THE GATE HOUSE
Nelson DeMille
Grand Central Publishing
Suspense
ISBN: 9780446533423
Ten years ago, Susan Stanhope Sutter killed her lover, Mafia don Frank Bellarosa. One night, she just left her estate, Stanhope Hall, and headed across the connecting acreage to Frank’s mansion, Alhambra, where he delivered a message that Susan took umbrage to, so she shot him. She escaped prosecution --- and the wrath of the don’s family --- but lost her husband, her home and her lover all in one night. Now she has returned from a period of self-imposed exile and has settled in the Guest Cottage of Stanhope Hall. That may have been an unwise choice, for there are still people in the area who carry a grudge. Like Frank’s son.
Ethel Allard, a friend of the Stanhope family, now lay dying in a hospice house. Because Ethel’s time is fast running out, John Whitman Sutter, Ethel’s attorney and Susan’s ex-husband, has returned from London, his home since that fateful night.
In the intervening decade, John divorced his wife, sailed around the world, left his New York law practice for one in England, and found at least one girlfriend --- in short, imposed his own sort of self-exile. Now back on Long Island, staying in Stanhope Hall’s gatehouse, John reflects on the distant past and wonders about his immediate future with an uneasy feeling.
“Time had stood still here in this gatehouse as the changing world encroached on the walls of Stanhope Hall. In fact, life within the walls had changed, too, and time was about to catch up to this place and to the people who lived here, past and present.”
As John works to wrap up Ethel’s affairs, he is painfully aware of Susan’s close proximity. After all, they share a driveway. Does he want to see her? More importantly, does she want to see him? While pondering the possible answers, which may have life-altering repercussions, Frank Bellarosa’s son Anthony makes an unannounced visit to the gatehouse.
John isn’t too excited to see Anthony, considering that John’s ex-wife murdered Anthony’s father, leaving Anthony as head of the family business, which isn’t a thriving security and limo service, unless you consider whacking your enemies a form of security. Well, in a nutshell, the Sutters and the Bellarosas become intertwined once again, and not because John has any desire for mob involvement. His love for Susan has a tendency to get in the way of good decision making, but he feels he must protect the mother of his children. Besides, she’s as beautiful as ever. And outrageously sexy, having discovered some new ways to keep a relationship, shall we say, exciting.
Nelson DeMille explores the clash of the old money of the Gold Coast with the newly rich invaders. Susan Stanhope epitomizes the spoiled trust fund daughter while John Sutter provides the perfect parental nightmare for the elder Stanhopes as the two fall in love again. Their children are thrilled; why can’t the in-laws be, too? Ah, well, maybe it’s the money. Whatever the reason, John and Susan are the type of people one cannot help but envy, despite the downside of a possible hit man hot on their heels.
You don’t have to read THE GOLD COAST to enjoy THE GATE HOUSE, but why not double your fun? DeMille’s look into the world of the rich and snobbish back in 1990 gave his readers a chance to experience that world vicariously through his story, leaving us all feeling a bit higher on the social scale for having read it. His wit and humor were well-honed then, but they have had nearly 20 years to sharpen even more --- and sharpen they have. John Sutter, too, has had nearly two decades to sharpen his wit. What was, at the time of THE GOLD COAST, a wry humor and a wonderful tendency to sarcastic comebacks has become a portfolio of laugh-out-loud parries and feints. Nobody should miss a good Nelson DeMille book, and THE GATE HOUSE is his newest best.
--- Reviewed by Kate Ayers
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