The upmarket and salubrious area of Long Island is the stamping ground for a dying breed of America''s super-rich. It is also the residence of John Sutter, lawyer - very top-drawer, old money, right clubs - and his sensual wife, Susan. Their lives are about to be turned dramatically upside down by their new ''next-door'' neighbour - a certain Mr Frank Bellarosa, top Mafia don and master manipulator. It is he who will impress upon them a rule much older than the archaic etiquette of the old-money set: a favour accepted is a favour owed.

Twenty-five years after it was first published, Nelson DeMille''s Gold Coast stands as a modern thriller classic, a stylish, compelling and provocative novel will grip readers from beginning to end.