Rating: 
Summary: GOD, I miss Patrick and Angela!
Review: Okay..okay..I'll admit it; I LOVE Patrick and Angela, the detectives from Lehane's first 5 books. Reading each one as it came out was a pure pleasure. It was great when I would see a new book by Lehane, because I kind of felt that Pat and Angela were like friends that I could not WAIT to catch up with. ALL the characters in ALL 5 books were terrific. Even the minor characters were great. I always thought that people like Bubba, and Pat's attorney would be great MAIN characters for a new book. So, when I heard that his new book, "Mystic River," was NOT going to feature my two favorite detectives, I thought "Okay. That's great. Let's meet some NEW people!" And I gotta tell you, I wouldn't want to know ANY of these people. Lehane has written a book peopled with the most miserable, unhappy, and in more than one case, sick bunch of characters you're likely to meet this side of Elmore Leonard. Wait... Elmore Leonard's characters are at least AMUSING! That's one of the things I loved about Lehane's other books. They were FUNNY! You read all the time reviews or blurbs that say "a wise-cracking" detective. Well, in Lehane's case, they were ACTUALLY funny. I laughed out loud. As I said, they were people I would LOVE to know in real life. The plot of this new book is about suffering, as far as I can tell. It's about the murder of a teenage girl, a man who can't seem to get past sexual abuse that occured when he was young, a nasty cop who thinks nothing of framing a suspect he believes is guilty, a cop who sits by the phone waiting for his ex-wife to call him, and when she does stays silent and lets him pour his heart out to her without saying a word. NOT a happy bunch. Well..enough about the plot. If you are new to the books of Dennis Lehane, DON'T START HERE! Start with "Darkness Take My Hand," or the first one, "A Drink Before the War." I hope that Mr. Lehane has gotten this "side-track" out of his system, and can quickly get back to writing the characters he writes best. Don't get me wrong; I can practically hear all you hardcore fans (of which i would consider myself) RACING to hit that "not helpful" button. believe me, I LOVE Dennis Lehane. I am a HUGE fan. I waited for 6 hours to meet him at a bookstore in a Chicago suburb, only to have him not make it due to a snowstorm. Bitter? NOT AT ALL! It's just that this book makes me want to take a shower. Perhaps now I'll go back and reread "Sacred," my all-time FAVORITE Lehane book.
Rating: 
Summary: It's not Patrick and Angie--it's not even very good!
Review: I was not aware that this latest Lehane was a non-series book--I automatically put his books on reserve at the library so all this cost me was the 25cent reserve pick up fee. After three serious attempts to read this book I GIVE UP. Tedious and trite, this is just not a good book. Like other successful series authors, I think that Lehane has gotten a little tired of his literary offspring and wanted to try something else. In my opinion, what he has produced here simply wasn't worth his effort or worthy of his considerable talent.
Rating: 
Summary: A wonderfully Moving book with a sting of a King Cobra
Review: 0230 hrs Monday 12 Feb 2001 Mystic River by Dennis Lehane is not due out in the UK until March 7th, but on Thursday I was at Manchester Airport collecting some guy's for a Conference. I was early so I went for a browse around WH Smiths, and shrieked when I saw the trade paperback of it inside. After a difficult week, I read the book in two sittings, Saturday afternoon, and Sunday night. I am sitting writing this review at 0230 hrs, knowing that I have to work tomorrow, but still needing to put some words down, about the searing reading experience that is 'Mystic River'. It is one the finest pieces of fiction I have read in absolutely years, a dark tale of crime, family, love, loss and revenge in the Irish Blue Collar Boston. Complex and densely plotted, this is no ordinary crime thriller, but far more, and Lehane's insights into the human condition and characterization truly remarkable. I can not reveal the plot, as it was such a joy to watch it unravel like a Venomous Cobra, hypnotizing, whispering, and finally resolving the tale, as only Lehane can. It is one of the most moving books I have read, and despite it's darkness, it has a warmth and appreciation about the flaws in the human condition, and how we live with our demons and our pasts, and how everything we do is somehow connected, and yet detached from a distance, but up close and personal, these strands are as cold and strong as steel, but from the hill, they are invisible to an outsider. It is February, and I have a bittersweet feeling. Joy at having been deeply involved in the thoughts and workings of Dennis Lehane's world, but sad it has finished, and that in the start of a year, I have read one of the most remarkable books, and one that is still bouncing in my mind, and will for a long time to come. I urge you to seek this book out, and learn the thoughts and demons that plague us all. A wonderful book, and my highlight of this year, and a stark and welcome departure that shows that Lehane's literary talent is something for me to watch, as I grow old, like the river that this tale is about.
Rating: 
Summary: Hurt the one you love
Review: Lehane has gone beyond noir to the river of despair. There is no light at the end of this tunnel. The characters, realistic and detailed, have so many problems that the book depresses more than it explores. The reader keeps wondering where Lehane stumbled onto this well of desperation. A talented writer, Lehane fascinates, but "Wow", where did this come from?
Rating:
Summary: tragedy
Review: Tragedy is one of the most misused words in print, but Dennis Lehane plumbs the Shakespearean depths of the word, based on human frailty, moral flaws and resulting damage. I love all his books and waited anxiously for this one. He gets better and better. Mystic River exceeds his best, and demonstrates his attainment of a higher level. The book is like an onion, multi-layered, with each peeling away revealing new insights. And, it's exciting!
Rating:
Summary: A COMPELLING READING OF A DARK DRAMA
Review: Although he's received plaudits for his detective novels, author Lehane switches bases with this excoriating story of three childhood friends. A defining moment occurs when 11-year-old Dave Boyle is abducted and molested. As the years pass, Boyle and his buddies, Jimmy Marcus and Sean Devine, grow apart. But much later they are reunited when Marcus's young daughter is murdered. Devine is now a homocide cop assigned to the case. Developments are surprising and shocking, topped by a totally unexpected conclusion. Lehane's story may push many of us to reassess our pasts and the decisions we have made. Whatever, the cause it's an un-put-downable read, and a mesmerizing listen as read by David Strathhairn. This talented actors suspenseful rendering adds another facet to a dark, compelling drama.
Rating: 
Summary: Tedious, self-indulgent, sophomoric
Review: I've read all Lehane's novels and though I've liked the Patrick and Angie novels passably well, I wouldn't count myself as an ecstatic fan. I've thought the earlier books were both derivative (Parker, mainly) as well as cartoonish at times. Bubba is simply a moral copout, allowing for nasty revenge without having Patrick get his hands dirty. But this standalone is clearly a failed attempt at litrachoor. Lehane has a good grasp of pop culture (too good at times with an overabundant use of hip music and TV references which tend to trivialize the books), but his writing here is over-inflated and sluggish and self-important. Mystic River shows the weakness in Lehane's sensibility. He's smart enough to write PI novels, but drowns in a sea of shallow psycho babble when he tries for more. There are so many truly fine literary thriller writers. But Lehane isn't one of them and this novel proves he's not likely to be anytime soon. The endless moral dithering and the cliche of a wounded child growing into a corrupt adult dooms this book from the start. Skip it. Wait for the next Burke.
Rating:
Summary: Mystic River flows with grief......
Review: I rated this book four stars when most would agree it deserves five. This is due solely to my own prejudice. This book is very dark in it's tone and of course subject matter. I am drawn more towards tales with a brighter if not happier ending. Lehane does such a masterful job of showing the pain and struggle of his characters and the circumstance of their lives you can't help but be entranced. When he writes about Jimmy's feelings about his Katie's death I wept. My problem (and I do mean my prejudice) is I saw no hope for these characters. Absoulutely no one was happy. For this reason I felt a sort of depression when I was done reading. For me personally that is not how I like to feel when I finish a book. I can find no fault with Lehane's writing, so if you don't mind the bleakness, this book would be five stars.
Rating:
Summary: Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
Review: Like the other customer reviewers on this page, I too have followed Lehane's career from the first novel. But this novel proves Lehane is no longer a genre novelist. Though there is murder and police procedure, this is a novel concerning what it means to live in a neighborhood, what it means to carry the scars of childhood into adulthood and how we confront our fears and ghosts. The wrting is beautiful and elegant most of the time and few clunker sentences are easy to ignore. The opening is worthy of being a short story in and of itself. Though the novel is darker than most of us ever experience in life, it will hit you where you live and love. There is a arch to this novel that seems as inevitable as a Shakespearean tragedy, and had Shakespeare written novels in the 21 st century, he would have feared Lehane (as he did Marlowe) as his closest rival.
Rating:
Summary: Lehane is lapping the field
Review: With 'Mystic River', Dennis Lehane has not only broken away from his excellent previous novels, he's broken away from the pack of genre big-boys. It's only a matter of time before he comes full circle and laps the field. Tough, clear and uncompromising, 'Mystic River' brings us to a time and place so vivid and harrowing that long after you've put it down, you'll find you're still carrying it with you. A bold and provocative book.
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