Rating: 
Summary: A Heartwrenching Tragic Page Turner
Review: This book is like driving by an accident site; You can't turn away, but instead are forced to slow down with morbid curiosity.This was the first of Dennis Lehane's books I've read, but you can bet I'm going to snap the rest of them up now. He's a phenomenal writer with a gift for crackling dialogue, and fascinating multi-level characters.It's the story of three boys, Sean, Jimmy, and Dave, one of whom gets abducted, but escapes. Twenty five years later the estranged men's lives converge when one of their daughters is brutally murdered.No one gets out clean in Lehane's world, and the brilliant unravelling mystery creates a tragic chain reaction. With the domino effect in mind, it reminded me in tone of "A Simple Plan." I read the other day that Clint Eastwood has bought the movie rights to "Mystic...". I hope he can do justice to this moody, evocative, and excellently written book.
Rating:
Summary: Dark and powerful
Review: In his sixth novel, Lehane departs from his popular, edgy, noir PI series featuring the hardboiled Dorchester duo Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. "Mystic River" takes place around the murder of a promising, beautiful Dorchester girl and centers on three men, friends as boys, whose lives intersect again over the murder.In the 1970's Sean Devine (the more affluent), Jimmy Marcus (the hellion) and Dave Boyle (the hanger-on) spend their Saturdays in the streets together until one day a car stops and two men intimidate Dave into going with them. His abduction and escape change everything. Twenty-five years later Sean is a Boston homicide cop, Jimmy is a reformed ex-con who owns a neighborhood store and Dave Boyle is still a sad sack, haunted by the shame of his old trauma. The night Jimmy's 19-year-old daughter is murdered Dave commits a bloody crime and the subsequent news of the girl's murder leaves his wife in an increasing state of dread and suspicion. Did her husband murder Jimmy's daughter? Assigned to the murder, Sean finds himself mired in the intimate details of his old friends' lives and dwelling on the past they share. The murder's aftermath frames the portrait of a close-knit (outsiders unwelcome) community in the throes of anguish. Driven by the expectations of family and friends and his own anger and grief, Jimmy seeks the murderer to mete out his own form of justice while Sean, under the auspices of the state, invades his friend's grief and his family's private moments and Dave, exulting in his cathartic act, tries to maintain a shell of normalcy. Harsh, tender and painful, beautifully written, "Mystic River" explores the psyche of a neighborhood and how the individual is shaped by belonging, exclusion and class. Building to a dark, explosive, fateful climax, it's also an intense, insightful portrait of three men and the inner forces that drive them.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: This novel was in a word, gripping. I am new to the genre, having never read any thrillers before, and bought the book soley because the movie had such rave reviews (although I have yet to see the film). I am so glad I did. Character development is crafty, I found there is no good or bad guy. You feel a range of emotions for each of the characters. A page-turner.
Rating:
Summary: Psychologically Thrilling Masterpiece
Review: "There are threads, threads in our lives. You pull one, and everything else gets affected." - Jimmy Marcus Mystic River is much more than a good crime story. It's more about people. Family, friends and neighbors. It's about the human psyche. How we deal with our pasts, our secrets, our fears and our demons. It's a story of revenge. Or perhaps it's a story of justice. The Mystic River actually exists in Boston and acts as one of the main characters here, providing the dramatic backdrop for many scenes and events. The river flows near the Irish-American streets of Boston, a working-class neighborhood where three friends began their lives and remained, becoming permanent fixtures in the community. In 1975 Jimmy Marcus, Sean Devine and Dave Boyle were those three friends. Friends until Dave got into that car with two strangers, escaping four days later forever changed. Although the details were never discussed, that event became a defining moment in all three lives. Twenty-five years later . . . Jimmy, an ex-con with mob connections, lost his first wife to cancer during his two-year stretch at Deer Island Correctional. Straight now for fifteen years, he has a new wife and three daughters. But his past remains with him, ready to explode like a loose cannon. Sean is a homicide detective just coming off a suspension and is still in love with his wife who walked out on him a year ago. Dave, married with a son, tries to be a good husband and father, but is tormented by the demons born in his past, trying desperately to keep them submerged. When Jimmy's oldest daughter Katie is murdered, the three boyhood friends a thrown face-to-face again. In their own way, they each share in the tragedy of Katie's death as well as that terrible day back when they were eleven years old. The questions loom throughout their lives. What if Dave never got into that car? What if Jimmy and Sean got into that car with Dave? Dennis Lehane writes in a way that pulls the reader deep within the conscious and subconscious minds of the three main characters, as well as the others. You can actually FEEL what each character is experiencing and what they're thinking. Never before have I felt such literary characters so completely. I wasn't familiar with Lehane's writing before, but am SO grateful I picked up this one.
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece of its genre
Review: The genre is dark, gritty thrillers and Dennis Lehane's "Mystic River" is one of the best.
I'm getting really tired of reviews that whine about profanity, darkness and weaknesses of character in fictional characters (or real ones, for that matter). I don't read (unless I'm reading fantasy) to get some glossed-over view of the world. I read to learn about other people's truths, the way other people see reality, and so enhance my own ... and reality is often profane, dark and marked by people with serious character defects.
You'll get all of that in this book, and it's so well done. I admire Lehane's ability to make flawed people likeable (Jimmy Marcus). And also his ability to make me feel guilty about not liking (in the least little bit) the character of Dave Boyle. I felt like I should feel some empathy for Boyle because of what happened to him, but he was just so annoyingly weak and self-pitying and pathetic. What ends up happening to him is partly his own fault. It's inevitable he'll come to a bad (if surprising) end. It's a credit to Lehane's masterful sense of character that Boyle annoyed me so much ... and it's a credit to Lehane that he made Boyle such an annoying character, not a politically correct move.
This is a suspenseful thriller, yet Lehane also manages to pull off a morality tale with the ending, and thereby to elevate the book and the genre.
I love the deliberate, disciplined pacing of the book. Because Lehane is so disciplined, he gives himself plenty of time to give us a great sense of place and develop the characters. He elevates what could be a pulp novel to literature.
The book is notable for its sense of character and of place. The dialog is very good. And there's nothing cardboard about it--it has a depth that leaves me with a lingering sense of the neighborhood and Jimmy Marcus and his store long after I put the book down.
I read this in a couple of sittings knowing nothing of any upcoming movie. Now I want to see the movie because I hear it's also outstanding. Read this book--it's well worth the time.
Rating: 
Summary: Compelling,Fast-Paced,and Incredible
Review: I saw the movie in February after it's re-release and loved it.
It's #2 on my Top 10 List and I had a strong urge to read the book.The book did not dissapoint me,but I liked the movie more than the book,it might be because I saw the movie first,however that i'll never know.But the book is about three friends:
Jimmy Marcus,Sean Devine,and Dave Boyle.One day while playing in the street a car stops,and the strangers inside kidnap Dave
and change his life forever.He escapes four days later and the friendship is broken.But years later Jimmy's beautiful daughter Katie is kidnapped and Dave is the prime suspect.Sean and his partner Whitey are the investigators and when all the evidence piles up the end is shocking.I've never read a novel by Dennis Lehane and one of the things I loved about his writing is his dialouge.It's great,it's almost like a film by Quentin Tarantino in a sense.He manages to show you the characters pain without dragging out the story and making is stupid.Read this novel.
B.
Rating: 
Summary: Who Needs This Garbage?
Review: Does the world really need more books about pyschos and serial killers? First of all, it's become a boring cliche, and Mystic River is almost interchangeable beyond some details with too many other dreary and disgusting (non)mysteries. Second, does the world really need this theme perpetuated? Lehane may have made a financial killing here, but in spreading the "romance" of pyschokillers he's done us all a disservice. Maybe this is corny, idealistic raving, but you've got to start somewhere in trying to make the world a better place. And anyway, in the end, this book is dull. I've got to believe its success is pure hype and not based on its (lack of) literary merits.
Rating: 
Summary: Slow to start yet interesting finish
Review: Dennis Lehane's Mystic River had a slow start. Yet around the middle, when each character was explored at a deeper level, the story began to get interesting. The ending was extremeley disturbing; you definitely finish this novel feeling unfulfilled, like the story isnt finished. Characters you initally hated, you begin to love; characters you initally loved you end up hating. Very twisted ending but an overall unresolved feeling.
Rating:
Summary: A stunningly beautiful book
Review: I don't know how to express in words how unbelievably amazing this novel is, just please go out and read it!!
Rating:
Summary: Mystery with some meat...
Review: There are many mysteries written today that are light, fluffy and entertaining. Some are a little more serious. And then there is Dennis Lehane's Mystic River. It will blow the rest of them out of the water. I was just floored by this powerful book. The lives of three 11 year old boys are changed forever when one of them is abducted in a car. While the abducted boy escapes after four days and has a happy homecoming, things will never be the same. The event will scar each of them in a way that will leave them somewhat broken and will affect them the rest of their lives. It also causes the end of their childhood friendship. Twenty-five years later, Sean is a state trooper with a failing marriage. Jimmy is an ex-convict trying to put the past behind him and raise three daughters. And Dave still tries to deal with the demons that haunt him ever since he was abducted as a boy. The lives of these three will converge again when one of their daughters is brutally murdered. What makes Mystic River so outstanding is that Lehane is a good study of human nature. We see people trying to be strong and confident when they're not. We read about families trying to survive in difficult circumstances. Fathers try to make the lives of their children a little better than their own. Lehane is also a keen observer of relationships, and some of his observations are downright profound. He definitely has the pulse of marriages, friendships and families as they all deal with stress, grief, love, hate, jealousy, passion, survival and revenge. It makes for a fascinating story. I've read many reviews that are critical of the ending. I think the ending is just perfect-dark and unpredictable with a major issue left unresolved. Perhaps Lehane wants to remind us that life isn't fair and that not everything works out in the end. In fact, it more accurately reflects our own gray world, even though most people would rather see things in black and white. I haven't seen the movie yet, but have heard rave reviews about the acting. After enjoying the book so much, I can't wait until it comes out on DVD.
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