Beach Road, by James Patterson -- Twist endings are overrated. You could close just about any book with a shocking twist--just by flipping the most expected situation on its head. Or by revealing a deep-secret of the main character (completely unforeshadowed) in the end. As readers, we're beginning to expect these things, but I'd rather just have a good story.
In a recent book club mailing, Patterson touts Beach Road as one of his personal favorites. And on an Amazon video he calls it "his best twist ever." Since I knew this, I anticipated the twist by imaging what would be most unexpected, and sure enough, one of my two suspicions were correct. I don't mind figuring it out, the point is that all of the pages leading up to the twist were mediocre at best. The story had absolutely no real point or unique quality--and so many details were left unexplained. The entire plot served the ridiculous twist, and when I got there, it was no big deal because I didn't care about any of the characters.
Beach Road takes place on an infamous strip of real estate in the Hamptons. A former college basketball star is now a hum-drum attorney. He still plays pick-up basketball games, and after one such game, three of his buddies are found brutally murdered. A young kid--a first-round lock for the NBA--has clearly been set up for the murders. The former college star takes the high-profile case (Stephen Spielberg, Julia Roberts, George Clooney, and Matt Damon all make cameos in the book because they're interested in the movie rights) and convinces his long-lost love to join his defense team. The gathering of evidence and trial takes over a year, but you'd never know it from the erratic pacing. Whole months jump by one three-page chapter at a time.
Beach Road has zero depth, is filled with stock characters (one is an elderly Irishman who adores his red-headed boarder), and exists only for the twist at the end. Still, Patterson knows how to get you to turn the page, even if you know you deserve better. Grade: C-
* I can't believe what a sucker I am. I've read six Patterson books in 2006 alone. The man's a machine of pulp ficiton--he's just released his newest Alex Cross novel (Cross), and has four other books on the way. He's becoming something of a hack--though a very rich one, who writes just good enough for me to keep on reading him when I need a break from the heavier stuff.
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