Rating: 
Summary: Bravo for a great long read!
Review: I picked up The Gold Coast after first reading Plum Island, and I was fascinated from beginning to end. While many of the reviews concentrate on the character of John Sutter, I was equally impressed with his alter-ego Frank Bellarosa, and their multi-faceted relationship. However awful Frank is is many respects, the Sutters' 'aristocratic' neighbors are infinitely more repellant. The seduction of the Sutters by the Mafia Don is completely shared by the reader by the end of the book, when you find yourself very sorry to see that he does indeed come to a predictable end!
Rating:
Summary: Meeting the Mob Up Close and Personal
Review: To the readers of this book who thought it slow and who condemned the rest of us who like(d) it, I say this. This book has been compared to F. Scott Fitzgerald's "THE GREAT GATSBY." Believe it or not, it has been and, it is being taught in many American Lit courses at a number of colleges around the country. So, which readers are correct, those of you who pan this book or those who have selected it for inclusion in college level English courses? Here's how I see it. John Sutter is a great character. In my view, he's one of Nelson DeMille's more interesting and complex characters. I like him just as much as Ben Tyson in "WORD OF HONOR" and John Corey in "PLUM ISLAND." He's a man troubled by the direction his life takes when a notorious Mafia chieftain moves in next door. What person wouldn't be unsettled when their seemingly placid existence is turned topsy-turvy after such a dramatic change in the local color of the neighborhood? Sutter is like several of DeMille's characters who finds himself facing problems not of his own creation. In many cases, the situation he confronts is totally out of his control. After all, very few of us have any say in who moves in next door. John and Susan Sutter are no different from the rest of us in that regard. What DeMille does in this novel is capture all of the issues that Sutter faces. Frank Bellarosa is only one of them. He also has to deal with the fact that he cannot afford to maintain the massive pile of stone sitting on his property that used to be the ancestral home of his wife's family. This is THE GREAT GATSBY updated. There's a difference, though. In this book, the playing field has been leveled and both Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby now have to make ends meet based on their everyday incomes. As anyone who read Fitzgerald's classic knows, Gatsby was a wealthy bootlegger who probably could have bought and sold the Tom Buchanans of the world. Nick Carraway was his conscience and confidant. In Gold Coast, John Sutter has only himself to turn to. Like his other books set in and around the NY metro area, DeMille knows from whence he writes. Any good writer will tell someone who aspires to the craft to write what they know about. Well, Mr DeMille knows about Long Island, NY and the people who live there. He wrote about the area and people in more than one of his books so he doesn't break that basic rule. I like John Sutter because he never really loses his way for long. He may wander around confused for a while, but his moral compass is intact. He is a man of honor and integrity. He deals with people lacking those qualities with a wry wit and a sardonic view of the approaches they take to similar problems. He is also just different enough from DeMille's other main characters to be memorable. John Sutter is above all else, a realist. he knows what's possible for him and he knows when to walk away. He has a sense of humor that never really leaves him. For those who disparaged this book perhaps you should give it another chance. Try re-reading it again. Look for the little nuances that make John Sutter such a decent person. After you do that, you'lll realize that Nelson DeMille is really very good at creating people we readers like respect and care for. Despite the fact that John Sutter comes from an "old line family," he really is an every day sort of guy. It's just his misfortune that he had a "wiseguy" move in next door.
Rating:
Summary: I've read 3000+ books -- this is in my top 10
Review: Best modern fiction novel out there. If you've read this but thought it a little too smutty, try Charm School or Plum Island (also by Demille). If you like Demille, but have run out of books, try Pleading Guilty (Scott Turow), Vertical Run (??), or The Vulture Fund (??).
Rating:
Summary: all time favorite
Review: The Gold Coast is one of my all time favorite books, and certainly one of Demille's best. I would frequently laugh out loud while reading it. A truly enjoyable read.
Rating: 
Summary: So slow to develop that I gave up
Review: Don't get this one. ALL of Demilles's other books are much more entertaining. This is not a page turner. It's torture to get to the next chapter where you are just hoping something actually happens... but half way through the book nothing ever did. Snore!
Rating: 
Summary: Good read
Review: I love thrillers like The Gold Coast! Only "The Triumph and the Glory" can rival it for suspense, intrigue, action, and a stunning ending.
Rating:
Summary: A Real Treat
Review: I couldn't wait to get home from work every night just so that I could treat myself to this book. Mr. DeMille's sense of irony combined with his wry humor and gift for writing dialogue make this one of the most exciting books I've read in many a month. This book is so good, I really do feel like I'm eavesdropping and spying on the Sutters and Bellarosas. Awesome. I just went out and bought all of Nelson DeMille's other books.
Rating:
Summary: I can't believe you people liked this book, it was terrible
Review: I started this book because someone had sold me on the story line. I only finished it because I was hoping it would get better. I can't believe the publisher even published it. I wanted to send a letter to the author and tell him he was the worst writer I had ever read. This guy try's to engage you by bringing you into the old money society of the East Coast. He clearly loses sight half way through the book when he runs out of his old wealth "candy". This book meanders on and on. He brings in different possible avenues to take the story because he is clearly lost on where to go. None of these avenues ever get developed. I am only sorry I finished the book and that someone would publish such garbage. Nelson Demille should be ashamed of himself. Nelson get a new job, writing is clearly not for you. Sorry for the scathing revue, I have been carrying around a feeling of disgust from wasted time on this worthless book
Rating:
Summary: I only finished this book for one reason...
Review: I finish every book I start. This book was sooooo hard to get through. I found myself wondering what the point of the book was. It took forever to figure out where it was going - and by that time I was almost finished! The book is filled with DeMille's witty, sarcastic humor...and that was its only saving grace. I was sorely disappointed with this book, especially after reading Plum Island and Mayday. Get one of those instead.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, engrossing, intriguing. A great read!
Review: The Gold Coast beats both Plum Island and The General's Daughter, which is saying something. This is an earlier effort, and the overt wit of the later novels is present in more muted form as an occasional wry observation or subtle irony. (It's as if DeMille wrote better when he wasn't trying to deliver a punchline in every paragraph.) The plot chronicles the subornation of a respectable Wall Street lawyer into the Bellarosa crime family, but the story is not a tragedy, just plain fascinating reading. This one is to be recommended.
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