Patterson James

Montauk lawyer Tom Dunleavy's client list is woefully small - occasional real estate closings barely keep him in paper clips. When he is hired to defend a local man accused in a triple murder that has the East Hampton world in an uproar, he knows that he has found the case of his lifetime. The crime turns the glittering playground for the super-rich into a blazing inferno. Dunleavy's client is a local hero, but Dunleavy knows the case rests atop a volcano of money, deception, and forbidden desires. His client is the perfect fall guy - unless he can find the key that unlocks the secret rooms of the gilt-shrouded set. When Dunleavy is joined by his former flame, the savvy and well-connected attorney, Kate Costello, he believes he has a chance. But payback is a bitch - especially from the rich. The violent retaliations of billionaires threatened by his investigation exceed anything Dunleavy has ever seen. With the entire nation's eyes on him in a new Trial of the Century, Dunleavy orchestrates a series of revelations that lead to a stunning outcome - only to find afterward that the truth is wilder than anything he ever imagined. Publishers Weekly Bestseller Patterson shows signs of having gone to the well too often in this slapdash collaboration with de Jonge, his coauthor on The Beach House (2002). Tom Dunleavy, a former professional basketball player and local East Hampton legend, is getting by as an underworked and unmotivated attorney. His sports glory days and his one true love are long in the past, but he gets second chances at personal and professional redemption when three locals are gunned down, apparently in the aftermath of racial tensions arising from a heated pickup game of hoops. The police seize on Dante Halleyville, the country's best high school star, as their suspect, and Dunleavy must dust off his old courtroom skills and enlist his lost love, Kate Costello, as his partner. Patterson readers know to expect a surprise ending, but he leaves too few possibilities for many to be genuinely fooled. Fans can only hope that Patterson soon returns to the level he achieved with his Alex Cross series. (May) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information. "Welcome to BEACH ROAD - expensive, exclusive... and explosive. Tom Dunleavy has a one-man law firm in the wealthy resort town of East Hampton. But his job barely keeps him in paper clips because the local rich people already have their own lawyers. Then a friend of Tom's is arrested for a triple murder near a movie star's mansion. Tom knows in his gut that dante Halleyville is innocent. Now representing Dante in what could be the Trial of the Century, Tom recruits Manhattan superlawyer Kate Costello to help. With the entire nation's eyes on him, Tom orchestrates a series of revelations to expose the killer. And what emerges is staggering - and will shock everyone." - adapted from back cover A struggling Long Island lawyer, Tom Dunleavy, recruits a Manhattan superlawyer, Kate Costello, to help him defend a local man accused of murdering three people near a movie star's mansion in East Hampton. The nation is watching what is expected to be a "trial of the century." "A struggling Montauk lawyer agrees to defend a local man accused of murdering several flashy Hamptons types and finds himself in the midst of another trial of the century"--Library journal