The Gate House (audio)
by Nelson DeMille; Read by Christian Rummel
Published by Hatchette Audio
Click on book
cover to order
at Amazon.com
Reviewed by Caryn St. Clair
(19 CDs, hardcover book also available)
As The Gate House opens, John Sutter is living in the gatehouse of the Stanhope estate while his former wife, Susan Stanhope Sutter, is residing in the guest house. Anthony Bellarosa, the son of Frank Bellarosa, the mafia boss killed by Susan in DeMille’s earlier book, The Gold Coast, is living on the grounds of his father’s estate next to Stanhope. Anthony Bellarosa is determined to avenge his father’s death, Susan is struggling to regain her old life and John is confused as what he wants.
While the roots of this story are from The Gold Coast, enough of the plot from the earlier book is woven into The Gate House early on so that readers who have not read the previous book will immediately be caught up in the complicated lives of Anthony, Susan and John. This unabridged audio has a listening time of twenty-two hours. With the skilled voice of reader Christian Rummel, those hours fly by. Rummel does an excellent job of bringing DeMille’s book to life by using a variety of accents and voices befitting of the various characters. This is no easy task given those characters include everything from mobster henchmen to society ladies.
The quality of the recording is excellent. However, two additions would helpful to the listener. First, a little music towards the end of the disc alerting the listener that the disc is about to end would be nice. Also, at twenty-two hours, it’s a given that the book will be listened to in segments spread over time. Each disc picks up exactly where the previous one ended. Some audio recordings repeat the last few sentences of the previous disc, which helps place the reader back into the story before the new material begins. Neither of these are big issues, just things that might have made this stellar audio book easier for the listener.
Armchair Interview says: Readers familiar or new to DeMille will find many hours of pleasure with this audio recording.
Author’s Web site: http://www.NelsonDeMille.net