Rating: 
Summary: Unexceptional Mystery Dulls the Senses
Review: I had never heard of Dennis Lehane when I read a pre-publication release of this book a few months back. After finishing it, I didn't really care if I ever heard of him again.
It's not that the book is bad. It's certainly readable. It is also entirely unexceptional, dull, and cliche, with flat characters and poor dialogue.
If you are interested in reading a book like this, I suggest you check out Lawrence Block, Robert B. Parker, or John D. MacDonald instead. They are all far superior.
Rating: 
Summary: If you are in to high action mystery/thrillers - try it!
Review: If you are looking for a new author - try Lehane.
Sacred is his 3rd in a series of books written about two characters - Patrick and Angie - who are detectives in the Boston, MA area. This book centers around the search for the daughter of a wealthy man who is set on finding his daughter before he dies of cancer. She has joined a cult like group and disappeared. The plot has so many twist and turns with lots of humor, that you don't know where it is all going to end.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!!!
Review: I thought it would be impossible for Lehane to surpass his work in A Drink Before Dying and Darkness, Take My Hand, but he proved up to the challeng! Sacred is probably his best yet. Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are the best duo in the Mystery/Crime business, with the flair and humor of Elvis Cole and Spencer and the toughness of Scudder and McGee. This one starts off with a bang and never let's up. When Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are kidnapped in the first 5 pages, (by the good guys (?), you know you're in for a thrill. Throw in the not so subtle romantic and sexual tension between the two detectives, and you have an all night read. I read this in one sitting! And, always the acid test for a good book, I was sorry to see it end. Lehane has great dialogue, even better characters and makes even the unreal scenes feel real. Don't wait for the paperback, buy this one now. If you can't, call me and I'll LEND you mine. This book is that good
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre
Review: Not bad but doesn't hold a candle to Robert Parker, Robert Crais or ev en Harlan Coben(who in my eyes is the true master of suspense). Story itself is interesting but gets more boring as the book goes on. Patrick has too many moral issues for a tough guy(which is what he is supposed to be) and he is always hell bent on doing the right thing(yawn!). Angela can't get over her issues with her husband who used to beat the crap out of her. Geez, get a grip already. Blah, blah, blah.
Rating: 
Summary: Fast paced and interesting
Review: "Sacred" is a book that moves along at a satisfyingly quick pace. Even if you get tired of a few improbable action sequences and somewhat cheesy dialogue, there's enough going on in the novel to keep you from putting it down. A constantly twisting storyline as well as a real chemistry between the main characters Patrick and Angie distract the reader from the few faults in the novel. Also, LeHane doesn't depend on his previous "A Drink Before the War" or "Darkness Take My Hand" to explain the backgrounds of either character. A complete novice to his books will have no problem following along, as each of their prior escapades is summarized efficiently in the pages of "Sacred". In the end, you are left with a quick read that leaves you craving for more.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent writing, excellent characters, excellent novel
Review: After the fairly brutal read that was "Darkness, Take My Hand", I decided to take a step back from the Kenzie/Gennaro series. I hadn't meant to do that for nearly a year, but I decided now was a good time to grab the next in the series.
In "Sacred", Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, after a period spent recovering from the events of "Darkness", find themselves dragooned into helping a dying entrepreneur find his daughter. Initially leery, Kenzie and Gennaro discover different reasons to pursue the case. Gennaro finds a kindred spirit in emotional loss. Kenzie learns that his mentor in the private eye business was first employed, and has himself disappeared. Naturally, nothing is ever easy, as Kenzie and Gennaro learn pursue the girl's trail to a self-help group backed by a religious sect, and then down to Florida, in the process finding sadists, monsters, and assorted other evils.
If there is any central theme to this series, it is the nature of power. Characters seek power for its own sake, doing awful things to gain it, and then gratutiously inflicting even greater pain once they wield it. And so it falls to Kenzie and Gennaro to somehow find some justice, although it often means briefly stooping to the level of their adversaries to achieve it. It's pretty gratifying for the reader, nonetheless, to have at least two characters who maintain some morality in this immoral world Lehane has constructed.
My only real complaint with "Sacred" is that it came after "Darkness, Take My Hand". The latter book was a true novel of horror, featuring some of the most truly evil antagonists I've encountered in fiction. "Sacred", while featuring some really nasty villains, manages to stay pretty light. This is a somewhat mixed-blessing. On the one hand, I'd have no problem rushing out and getting the next book. On the other, I'm not sure how much of an impression this book will leave in my mind, particularly when compared with the rest of the series.
Lehane has legitimate talent, and knows how to write flesh and blood people. "Sacred" is a perfectly good example of that. It is an excellent novel with excellent writing and excellent characters.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: It was my outright admiration of "Mystic River" that caused me to pick up the Kenzie-Gennaro series. At last, I told myself, Lehane is one writer with enough prose and storyline to keep me glued. Gee, he even writes like Jeffrey Eugenides to some extent. River was a terrific read, I highly recommend it -- this one though, is QUITE different. Perhaps Lehane was developing as a writer, so given that this was an earlier novel, I shouldn't expect too much.
Well, anyway, the story revolves around a millionaire trying to find his missing daughter. Soon the plot spirals to include embezzlement, calculated murder and layers upon layers of lies -- so much so that the plot became pretty unbelieveable towards the end (I was pretty incredulous at one point, then slowly but surely, that was replaced by detachment -- I even managed to put off the climax rather easily for a nap). In addition, do note that the series is meant to be read in the correct sequence. Explicit spoilers from the earlier books can be found here -- so beware.
Nonetheless, that isn't my biggest grouse. Having been treated to rich characters in "Mystic River", the characters in "Sacred" were about as card-boardish as they come. The dialogue between Patrick and Angela can be rather irritating at times -- they joke a lot, and there were portions where the book read like a screenplay. Plenty of dead pan quips that didn't entirely work for me. In the end, as much as I hate saying this (given that I loved "Mystic River"), "Sacred" read like Hardy Boys. Well, just thought I'd warn ya tho.
Rating:
Summary: thank god
Review: It sucks that there aren't going to be any more books by John A MacDonald, but knowing that Dennis Lehane is around takes some of the sting out of it.
Rating:
Summary: Another great novel
Review: This series just keeps getting better and better. Dialog is top notch and the characters are great in this novel as well. Really completes the first "trilogy" of the Kenzie/Genaro series very nicely.
Rating:
Summary: Very much enjoyed it. Here's what you need to know.
Review: First, this is the 3rd book in the series. If you're like me and prefer to read a series in the order that it was written (and hence evolve with the characters), you'll want to get this book along with the other two that precede it (Drink Before the War & Darkness, Take My Hand). Also, Lehane does talk some about the plots that took place in the two previous books and those references will be lost on you if you start with book 3. With that said, I thought the book was very good. Like his others, it was filled with great writing, was very visually descriptive and nicely put together. Lehane's strong suite is his excellent characters. They are complex, believable and interesting. I can see why Mr. Lehane uses some of them again and again in his novels (a male and female pair of Private Detectives). The book is written in the first person primarily, which I normally don't care for but works well here because it's not overdone (thus giving the reader many perspectives). Unlike his first two books, the villains and situations are not quite as intense so I was a shade disappointed there. He makes up the slack though in the plot with this one as it is even more of a twisty-turn mystery than the others. Overall, if you enjoy authors like Patricia Cornwell or Thomas Harris or Phillip Margolin, then I recommend you try this novel. You won't be disappointed.
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