as usual James Patterson keeps you interested. I just did not see the end coming...........Surprise!

A quick Awesome read. Quite a surprise ending

James Patterson is possibly my favorite author out there, if not the first, then definitely in the top three! There hasn't been a book I haven't enjoyed by him, but Beach Road was the most thrilling.

In most of his novels, I can sense what the ending will be, but I was blown away by the twists in it. If you have not read Beach Road by James Patterson, you need to stop what you are doing, and get a copy now!

This was one of many Patterson books that seemed below par. The main characters were developed but I really didn’t care for a story about basketball players, the ending had a dramatic twist that shattered the outcome I was looking for. I did enjoy the courtroom action but I felt Patterson should stick to writing stories without a coauthor.

My first Patterson read. Good, definitely gets you hooked & wanting to keep reading. The book is told from the point of view of basically 5 different people and I did not feel that Patterson was 100% succesful with this. As the book would switch to a different character as first person, it really just felt the same. His writing style didnt really vary as he changed point of view. I think this is a hard thing to do but Barbara Kingsolver did it beautifully in the Poisonwood Bible so I always compare other books that try to do this to that one. This one did not have the same effortlessness.

Lastly, there is a twist at the end (don't worry, no spoiler) that I really did not like or buy. It just didnt fit for me. That was the major downer of the book.

The Beach Road by James Patterson was published in 2006 by Little Brown and Company. James Patterson is well known for his gruesome stories, some of which have been turned into movies or tv shows. One well known is Zoo. Patterson typically writes about cops, FBI, or special detectives, or at least that's the pattern I've noticed. Most books that I've read are about the good guy chasing the bad guy. The genre I believe he fits best in would be murder mystery. He's all about killings and tracking down the bad guys at any cost. The Beach Road is the story about Tom Dunleavy and his fight to save an innocent boy from a lifetime in jail. When his friend, Dante, is arrested on a triple murder in the lovey, and expensive, East Hamptons it's up to Tom to bring him justice. Tom goes to the one person he believes will help him, despite their history.
Manhattan super lawyer Kate Costello is one tough cookie. But she has a very impressive track record and a history with the Hamptons, so how could she say no? Well for starters working with her ex-boyfriend gives her big red flags. Later one she has a change of heart and they begin. Representing Dante and proving that he's innocent will be harder than either could have ever imagined. But they cant give up on him now, not after everything this boy has been through and how far he's come.
I feel that most people would connect to Dante in this situation. As the story unfolds you get to know the boy and his family. You hear about all is done and you just know that he's innocent. This happens in the world today, people become attached to these people who've been framed for awful things, and its suckd knowing htat they cant really help the victim. Overall the geography of the book was accurate, as always. Patterson stays local in this story and keeps his places real, unlike other authors. I think this book is a very good read for anyone who likes the fast paced action murder mystery books.
The Beach Road is like other James Patterson books. Patterson is well known for writing other gruesome tales, as well as the series Maximum Ride and The Dangerous Days of Daniel X. Patterson is unlike any other authors that I've read. He's the first one that I've read whose written both gruesome killer stories as well as friendly's kids tales. In this book though I've noticed a theme he has going, along with other books. His stories always start out with trouble and failure. The protagonist works hard, meets a person of interest, and stops the bad guy in the end. Only in this case, the only person who got a happy ending was Dante.
In my opinion the only controversial thing would be in the beginning when he started the book off with a potential rape scene. This could scar younger readers and possibly make some parents mad, simply because he started the book off with a sex scene. Overall the book is pretty good, with a surprising twist ending that I didn't see coming. I would recommend it to older audience, preferably older than a high school sophomore.

Nope nope nope nope but lol at the ending

This was the first James Patterson book that I read and I'm disappointed to say that I did not like it.

First, what I did like. The chapters are short - very short (2-3 pages) - making this a very quick and easy read. I felt like I was flying through the book. This is an easy weekend or beach read.

What I didn't like. Each chapter was written from a different character's point of view (POV) with some consecutive chapters written from the same character's POV. I found myself quite often having to flip back a page to see which character was "speaking." Having to do this pulled me out of the story and was quite distracting.

The plot was predictable. A young, poor teenager with excellent basketball skills and an opportunity to go pro is framed for murder only to be represented by a local attorney who previously flopped in pro basketball. During the course of pretrial work, the attorney gets his ex-girlfriend back who is also an attorney. You can guess how the trial ends for the new local heroes and teenager.

The bad guy wasn't believable. I'm all for being surprised about who the bad guy really is but it has to be believable and that wasn't the case with this book. There were absolutely no clues or hints that this person was the bad guy and then when I learned who the bad guy was, I felt cheated. It just wasn't believable at all and made me feel like I wasted my time reading the book.

The ending lingered. Once the bad guy was revealed, it seemed to take forever to wrap up the story.

First book by this writer(s) that I have read. Boring, repetitive and... can I say boring again?

Ok, you got me on this one. I loved it!!! I can't believe I never, ever saw the twist in this one. If you want to read one of the best and most thought provoking...DON'T miss this one. I am still hashing this one over and over in my mind.

Despite my broken heart over the ending, I enjoyed Beach Road.

The main character’s demise won me over that I was rooting for him all the way. The slow but very climatic unfolding of his becoming a zero to hero was nicely done in my opinion. The author made sure you were going to fall for Tom that you’re not going to think one single bad thought about the guy. He was some kind of a dream-come-true guy that’s why the ending was such a stab in my oh-so-fragile heart.

I pity Kate the most. She took the hardest fall in the book. The novel depicted her as a logical and smart woman only to find out in the end that she was totally lied to and deceived by the man she decided to give a second chance for love’s sake (Fine she was a little stupid). Oh the hurt she must have gone through after learning the truth. Also to think that she’s got a baby with the man who loved and deceived her, how she’s going to hold up and not be overcome by anger is beyond my imagination. The ending was heart-wrenching for me!

If this book was any good I never got to find out. I gave up on page 78. Frankly at that point I could not care less who the killer was. Poor writing, No disrespect to Peter De Jonge, he is probably a very capable writer. Patterson probably wrote this in his sophomore year and found it at the back of a drawer when his publisher started pushing him for a new book. I will not bother going into the story, its enough of a popular book, unfortunately it did not do it for me.