Mystic River

Rating:
Summary: An Exquisite Departure
Review: From his first book, A Drink Before The War, it was obvious that Lehane is a gifted writer. Mystic River proves it beyond any doubt. Thoughtful, profoundly insightful, tautly written and beautifully conceived, this is a novel that deserves its place on the best-seller lists. Lehane explores the dynamic between three very different boys, then brings us forward into their adulthood when lives that have diverged reconnect as a result of the murder of Jimmy Marcus's daughter, Katie.

Dave who has grown to adulthood harbouring the fearsome details of his four-day abduction twenty-five years earlier, Sean who is lost in the silence of periodic telephone calls from his estranged wife, and Jimmy, the core-of-steel, ex-con father of the victim are brought together by Katie's death. What makes this book so powerful are the characterizations that go right to the essence of every single person, regardless of how secondary; and the evocation of place. You can literally see the neighborhood and its occupants, including the old guard and the encroaching yuppies. You can feel the emotions as they make themselves felt in each character.

And, finally, there is a resolution so painful and so brilliantly executed that one has to marvel at the talent and wisdom of the author. Mystic River will haunt you long after you've put it down; its sights and smells, its population will stay with you. Here is a writer who just gets better and better, and isn't afraid to break away from a series to take a stroll through the old neighborhood. A fine book, a memorable one.

Rating:
Summary: Darkness visible...deep and disturbing.
Review: Dennis Lehane, creator of such killer novels as "Gone Baby Gone" and "Prayers For Rain", has drifted off of his standard fare and delved deeper into the dark corners of the human soul, dredging up some intense muck from those depths.

Twenty five years ago, three friends were playing on the street in their neighborhood, when a car pulls up, the male driver and passenger convincing the friends that they were cops. One of the trio got into the car, only to disappear for four days. He escapes, but seems to leave some essential part of himself back in the dark closet in which he was encaptured. Whispers of what had taken place in those four days circulated amongst the neighborhood, and the unfortunate young man is affected in ways that no one could imagine.

Now that the murdered daughter of one of the former three friends is found at the local drive-in, one of the trio, a cop, must divinate the killer's identity, turning over stones, old and new, to find out what took place. The answers he finds are disturbing and dangerous.

Lehane once again uses his uncanny insight to delve below the surface of humanity and uncover it's ugly, blackened underbelly. With his agile use of concise ideas and concepts, he depicts a world that may not be all that it seems. Telling his tale in more poetic and meandering ways, yet retaining the sharp edges that he's known for, "Mystic River" shines with brilliant insight and a dense substructure of dramatic tension. I heartily recommend this book to anyone seeking something more from their mystery thriller!

Rating:
Summary: Predictable
Review: In January I saw Dennis Lehane speak at a trade show. He was such a wonderful speaker that I was compelled to stand in line to get my signed copy of Mystic River. What a disappointment it turned out to be. The first half of the book was engrossing and somewhat suspenseful, but once I got to page 264 I figured out the whole entire ending. After that everything was predictable.

Rating:
Summary: Did some ringers for the Publisher write all these reviews?
Review: 4 Stars for the solid writing & major effort by the author. 2 Stars for yet another unhappy story of life in the big city with murder, mayhem, pedophiles, drugs & fill in the blank. Could not endear myself to one character in the book. I like the author. Went to a reading for this book he did over a year ago at the Boston Public Library. Have read his other books & promoted them to other readers. This is a movie script ala Richard Price. Hope it grosses more than "Clockers." Huge ensemble, let's cast it!

Rating:
Summary: Definitely not on a par with the Kenzie/Gennaro books
Review: I am a big fan of Dennis Lehane's series featuring Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro, and I purchased "Mystic River" the day it hit the stands. I was very disappointed with it, and so was a friend of mine (also a fan) who read it. The plot is slow, the characters are seedy, the ending is depressing . . . At the end, I was wondering "why did he write this book?"

Save your time and read Mr. Lehane's "Prayers for Rain" instead; it's ten times better than this one.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best crime novels ever written
Review: Dennis Lehane wisely elected to take a break from his Kenzie-Gennaro mystery series, and gambled on a new and different venture, a more broadly drawn novel of crime, consequence, and human frailty and folly. The results are staggeringly successful, as *Mystic River* is nothing short of a masterpiece within the crime novel genre.

In terms of the mystery story line, I suppose some readers can rightfully find fault with the book, including its ending. It is neither the most intricate nor the most surprise-filled tale of its type. What's amazing about *Mystic River*, however, is that in some ways the "mystery story" actually is less riveting and significant than is the overall collage of characters, times, and places. This is not just a "mystery novel" but a "novel," period, one that engages the reader from page one and never lets go until the last line on page four hundred.

Lehane has a knack for capturing in a few well-chosen words and phrases what people are feeling and thinking, what makes them tick, what drives them for good or (in his stories, mostly) for evil. The man can flat-out write, and with each new novel his skills move to yet another level.

The one "yeah, but" that emerged for me as I read *Mystic River* was of the political/philosophical type. Clearly, the world as portrayed by Dennis Lehane is a twisted, dark, and unhappy place. With the exception of his troubled-but-doing-the-right-thing protagonists, the characters that animate his vision of human existence tend toward the haunted and desperate, and the overall mood and message of *noir* sticks with you long after you've finished his books. Are people really as tragically scarred and warped as Lehane tells us? Are we to take this dark vision of human life to heart and allow it to shape (and limit) our philosophies, actions, and notions of what is possible for our lives and the lives of those around us? I like to think that this cynical world-view is *meant* to be partial, that it leads us into a dark and frightening but unabashedly *fictional* world that is not intended to be a literal mirror of the real world--in other words, it's art, but it's also show biz, and we as readers should not mistake its message, however spellbinding, for any overly serious declaration about the totality of the "human condition." When we enter Lehane's universe, we are invited, even forced to suspend to some degree our critical everyday notions about human nature, social progress, and the human capacity for noble as well as terrible deeds. It's like looking at the world as the distorted reflection of a carnival side-show mirror--what we see is indeed a reflection of things that are real, but the image is hardly meant to be accurate and photographic.

On the other hand, however, once a reader has considered human existence as it is portrayed by a wordmaster like Lehane, it's hard not to allow his insights and visions to affect daily thoughts about "life" and "people." His writing is immensely powerful, and it stays with you long after you've moved on to other authors, books, and literary genres.

Rating:
Summary: The Long Shadows of the Past
Review: I have never read any of the other novels of Dennis Lehane so I have no comparison of this book to his regular series. Mystic River is an exciting read with an aura of violence on every page, usually held firmly in check. It is fascinating how this one traumatic incidence (one of the three boys being abducted) that lead off the novel reverberates throughout the story but it is equally interesting how other incidents from each of the grown men's past circle around them. Everyone seems to pay for the crimes they did or the crimes that were done to them in this dance through the rougher areas of Boston. The actual mystery should be fairly straight forward to solve early enough in the book for most readers and it does rely on many coincidences (this must be a insulated and isolated area of town) but the true pleasure of the novel is in watching these finely drawn characters deal with the repercussions of the events. This book will lead me to further Dennis Lehane novels.

Rating:
Summary: A liteary Tour de Force
Review: Has it ever bothered you that the mystery /thriller genre that you so love and enjoy does not get the respect that it so richly deserves;how many times have you opened the book section of your newspaper only to find few mystery reviews if at all.I urge all those who find the genre unfashionable to buy this book- it will change your mind.

Michael Connelly once said that Dennis Lehane is "the heir apparent";.he was right; now however he is "the heir". This book is about good and evil;friendship and hatred;love and loyalty;truths and lies;right and wrong; life and death;hopes and fears. Lehane works these facets into his characters in a manner so powerful and masterful that it leaves you breathless and craving for more.His prose simply crackles off the page and forces you to reread paragraphs simply for their sheer beauty and brilliance. His voice magiaclly transports you to the heart of the action in a way that you feel you know the territory he is describing all your life.This a psychological thriller so deftly plotted,so taut and suspenseful that the boundaries of the genre are pushed to their outer limits.

Our parents handed us down Chandler,Macdonald,and Hammett.I predict in the same manner Lehane will be of the first we will pass to ours.You have been warned-masterpieces such as Mystic River come along so seldom -so buy this book , enjoy it , tell all your friends about it- Lehane deserves a wider audience and greater recognition ; this book will surely give him both.5 stars are not eneogh,it deserves much more.

Rating:
Summary: Gripping suspense!
Review: This was my first Dennis Lehane novel, but it certainly won't be my last! Interestingly, when I purchased this book, the clerk at the bookstore told me that Mr. Lehane previously worked at that same bookstore. I purchased it solely on the merits of the jacket sleeve synopsis, but was further enticed by the fact that Dennis Lehane was somewhat of a "local boy."

I loved this book even more than I thought I might! There was such a strong sense of each character, I felt like I was absorbing each and every character's passions and fears. Particularly, a somewhat "background" character, Annabeth Marcus, was, to me, one of the most well-developed characters in the story. Also, Celeste's motivations were entirely relatable to me, and I was jumping into that taxi in the middle of the night right along with her! Dave Boyle's "vampire babbling" made complete sense to me at that point in the story, such is Mr. Lehane's ability to bring you into the minds of his characters, and while I feared him for Celeste, I empathized with his battling of his inner demons.

Along with his wonderful characterization, he writes a heck of a "whodunit." I was shocked by the ending, which is so rare and wonderful these days. I can't remember the last time I wasn't certain of the killer that far into a novel (or movie, for that matter!)

I'm not a fan of rattling on too much in my reviews, so suffice it to say that I loved this book and would recommend it to everybody!

Rating:
Summary: disappointing
Review: I am a huge Dennis Lehane fan, in fact he is probably my favorite author, so it was with great anticipation that I awaited this novel. I didn't mind the fact that it was a book with new characters, and after reading the start of the book, I thought that it ws going to be great. Unfortunately, after the first few chapters it started going downhill. At a glance the book seems to have a lot going for it, it is well written with Lehanes typical stylistic prose, there are some complex themes explored and it has a well laid out plot. Where it fails is in the characters, which is ironic because that was one of the biggest strengths of his previous novels. They all have a lot of depth, unfortunately it is all negative. There isn't a sympathetic character in the book, and it seems that only bad things happen to anybody. Ultimately the book fails because of a lack of suspense; you really don't care what happens to anybody. It is basically quite a depressing novel, quite a downer. I still think Lehane is a fantastic writer, hopefully his next novel will be more enjoyable.