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Summary: Finally - someone who understands language!
Review: I have read all of the Gennaro/Kenzie novels so I knew I wasn't going to get junk with Mystic River. What I wasn't prepared for was the lyrical almost poetical use of language in this story. It almost doesn't read like prose - although of course it is prose. I am very picky about writers - I want detail but not so much that I'm always lost in the weeds with it. I want action but not so much that the story gets overrun. Lehane gets it right on both counts. Excellent pacing and enough description so that I felt the story, and didn't just read the story. The opening sentence: " When Sean Devine and Jimmy Marcus were kids, their fathers worked together at the Coleman Candy plant and carried the stench of warm chocolate back home with them." And " Brendan opened his mouth, and Sean saw a dark knowledge pass through him like an electric eel." These make me feel like I have something special. One thing that did kind of bug me was the lack of detail about motive - specifically Katie's murder. And Dave's alter ego - that could have been clarified a bit more also. If I had to hear more about his childhood abduction to get it though, I'm OK with what I got. Lehane doesn't seem to have that lurid curiosity about child molestation that some other writers have. He just shows us a damaged adult and leaves it at that. If you feel this way about what you like to read - pick up this book; you won't be disappointed.
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Summary: No Patrick? No Angie? NO PROBLEM!
Review: Fans of Dennis Lehane might have been a bit apprehensive upon hearing that his latest book, "Mystic River," would have no traces of detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. Well, fear not, because Lehane, in his usual phenomenal style, draws us into the world of three childhood friends forever splintered by the events of a summer's day in 1975, when one is abducted by child molesters posing as police officers. They are brought together again 25 years later--Sean, now a homicide detective; Jimmy, an ex-con who operates a neighborhood market, and David, who struggles with his life amongst memories of his abduction. When Jimmy's 19-year-old daughter is found murdered, the voyage of discovery and memories begins, and the twists the story takes will have the reader flipping pages in a frenzy. As has become a hallmark of his style, Lehane leads the reader down some very dark paths, but does so with grace, dignity, and incredibly elegant prose. Let everyone else run to the bookstores for cookie-cutter novelists like Grisham, Patterson, and Clark--discerning mystery enthusiasts will stick with Dennis Lehane, hands down the best mystery novelist writing today.
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Summary: AN ABOSOLUTE MUST READ!!!
Review: Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus, and Dave Boyle were childhood friends, Sean the sensible one, the other two boys wild. One day, while out for their latest adventure, a car pulls up and two men disguised as policemen ask the boys to get in, one boy does the other two do not, what comes from this is horrifying encounter will change them forever. Twenty-five years later Sean is a state trooper, and when a young woman's body is discovered in a park , he will be the lead detective on the case. The dead girl is none other than Katie Marcus (Jimmy's daughter). Trying desperately to keep his life together, Sean, will be forced to confront his own demons, while searching for clues in this puzzling case. Jimmy, destroyed over his daughter's murder, wants justice, and if the police can't get it-he will get it his own way. The third friend, Dave, now a womanizing, drunk will also be thrust into this nightmare, for on the night of Katie's murder he came home covered in blood...someone else's blood. All three friend's will be brought back together to uncover the dark secrets that haunt them...and in the process bring a killer to justice. WOW! What an awesome book "Mystic River" is; the plot twists and turns so often it makes your head spin. The reader is lead to believe one thing and them BOOM a new secret is thrown in, to further throw you off track. Although the heart of this novel is a murder mystery, it is the powerful characterization that puts this PAGE-TURNER way ahead of the rest in this genre; it is a full bodied novel of loyalty, friendship, and family. Dennis Lehane has pulled out all the stops with his new book, he has written a masterpiece of detective fiction, with his usual trademarks of thugs, mafia men (and mafia wannabe's), gritty urban settings and murder. To date Mr. Lehane has consistently written one great book after another...I can't stress enough that you should run to the store and buy this book! A MUST read! Nick Gonnella
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Summary: Still Rolling
Review: Lehane captures Boston - again. It's especially gratifying when a writer shows warts and all - not a silly travelogue of "a city I visited after college." Boston is splitting at the seams and Lehanes mystery follows the split. Buy this book and lose a weekend. Enjoy!
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Summary: A Ten Star Read On A Five Star Scale
Review: Dennis Lehane has done it again! I started to read this book on a U.S. to Canada flight, and could scarce tear my nose out of it to clear customs and pick up my bags. Thank heavens we arrived late evening so I could head for bed to finish one of the most exciting, delightful and satisfying reads I've ever enjoyed. I read several books a week and I can't remember when I've been so transported and enthraled. Now, in case you haven't guessed I'm a big fan of Lehane. Since his first book, Shamus Award winner, A Drink Before The War to last year's Prayers For Rain I love everything he's written and he just keeps getting better and better. Mystic River is different than his previous books in that it is not part of his Boston P.I. Patrick Kenzie series. But don't worry. The magic that makes Dennis Lehane such a powerful writer is all here in Mystic River and it is here in abundance. Lehane gets inside the characters' minds and with masterful twists and turns persents a psychological thriller that is second to none. This alone would qualify Mystic River as a must read. But, as always, Lehane presents, like a Shakesperian play, a story that can be enjoyed on many levels, and like the best masters of the English language he does so in prose of seemingly effortless beauty. Just reading a Lehane paragraph is a delicious, sensious experience! And yet language and image never get in the way of the characters and the story. Above all, Lehane is a story teller. Mystic River begins in Lehane's familiar back yard of Boston where we meet three children. Friends whose childhood will mark them forever. They will meet again and even knowing what we know, we don't know how deep the darkness runs. As the dust jacket says, this is an epic novel of love and loyalty, faith and family. To tell you more would tip the master's hand. I can tell you one more thing, however. Hit the Add To My Cart button and buy this book now. I expect my email box will soon be full of letters from grateful strangers thanking me for alerting them to this exceptional novel. Matter of fact, I suggest you buy two. One to read and re-read. The other to put away carefully wrapped as a prized first edition. Mystic River is that good.
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Summary: A Great New Novel
Review: It's not Kenzie and Gennarro, but it's still a great read! Lehane's sense of place is phenomonal (sp?), and his way with words and description make this a quick read. There is a lot of pain in this novel and it's more "literary" than the earlier novels, this is a broad scoped novel about friendship, death and love. The solution is a bit predictable, but it's still a great read and should be the novel that puts Lehane over the top and on to the bestseller lists.
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Summary: He's Back!!!
Review: Dennis Lehane is back in a big way with his sixth novel, MYSTIC RIVER, his first non-Kenzie/Gennaro novel. Jimmy Marcus, Dave Boyle and Sean Devine were childhood friends. When one of the boys gets into a strange car, something horrible happens, and it continues to haunt the three friends into adulthood with tragic effects. MYSTIC RIVER is more than just a great pyschological thriller. With the familiar themes of family and loyalty that we've come to expect from his novels, Lehane has given us a thriller of high calibre, and perhaps his best novel to date.
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Summary: Keeps you guessing !!!
Review: This was a great book; it kept you thinking through out; a great addition to anyone's library.
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Summary: All I can say is WOW!
Review: This is one of my all time favorite books! I hadn't seen the movie, but recognized the name when I picked up the book at a local Barnes and Nobles. I could not put this book down. It was absolutely amazing. The description is outstanding and Lehane will keep you wanting more and more as you turn each page. I literally was staying up all night reading. This was one of those books that I was very disappointed when I finished it, because i enjoyed reading it so much. Soon after, we rented the movie. Although the movie is GREAT, the book is 100% better!!
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Summary: Mystic River -- an Experience
Review: It is 1975 and three naïve 11-year-old boys are fighting on the streets of a Boston neighborhood. A car drives up and takes one away. As out-of-the-blue as it came, it was gone, leaving the lives of all three boys forever changed.
Something about Lehane's writing brings tears to your eyes and an ache to your heart for a girl you have barely met. It fills you with heart-wrenching compassion for the most terrible crimes of a convict. A desperate anger pushed aside by helplessness...an odd comfort in the greatest times of fear...in these 400 pages, Lehane rips out your heart and takes it on the most unpredictable rollercoaster of emotions.
Mystic River opens your eyes and offers you a little bit of a different perspective into life in this world - one that is a little bit less judgmental and a little bit more open-hearted.
Powerful and mesmerizing, I would recommend Lehane's novel to everyone.
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