The Gold Coast

March 31, 1990
What happens to a priggish, WASPy, disillusioned Wall Street lawyer when a Mafia crime boss moves into the mansion next door in his posh Long Island neighborhood? He ends up representing the gangster on a murder rap and even perjures himself so the mafiosostet lc can be released on $5 million bail. That's the premise of DeMille's ( The Charm School ) bloated, unpersuasive thriller. Attorney John Sutter has problems that would daunt even Fitzgerald's Jay Gatsby. His marriage is crumbling, despite kinky sex games with his self-centered wife, Susan, who's the mistress of his underworld client Frank Bellarosa. The IRS is after Sutter, and his law firm wants to dump him. As a sardonic morality tale of one man's self-willed disintegration, the impact is flattened by its elitist narrator's patrician tones. A comic courtroom scene and some punches at the end, however, redeem the novel somewhat. BOMC main selection; film rights to Guber/Peters-Columbia.

The Long Island Gold Coast once held the greatest concentration of wealth and power in America. Mafia don Frank Bellarosa, a late-twentieth-century version of wealth and power, acquires the estate next to John Sutter, respected Wall Street tax lawyer. Like a moth to the flame, Sutter is drawn into Bellorosa's world. The story, first published in 1990, is told in Sutter's words, and Christian Rummel's narration is sterling. From the Gold Coast upper-crust accent known as "Locust Valley lockjaw" to the streetwise banter of the Mob, each character comes to life. Conversations between Sutter and Bellarosa are so realistic listeners may feel they're tied into a federal wiretap. With authentic settings and real people, THE GOLD COAST (now followed by a sequel, THE GATE HOUSE) provides an entertaining view of the sordid lives of the rich and famous. T.J.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine