Rating: 
Summary: Kept me engaged
Review: The first chapter was so funny, right from the start it got me into the story. It opens with the main character, and narrator, Patrick Kenzie the detective going on a meeting at an upscale hotel (with a dress code I might add, very important theme of the book I guess) with three politicians who are eager to get his help tracking down a missing cleaning lady whom they assume stole some documents of theirs. One look at her dark skin, and right away, Kenzie starts going off on racism in the State house and in the city in general. The thoughts going through Kenzie's head during this meeting are great, like his observations. Very funny. His musings on politicians and the "stepford wife" waitresses are great. One of my favorite quotes comes later in the book though when Kenzie thinks to himself "I wanted to ask how anyone could be a 'strong, silent voice', but I figured it might reveal my lack of political savvy". The book is about a gang war in Boston between a father and a son and also about corruption and politics. I mean, the book is so darkly humorous in parts that I can forgive certain cliches and trivial ramblings. Kenzie is a fascinating character, if not for the way he is developed as a person (he goes on and on about his horrible childhood at the hands of his abusive father and it is at times just over-the-top), then for the funny things that come out of his mouth. Kenzie is such an elitist, a womanizer ("Someone, I think it was Lauren, called to make nasty promises concerning a pair of rusty scissors...") spending most of his time flirting with his partner ("She looked at me a couple of times, guessed what I was thinking, and called me a perv. One of those times I was actually having a purely innocent thought about my long-distance phone service, but there've been so many other times it sort of made up for it")and a real creep sometimes too. There are times when he seems very much a hypocrite, or maybe I'm wrong. That's ok, I like hypocritical characters and Lehane is great at creating hypocritical (or rather complex, to put it nicely) characters. And on top of that his attacks on popular culture (hilarious as they may be) come non-stop. "From inside I could hear glasses clinking...and a Bon Jovi song coming off the jukebox. I amended that last thought; maybe it was just a stereo tuned to a radio station and no one inside had actually paid money to listen to Bon Jovi" and "My luck was good tonight, though. I felt it the moment the Bon Jovi song ended" and on and on about musicians who sound like they're on "thorazine". And the book is filled with dry quips about how racist everyone is and how evil politicians are. Here's a quote that is so bad, and yet I just can't stop thinking about it. I don't know if it's good bad or bad bad, I just know it's bad. Let me just say, subtlety is not the virtue of this book. Kenzie says about politicians "They **** us morning, noon, and night..." and then he goes on to say that society accepts this "for the comforting veneers of 'civilization' and 'security', the false idols of our twentieth-century wet dream." And that's just one segment of it, there's more on Kenzie pondering about what a rotten place the world is and about politicians and their houses on the beach and the city out drowning in the ocean and stuff like that. The story deals with child molestation cover-ups as well as murder, some mention of prostitution and drug selling and stuff, offensive language and slurs. I don't think there are many words that are left out. If you don't mind this it's a good book. It just holds nothing back and there are some cliches and there were parts where I thought, "Oh please". Some parts were kind of ridiculous. But here's one example of something I respected very much. Kenzie's partner Angie is in an abusive marriage, and Lehane deals with that in such an original way considering the many crappy exploitative domestic abuse novels I've read. And there's some interesting insights in here, mostly the darkly humorous ones. I should add that Lehane's books are full of very good dialogue and they really stand out from the other crime books I've read. They're the best of the genre from what I've experienced, but then again I haven't read too many books from this kind of genre.
So I don't know really what to say about this book except that it was entertaining for the most part and just engaging in a shocking sort of way.
Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: This book is an interesting and fun mix of smarty pants PIs, scum politicians and gang members. Throw in a few cops and Boston for backround and you have a wonderful book. One very small problem is that the author does not seem to know much about firearms. That having been said, don't miss this one.
Rating:
Summary: Dark, gritty but great writing!
Review: This book is the first in one of the best detective series I have ever read. Angie Gennaro and Patrick Kenzie live and work in the dark and dangerous Irish ghetto of Boston. They have both experienced abuse at the hands of those they loved and it has shaped their lives and marked their tempestuous love affair. The gritty and somber atmosphere of Dennis Lehane's novel is brightened by the clever repartee between his two main characters and by the always hopeful denouement to his stories. In this first installment Pat and Angie are hired by some politicians to find a maid who may have stolen something from them. She is killed and they discover that they have been duped. As they search for answers and for a way to avenge her brutal death they must also confront their past and present relationships and decide what it is they are really searching for. Leave yourself plenty of time to read. Once you start you will want to read all five Kenzie/Gennaro books and you'll hope, as I do, that Lehane writes one more.
Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: Truly a fantastic debut. I picked up this book from the library because Mystic River wasn't in. I figured I'd get a taste of Lehane's writing. What I got was a feast of a book. An incredibly engrossing plot and unforgettable characters. I instantly grew attached to Kenzie and Gerarro. These characters are so real you'd think you've known them for years. In addition, the supporting characters are equally unforgettable. I'm especially impressed with the unstable Bubba Rogowski. The book starts with a bang and doesn't stop until the last word. It's a short book to begin with (a little over 250 pages), and the fast-paced writing makes it a very quick read. But, I felt like I had read an epic novel. I was ecstatic to see that there were four more novels in the series...with more to come, hopefully. I strongly recommend this book. Pick it up and sit down for a violent, wild ride with characters you will want to meet again and again.
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