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Summary: Bloody, brutal, gorey, romantic, surprising . . .
Review: and well worth reading. Dialogue is clever; portrait of the psycho/sociopath well done. Romance is believable, mostly. If you can trace all the strands of this tangled web before you get to the end of the book, you deserve a prize. It kept me awake, so I'll save my next LeHane read for a long weekend. But I WILL read LeHane's next book.
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Summary: Best of Five
Review: MY FAVORITE OF THE FIVE IN THE SERIES!
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Summary: Another Home Run Nail Biter
Review: Every time I think I know where Lehane is headed,he veers off in a completely opposite direction. I should just sit back and trust I'm in the hands of a master thriller writer.First off if you haven't read any Lehane and are interested in The Kenzie/Gennaro series I'd suggest starting at the begining with A Drink Before The War". All the books are capable of standing on their own, but the characters do go through some major changes along the way, and previous books are mentioned in the later ones which could give something away. In their fifth book Patrick begins to investigate the circumstances surrounding a seemingly put together and sweet woman who takes a naked dive to her death off a building. Again he employs more twists than a crazy straw creating a frenzy of tension that will have you racing towards the end. Thrillers don't get any better than this.Can't wait for the next one!
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Summary: BOOK GOOD--LANGUAGE BAD!!
Review: This is the fifth and last book, so far in the series. Have read them in order and would advise anyone to do that. I thought the language was much worse in this one. Maybe it was like this in the first four but I don't remember it if it was. Story line was good, held my attention. Kenzie and Gennaro work well together. Lots of action and a fantastic ending. Bubba, well, Bubba is Bubba. Think Hawk could take him but maybe not. If you like fast action with lots so use of the F word you will like this.
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Summary: Strongest noir series
Review: I have read and enjoyed so many detective series during the past 15 years or so, e.g. Block's Scudder, J. Kellerman's Delaware, F Kellerman's Decker, Connelly's Bosch...... They were all fine, but I always found they started to fade when they went into their third or fourth installment. Lehaine's Kenzie is completely different, but you have to start from the first book to get the whole picture. The characters developed throughout the five books (so far). The plots in these 5 books are not exactly flawless, but that is not my major concern, I was sucked into their universe so I cared more about the characters development. And Lehaine writes so beautifully that one day his works should be labeled "literature".
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Summary: Couldn't Put It Down
Review: Once again Dennis Lehane has wrote a beauty of a story. I couldn't put it down after page 2. Wonderful twists and turns with great characters. He keeps the suspence going and going. A great read. I hope he writes more Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro tales.......soon. This is the 5th and last in the series.
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Summary: Pretty good but the male-female interaction gets corny
Review: Among the trio of hardboiled male mystery writers who rose in 1990s -- Michael Connelly, Robert Crais, and Dennis Lehane -- you can sort them along a continuum: Connelly is the edgiest and grimmest, while Crais is the one with the most wisecracks. Lehane falls in between, but leans more toward Crais despite some pretty dark works ("Darkness, Take My Hand" and "Sacred")."Prayers for Rain" is the most recent of the series (start with "A Drink Before the War") and as it opens, the narrator (Patrick Kenzie) is operating his P.I. agency alone. He used to have a partner (Angela Gennaro), but they split over events depicted in "Gone Baby Gone." Kenzie takes care of a stalking matter for a female client with little problem. Four months later, she leaves him a message asking him to call, but he blows her off. Two months after that, she commits suicide. Feeling guilty, Kenzie delves into the mess to find out why she would kill herself. Doing so draws into a confrontation with a psychopath who gets his kicks from making people's lives so miserable they wish they were dead. The psychopath turns his attention to Kenzie, and a war of misery ensues. There's no denying that Lehane is a talented writer, and that his books draw you into the dark streets of Boston. The interaction between Kenzie and Gennaro is fun, but at times the dialogue is downright corny, like something you'd expect from children. Of course, the reality is that in real life, people who are in love will talk like that to each other, but still, reading it in a book, it seems silly. So, the question is, what are you looking for in a mystery? Crais' books are fluffier (though still violent), Connelly's much darker and edgier, and Lehane's a compromise. Pick your poison.
Rating: 
Summary: This guy is good!
Review: Someone told me to read them in order and I am glad I did. Excellent reading. Dennis has a way with words and characters. The dialogue is dry and great! I can hear the Boston neighborhoods! Loved all the characters and especially Bubba who is a hoot! I will have to save "Mystic River" for another time. It's a little too dark for me. But I hear it is great. Congrats,Dennis!
Rating:
Summary: THE BEST YET IN THIS SERIES!
Review: Lehane's books are 10's, first of all! All of them! Patrick, Angie and Bubba get my vote for the best detectives of the decade. A strange mix of hardboiled idealism in these books. This time, Patrick tries to discover why a young woman committed suicide and he simply cannot let it go. The guy's like a pitbull. There are about ten different times when you (with Patrick) think you know what happened - only to have another layer peeled off and the story takes off in a new direction. One of the reasons this series plays so well is because you really believe these characters pay a price for what they do. Patrick is dark (like Batman or The Crow in different genres)and he plays wonderfully against Bubba, a straight-forward, explosions-loving, "no hidden meanings", urban-warrior, social worker's nightmare who lightens things up, both figuratively and literally. Angie's a little nebulous, but most readers won't know or care. I think Angie's only there to give substance to Patrick's fantasy about her. Well, read the book, you won't regret it.
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Summary: The Sins of the Fathers
Review: I started "Prayers for Rain" with a great deal of trepidation. I found Dennis Lehane's last novel, "Gone, Baby, Gone," a great story, but totally emotionally exhausting. I wasn't sure that I could handle another novel like that again on short notice. So I waited a bit. When I finally gave in and started to read it, I found myself completely spellbound. If "Gone, Baby, Gone" sent Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro on a death spiral that left both shattered and destroyed their relationship, "Prayers for Rain" is the noir version of working your way back up. Karen Nichols comes to Patrick Kenzie for help with a stalker. Patrick, stirred out of his depression at his separation from Angela, calls on his friend Bubba, and they address the problem in their typical, violent fashion. All appears well. At least it does until Karen jumps naked to her death six months later. Driven by a sense of responsibility, Kenzie looks into the suicide and discovers that Karen was carefully driven from being happy and successful to prostitution and complete character dissolution. Somewhere, hidden behind layers of deception hides a psychotic monster that relishes the destruction of human psyches. Joined with Bubba and reunited with Angela, Kenzie goes on the offensive, and quickly runs into violent opposition. Faced with an opponent armed with seemingly inexhaustible resources, and outmaneuvered at almost every turn, our three musketeers find themselves in a running battle for their sanity and their lives. Layer after layer of deception mask the killer and his plots, and Kenzie and Gennaro must dig deep to find the right answers. The action is fast paced and violent, and the complex cat-and-mouse game provides fascinating interest. Bubba, the sociopathic gunrunner, plays a far larger part in "Prayers for Rain" then he has in previous novels. Still not fully developed, he plays a vital part in the action and in helping to resolve the tensions between the main characters. His motivations are unexpected, and sometimes horrific, but he provides an unusual model of loyalty and friendship. By the time the novel is done, the reader will find he or she has developed a wary affection for Bubba, and a deeper respect for Kenzie and Gennaro. This is one of Lehane's masterpieces. Truly worthwhile reading.
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