Jack Mullen is a driven student of the law. His brother Peter is a servant of the rich, parking the cars of the Hamptons’ elite-and perhaps satisfying their more intimate needs as well. Then Peter’s body is found on the beach. Jack knows the drowning was no accident, but someone’s unlimited power and money have bought the cops, the judges, the system. Now Jack is learning a lesson in justice he never got in law school … and his astonishing plan to beat the billionaires will have you reeling-and cheering-to the very last page.

Book Magazine

Patterson’s latest beach read, a break from his Alex Cross series, is a revenge fantasy set in the East Hamptons. Townie roustabout Peter Mullen is barely introduced before he’s found dead outside the posh home of billionaire media tyrant Barry Neubauer during a celebrity-packed Memorial Day blowout. Peter’s brother Jack doesn’t believe that Peter killed himself, and he enlists the help of his motley band of friends to find out what really happened. Standing between Peter and the truth is a crooked police department, Jack’s girlfriend (who also happens to be Neubauer’s daughter) and a goon called The Fixer. Much of the book is breezy and lighthearted, devoid of the sadism that characterizes Patterson’s thrillers. By the end, fans may start to miss Alex Cross, whose presence could have given this flyaway story some weight.
—Chris Barsanti

Publish Date : 2003-05-01