing is quick paced and intriquing.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5John Sutter, a Long Island/Wall Street attorney who specializes in taxes and real estate transactions, is troubled to discover the estate next to his has been purchased by mafia don Frank Bellarosa, head of the the largest crime family in New York. Inexplicably, John and his wife Susan (whose parents own the 200-acre estate they live on) are drawn to Frank. Thus begins the ride of their lives.This book has everything, I think - love and hate, sex and violence, and lots of money. John begins questioning everything he believes. We are presented with conflicting evidence regarding Frank - is he evil incarnate, or a nice guy who's gotten a bad rap? As John's life begins to fall apart around him, his new buddy Frank is on hand help out. Of course, now John owes Frank a favor. And so it goes.DeMille is one of my favorite authors. My only complaint about several of his books is his tendency to drone on about mid-life/mortality issues. This book has plenty of that. I "read" this book on audio and was not able to skim over the dull parts. I don't know how many pages the print editions have, but the audio version consists of 19 hour-long CD's. The first half of the book was interesting, as we got acquainted with all the characters and things began happening. By disk #15, though, I was tired of John's whining, Susan's selfishness, and Frank's bullying. The last quarter of the book picked up a little, but the end was still too long coming.This book had been recomended as one of DeMille's very best, and it is well-written. I think it could be improved with some editing of the seemingly endless scenes of John's introspectiion. There is not as much action as in some of DeMille's other books, but that is a personal preference. I think any fan of DeMille and similar authors will want to read this. I guess my expectations were too high, but I was disappointed by this one.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not bad, but not great. Hailed by many as his best, which is why it will probably be my last DeMille. An excellent writer, I just don't get into his story lines.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5DeMille's best, or so they say, and a great book--but not one of my all time favorites. Very clever and sarcastic, I felt like John Corey was in that book...must be the author? Demille is a great storyteller. Well researched and set on Long Island's Gold coast -- everyone in America is expected to understand that, right? Never been there, never wanted to go; but, the book piqued my interest. It was a bit heavy on the Italian. Great characters--the manipulating mafiosi, the mid-life crisis lawyer and his strange wife. The Great Gatsby meets The Godfather!
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5This was a book club read that was selected on very short notice. Our group had been reading a number of "heavy" books in a row and decided that a last minute change in selections was necessary. This book was selected for its (sarcastic) humor and its easy/quick read nature.
While I believe it met all of our impromptu requirements and while our group of 10-12 were divided among those who liked and didn't liked, I don't foresee myself picking up another DeMille book any time soon. The author, in the foreword included in my edition, stated his intention with this book to be The Godfather meets The Great Gatsby. The attempt is obvious, the success not so much. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On second read and more than ten years since the first, my impression of this story has improved. Layers of complexity are more recognizable. It's not simply a tragedy of three characters, but the under current is the erosion of all the life styles, cultures represented. Having grown up in the area (Centre Island, Oyster Bay), I have first hand memories of the locales, but more importantly, the types of people being depicted. The WASPs of the Creek Club and Seawanhaka Yacht Club, are real and still there, but in smaller numbers, and the Italians are as well - perhaps in larger numbers, but hardly distinguishable as a separate culture today among the tony villages of the area. They too own "mini-mansions" on the gold coast as do their Episcopalain (and Persian and Jewish) neighbors. A ten acre estate - let alone two hundred acres - is a distant memory known only in movies, and archives from the times - or in the ruins very well described in this book.There are many references to Roman antiquity - Caesars. Perhaps the most telling is the realization that the people - while loving and revering Caesar (Bellarosa), envied and despised him - leading to his demise. In the Gold Coast, his demise is similarly depicted - first an attempt by his "people" (Mafia), and finally done in by a slightly deranged woman - with "Gatsby"-ending similarities.My one main gripe with the story is that not a single character is likeable. The protagonist, John Sutter, is at heart a selfish, smart-ass jerk, and the antagonist, Frank Bellarosa, a psychopath once you carve through his charm. Susan Stanhope Sutter and others are lesser characters, but all without many, if any, redeeming qualities.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5After reading the John Cory series, I thought I would love this DeMille book as well. Not so. It took 10 chapters to just set the scene and introduce the characters. I kept waiting for the story to begin. The redeeming aspect is the humor of the main character, John Sutter, written in first person style. Very clever and funny writing but I wanted more out of the plot. John's wife, Susan, is almost 1 dimensional and frankly unbelievable for me, or maybe I'm just ignorant and naïve about what rich people are like. I actually liked the villain, Frank Bellarosa, because he was so interesting. Maybe that was part of the point; Frank was so skilled at manipulation that he could seduce even very wealthy and intelligent people. Anyway, since I "read" the book as an audio book, I didn't feel I wasted my time because I could perform my mundane daily routines while listening and not loose any time. I probably won't read, The Gate House, the sequel.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I enjoyed this book. The story was intriguing. However, use of the word "anyway" to start every other paragraph took me right out of the story. That may sound like I'm nit-picking, but it really does get annoying.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I thought this book was an enjoyable read but it took way to long to get through it, something I have never had a problem with in any other DeMille novel I've read thus far. I plan on reading everything he wrote and rereading some I've already read. I'll add them to my library as I read them.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The story was interesting, but way too long. The narrator, who is also a co-lead character was borderline insulting to the term WASP. Bellarosa was more the hero than was Sutter. If DeMille had just picked a path and stayed reasonably close to it this could have been a leaner and stronger work. As it were I was left wanting for a better understanding of the Gold Coast and the characters themselves. I deducted a full star because of the acknowledgement. Nothing but blatant self-promotion and egomaniacal ramblings. Leave that crap for the end pages, or else risk putting off more readers.