SMALL MERCIES by Dennis Lehane

Set on the eve of the desegregation of Boston's public schools in the 1970's, a woman from Southie, an ex-addict cop, and the Irish mob collide after a young white girl goes missing and a black man is found dead at a train station, setting fire to an already lit match of racial unrest in the city. 

"We're not built for princesses down here."

It feels like it's been a while since I've read a novel by Lehane, one of my favorites. And everything here is all that you expect from a master crime writer. The man has such a strong command of his art form at this point. Not only is this a great time capsule documenting this tense time in Boston (and American) history, but it's also a fantastic portrait of these two lead characters. 

Mary Pat Fennessy is finally confronted with how stuck she and her community have been in their ways, how malignant her environment can be, and how she has to reckon with how this toxicity could have tragically spilled into her daughter. And in contrast, Detective Bobby Coyness has grown up in the same way but somehow managed to keep on the right path, even though it's an everyday struggle to keep his morality and his sobriety. 

He considers the possibility that maybe the opposite of hate is not love. It's hope. Because hate takes years to build, but hope can come sliding around the corner when you're not even looking.

Although this didn't have the raw power like some of his best novels have, this is still a great book, with its focus on the struggle to not allow hatred to be passed down from generation to generation.

GRADE: B+

SHUTTER ISLAND by Dennis Lehane

Dennis Lehane took a big leap in his work with this first novel following his stunner of a masterpiece, Mystic River, tackling a period piece for the first time, with a story that somehow both

narrowed and widened his scope. It's about two U.S. Marshalls stuck on a job at an island-based criminal asylum, tracking down an escaped convict during a dangerous hurricane. I haven't read this in a while but I remember it being such a great example of a popular best-seller that fully deserved the attention it got! It's a first-rate psychological thriller and mystery, and I felt like Lehane did everything right. With its 1950's setting, to the Gothic feel of the location, the incredibly potent ambiance created by setting the story during a storm, it's shocking twists, it's brooding protagonist, and it's locked-room (locked-island?) mystery vibe, it's like the book is tailor-made to be awesome. It's also definitely one of the most atmospheric books I've read. It has such a moody, creepy tone, I can still remember the feeling it gave me while reading it late at night before bed. I remember being engrossed and transported. And although not as emotionally gripping as Mystic River, it's a tighter narrative and another amazing notch on Lehane's bibliography. He's one of my favorite authors, and along with Stephen King, probably has the most books on my favorites list! 

GRADE: A

WORLD GONE BY by Dennis Lehane

GRADE: B+

Do I really need to tell you in this day and age that this is a very well-written crime saga filled with fully-drawn characters and a page-turning plot? I don't think so. I could just tell you that it's a new Dennis Lehane book and you should already know what to expect. 

World Gone By is the sequel to Lehane's Edgar-Award-winning Live By Night and you should definitely read that book before tackling this one. It leads to a much more rewarding experience. Set in the middle of World War II in 1943, years after the events in Live By Night, former South Florida crime boss Joe Coughlin has sort-of gone legit, a member of the Commission with Meyer Lansky, but now he just runs his sugar cane and import/export business, acting as the legal front and consigliere to the present Florida crime lords. He leads a relatively quiet life between Cuba and Ybor City with his son Tomas. But everything changes once Joe hears the rumours of a contract put out for his assassination, a hit scheduled on Ash Wednesday, eight days away. 

This book is understandably not the epic crime saga that Live By Night was (which tracked the bloody rise of Joe Coughlin from a small-time hood in South Boston to the most powerful crime lord in Florida), it's more intimate and narrower in scope but still just as exciting, the ticking clock of the assassination providing tension and suspense as the story moves forward. But more importantly the book deals with the theme of consequences that come home to roost when you live the lives that these characters do, with each one forced to take stock of the things that they've done in the past and what their lives have amounted to. Yet again, another good piece of work from one of my favorite authors.

"You have put a lot of sin out into the world Joseph. Maybe it's rolling back in on the tide. Maybe men like us, in order to be men like us, sacrifice peace of mind forevermore"

MY FAVORITE BOOKS by Dennis Lehane

My Top 10 Favorite Books by Dennis Lehane

1) Mystic River

2) Gone Baby, Gone

3) The Given Day

4) Shutter Island

5) Darkness, Take My Hand

6) A Drink Before The War

7) Live By Night

8) The Drop

9) Prayers For Rain

10) Moonlight Mile

GONE BABY GONE by Dennis Lehane

GRADE: A+

*Book 4 of the Kenzie and Gennaro series*

“When I was young, I asked my priest how to get to heaven and still protect yourself from all the evil in the world. He told me what God told His children; 'You are sheep among wolves, be wise as the serpent, yet innocent as doves.'”

This is by far the best installment in Dennis Lehane's great series following inner city Boston private detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. And the best detective novel I've read so far. I know that's saying a lot but I don't say it lightly. Lehane always proves to be a master of plotting, and here, he not only takes a simple missing child mystery and turns it into something endlessly addictive and compelling, but he ends it well too. The final reveal and resolution came at me like a hard fist to the face, sending me reeling for days. It's ingenious and truly one of a kind, and left me to ponder even my own morality. When a novel in such a crowded and cliché-ridden field as the detective genre can leave you so affected, that book is truly something special. There are so many great moments in this book, the plot develops at a flawless pace, and every character is pitch-perfect and memorable. And I love the way the Patrick and Angie get so involved that the case affects them personally and take over their lives, challenging everything they believe in. All of this ranks this book as one of the best novels in modern crime fiction, right up there on my list with Clockers, A Simple Plan, The 25th Hour, The Big Nowhere, and the author's other masterwork, Mystic River.

THE DROP by Dennis Lehane

GRADE: B+

Years ago, I read and enjoyed Dennis Lehane's short story, "Animal Rescue," in the collection, Boston Noir, about a lonely bartender in a Boston mob bar that finds a beaten puppy thrown in the trash. That story became the basis for the upcoming movie The Drop, adapted by the author himself. So when this book was released, I thought it might've just been the short story collection repackaged for publicity or something. But low and behold, it turned out that the short story was originally part of a nearly-finished novel manuscript! Lehane used the material he developed for the screenplay and now finished the full-length book.

The Drop is a short novel; it's fast and reads very much like a movie, with lots of snappy dialogue and limited scene setting and description. In this way, it might feel less developed than Lehane's other work. But as usual with this writer, the characters stood out to me in this one. Although not as developed as those in Mystic River or The Given Day, I didn't think they were any less well-conceived. I empathized with both main characters Bob and Marv. I really wanted to read more about the cop character of Torres and see the relationship with him and Bob further developed. He was intriguing and I think his character deserves more story. Maybe in another book? The fast pacing and the interesting cast of characters makes this a quick and solid addition to the author's work.

THE GIVEN DAY by Dennis Lehane

GRADE: A

This quickly jumped into my list of favorite novels! Not only is it impeccably researched and details dramatic historical events in Boston of 1919, it also follows truly relatable and engaging characters. The book follows two young men, one black and one white, who get caught up in the social and political turmoil in Boston at the time.

I was worried that being a long historical drama, it would be boring, but from the first chapter I was totally engaged and then became swept up in Luther's desire to get back to is wife and Danny's journey into union activism and involvement in the infamous police strike. The books pacing is surprisingly quick for all the historical info it details and I finished it in four days. I've read all of Dennis Lehane's novels and most of his short stories, and I'm looking forward to the next one!

“Do you know the primary difference between men and gods? ... Gods don’t think they can become men”