"Wide is the gate, and broad is the road, that leadeth to destruction."
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De Mille's novel is an ambitious venture into the lives of the uber-riche (and the requisite hangers-on) post-9/11 New York's Gold Coast, "colonial era villages and hamlets on the North Shore of Long Island's Nassau County". No longer the moneyed enclave of American aristocracy, the more recent additions to the blue bloods include a Mafia family and an Iranian expatriate. The once grand and massive Stanhope Estate has been compromised by time and expedience, as related by John Sutter, long-divorced from the stunning Susan Stanhope Sutter, who killed her lover, Frank Bellarosa, a Mafia don, but managed to elude the criminal justice system. After a voyage around the world, a few affairs to heal his broken heart and much self-examination, Sutter has returned to the Gatehouse, awaiting the imminent demise of a family retainer who has inhabited the dwelling, the cottage forfeit upon her death.
Besides the recent arrival of John Sutter, Susan has also returned to the scene of the crime, purchasing the guest house from its former owners. It is inevitable that the ex-spouses will meet, the author prepping the confrontation with Sutter's retelling of the circumstances that brought about the notorious murder and the divorce. With reduced financial means, tax attorney Sutter has no fixed plans, seeming to drift into situations that are both dangerous and untenable, particularly the overtures of Bellarosa's son and heir to the family business, Anthony. Sutter is worried that Anthony may not have a forgiving heart. And Anthony pressures Sutter to accept a business arrangement that doesn't bode well for the two men's relationship. The problem: John doesn't want a relationship, business or otherwise, but is concerned for Susan's safety at the hands of a vengeful Bellarosa scion.
Then there is Amir Nasim, the current owner of the Stanhope Estate and an expatriate, a courtly gentleman who harbors concerns over personal security after being forced to flee Iran. Even Bellarosa has suffered a spectacular demotion in this tongue-in-cheek drama, residing in an upscale subdivision modeled on the luxurious Stanhope mansion his father once owned- until the RICO Act stripped the mobster of dignity and possessions. But all this is inconsequential, considering Bellarosa senior's death at the hands of his lover, Susan Stanhope Sutter. Add in an assortment of characters, an attractive woman whose mother is dying, Bellarosa's wise guys and the usual rich folks who claim this landscape as their own. Shake and stir for a long-winded tale of the rich and infamous that may have passed its expiration date. This traditional sweeping novel of the foibles of strangers hasn't quite the appeal of years past, when publicity followed outrageous behavior with rapt attention. Luan Gaines/ 2008.
