Rating: 
Summary: A powerful, traditional thriller
Review: Lehane's second thriller is on par with some of James Patterson's best work. Probably only 5-10% of the books I read are ones where I make extra time to read because I can't put it down. This is one of those books. The plot revolves around a serial killer and P.I.s Patrick and Angie.The cool think about this book is that the serial killer element isn't introduced for 100 pages or so. Most novels introduce all their characters early in a story, but it shows Lehane's strength as a writer when he introduces new characters about 1/3 through the novel and the story continues to flow. Then Lehane leads us along a thrilling ride full of twists and turns that end up involving characters that all knew each other in some fashion. This book is a lot like James Patterson in that there is a killer who has a personal vendetta against the main characters. Lehane keeps his mystery focused on a group of people who somehow knew each other, and the story doesn't seem far fetched. There is a lot of violence and a lot of twists. Some authors reveal twists slowly and you wonder the police or FBI hadn't figured it out sooner. This happens all the time in James Patterson stories. Lehane lets the characters discover the truth in a natural progression. The twists don't seem forced.
Lehane actually takes the time to support the twists in the story. Darkness, Take my Hand is full of gritty violence and a lot of bad things happen to a lot of people. Somehow Patrick and Angie survive it all and even come out on top in the end, although not without some sacrifice on their parts.
Rating:
Summary: Is Lehane brilliant or what?
Review: Man this guy can write! I have read 3 of Lehane's novels and they are all brillant. I have to agree with other people's comments..the conbination of Kenzie/Gennaro is wonderful. Lehane really brings to characters to life and you really feel like you are in the story with them. I don't think I have read anything by an author that can actually bring me into the action, like he does. The book is filled with great one-liners and has a great storyline to boot! I didn't think that this book (or any of the rest) are too violent, but if you are a fan of crime fiction, then what do you expect? A truly sensational book, I highly recommend it if you are looking for a freal page-turner, filled with suspense, comedy and old-fashioned who-done-it? The only problem with Lehane, he doesn't publish books quick enough!
Rating:
Summary: Dark, gritty, horific, brilliant
Review: This is my third Lehane book, and I continue to be astounded each time I read him. Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro take on the case of a shrink who believes her son is being threatened by an Irish street gang. But it becomes clear that this has nothing to do with gangs, but everything to do with an extremely violent serial killer. What's even more frightening is that this killer has targeted Patrick and Angie, and their respective loved ones. Worst of all, the killer has some connection to their childhood that Patrick doesn't begin to understand, and the killer may not be working alone. Lehane's strength is that he doesn't make it easy to make moral pronouncements. The characters act and react based on needs and emotion (often rage)--they don't have the luxury of always doing the moral thing as prescribed by society. But, Patrick and Angie are still beautifully human and wonderfully sympathetic, even as they do the "wrong" thing, for both the right and the wrong reasons. They really want to be good people, but know they aren't quite there. At the core of there relationship is a fraternal love that never quite moves away from it's less platonic overtones. Lehane beautifully blends exciting action with suspense and meditations on the human condition. This isn't a nice world that our heroes live in. It's an ugly, violent world, where unfortunately, they help perpetuate that violence. Lehane makes you keep turning the page, even though you know bad things are probably going to happen. I am looking forward to reading the rest in the series, as well as Shutter Island.
Rating: 
Summary: Very much enjoyed it. Here's what you need to know.
Review: First, I thought the book was excellent. Great writing, very visually descriptive and nicely put together. Excellent characters that are complex and believable and interesting. I can see why Mr. Lehane uses them again and again in his future 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). The villains and situations are very dark (as the title suggests) and I would compare Mr. Lehane's "monsters" to the likes of Thomas Harris' Hannibal Lector although the descriptions of the acts done on others are not quite as graphic (which can be a plus, if you're reading while eating lunch for example). The plot is a clever mystery and realistic on all levels especially regarding the main character's (Patrick) relationships with the other characters in the novel. 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.
Rating:
Summary: Fast paced, exciting mystery
Review: Darkness, take My hand by Dennis Lehane William Morrow and Company. 1996 When the PI team of Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro are called to investigate a threat to Jason, the son of a noted psychiatrist, Diandra Warren, they find some strange coincidences. "Moira Kenzie" told Diandra that Kevin Hurlihy, a crazy local hood and her former boyfriend, had threatened to kill her present boyfriend Jason. However when Patrick and Angie check out the local hoods Kevin seems not to be involved but they find that ties run back to their old neighborhood and some of the people they grew up with. Digging deeper they find that the trail leads to a convicted serial killer and back again to their old neighborhood. They story begins to make sense and wind down when it leads to someone who was a partner of the serial killer and likely one of two present day neighborhood men and an incident that happened when Patrick was a child. The book is well written, exciting and a real page-turner. Patrick and Angie are well developed and sympathetic characters. Patrick's relationship with Grace and her young daughter is filled with angst when his problems and life infect theirs and make a continuing relationship appear improbable. I picked up the book when I heard an interview with Dennis Lehane on television and he said that Stephen King loved his books and helped him (Stephen) get through his recent recovery period after his accident. I was not disappointed and would highly recommend this book to all mystery fans.
Rating:
Summary: Another Great Lehane Mystery
Review: I am totally caught up in the series. These books have a lot of great suspense, action and mystery. The only negative is, these books have a lot of violence and sensitive subjects dealing with children.
I really like the why Lehane has developed the characters of Angie and Patrick. This book had a lot of developments in their relationship. Can't wait to read the next one.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad copy of Thomas Harris ..
Review: Well it seems like my last review was not published for whatever reason so I'll try again. I found this book a BIG disappointment after Shutter Island and Mystic River. It seems like DL set out to write a Thomas Harris style thriller without realising that one of the strengths of say SOTL is the contrast between the cool dedicated professionalism of the crime fighters contrasted to the erratic violence of the psychopath. When you make your 'good guys' just as violent and uncontrolled as the bad guys you are kind of missing the point. DL should have also bourne in mind that it's a mistake to make your hero and heroine wise-cracking detectives if
a) you can't write any wise-cracking dialogue for them;
b) they are so slow that the reader is usually several pages ahead of them - so why are they detectives at all? Characters like Bubba and the various gangsters introduced belong in a comic rather than a serious novel and by overloading us with evil killers the few truly menacing moments lose the impact they should have had. Also surely I'm not the only one sick to death of the man/woman detective team with the 'will they won't they' relationship (Mulder and Scully were bad enough). However the book DOES show talent and certainly remains engrossing right to the end (though if I had known what the ending was like I probably wouldn't have bothered). I really hope he has left this sort of immature parody in the past and goes on to write more books like Shutter Island.
Rating:
Summary: so dark so good...
Review: Oooh yeah! The second masterpiece from Dennis Lehane is one of the best thriller I've read. It's REALLY dark, and it'll give you REAL chills... You'll follow Patrick and Angie inside the depths of human depravation... Lehane's style is sharp-perfect for this. I loved this book! Can't say more than: "Read it!'
Rating:
Summary: Lehane is Amazing!!!
Review: I cannot believe how much I was into this book! The characters were as good and vivid as "A Drink Before the War," and I cannot wait to read "Sacred." Lehane does things to his characters that make them come alive, and the story needless to say is so unique. READ THIS BOOK!!!
Rating:
Summary: Superb writing, disconcertingly violent
Review: This is the third of Dennis Lehane's private eye books that I've read, and I continue to be blown away by the razor-sharp, uncompromising quality of his writing. I usually prefer the "cozy", non-violent whodunits over the "hard boiled" genre that Lehane has chosen, but when a writer can describe scenes and characters as well as Lehane does, that overrides any personal preferences of that sort. The plot has been well-described by other reviews here on Amazon: Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro get involved with a case that begins with what seem to be only vague threats against a woman and her son, but which steadily escalates into a terrifying picture of violence, hatred, and revenge extending back in time for decades. Among many other things that Lehane does better than other writers is that he sets up a truly plausible relationship between his private eye hero Kenzie and the police. In most other private eye novels, the reader is always left wondering, "Why doesn't the client go to the police? Why is Joe Shmoe having to solve this mystery on his own?" But not with Lehane. The only thing NOT plausible about the plot of this novel is the extreme degree of hate and violence. And eventually I found the unrelieved viciousness a little bit hard to stomach. Regular readers of hard-boiled crime novels may not bat an eyelash at all this violence and gratuitous cruelty, but be forewarned: this book could keep you awake at night.
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