Rating: 
Summary: Deliberately depressing
Review: Other reviews will note that this book is grimly realistic, but Lehane "cheats" in this novel, as if he is determined to contrive a situation in which no one wins. While he has shown us, in this book and in others, that his detectives and cops are willing to bend or break the law in order to "do the right thing," suddenly, at a crucial point in this book, everyone decides they HAVE to do what the law demands, EVEN THOUGH it's going to put an innocent person in a terrible situation. Sometimes Lehane seems to punish his readers for enjoying mystery novels, as if accusing them of enjoying reading about death and pretending that there is no suffering involved . . . so he writes a novel that *seems* to fall in with the usual conventions of the genre, then yanks the rug out from under your feet, even if it involves shifting the novel's entire moral universe and making his detectives act out of character. This turns out to be more annoying than it is enlightening, "realistic" or not.
Rating: 
Summary: A Dark and Twisted Tale You'll Not Soon Forget
Review: Dennis Lehane gets my vote for the current master of mystery noir, and with "Gone, Baby, Gone", he is at the top of his game. In this, the fourth in the series with Patrick McKenzie and Angela Gennaro, our working-class Boston PI duo reluctantly accepts a child abduction case, and soon find themselves in the middle of a far more complex and baffling crime. As in all of Lehane's novels, characters are deeply developed and vividly cast. A more colorful charcter than 'Cheese" Olomon, the "six-foot-two, four-hundred-and-thirty-pound yellow-haired Scandinavian who'd somehow arrived at the misconception he was black" drug dealer/convict, does not easily come to mind. And while there are no doubt real life characters as twisted and dispicable as the husband and wife team of Leon and Roberta Trett, Lehane's portrayal of their evil literally makes skin crawl and blood boil.The plot twists and turns through a number of surprises, peppered with expertly timed side trips to anecdotes and flash backs of relevant people or events. The dialog is tight and smart, and the pace never drags. Once hooked, this is a very difficult book to put down, and one that refuses to go away long after the last page is turned. If you're a fan of fast paced, intelligent crime mystery, and aren't afraid of a strong dose of grisly realism, "Gone, Baby, Gone" is simply a must read.
Rating:
Summary: A refreshing fresh new voice in PI fiction
Review: After reading hundreds of detective stories in my life I pretty much thought I'd seen everything. Enter Dennis Lehane. There is nothing routine about his writing. I've entertained a fantasy of perhaps one day writing my own mystery novel. If that ever happens I can only hope to be half as good as Mr. Lehane.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best
Review: Lehane ranks with Michael Connelly and Robert Parker--and it doesn't get any better than that. All four of the Kenzie-Gennaro books are head and shoulders above Grisham, Baldacci et. al. in mastery of the English language, dialogue and characterization. Sometimes the plots go a little over the top but who cares!
Rating:
Summary: Personality studies
Review: Few characters have been as well-written or as scarily real as the one Dennis Lehane has accomplished with Amanda McCready's mother. This is indeed crime noir---nothing easy, no quick answers, and an ending that I hated to have happen yet knew must--I'm so glad I've discovered this author. He's funny, refreshing and original in his descriptions, and impossible to put down.
Rating:
Summary: Unsettling, Honest Fourth Outing
Review: Reading about the scum of humanity that Lehane's Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro come up against is like watching a David Fincher movie. It's all grit staring you right in the face with unflinching honesty.The fourth book in the detective series has the duo searching for a missing child. In true Lehane fashion, there are more twists than a crazy straw, and the plot gets deeper and deeper and more horrifying as the truth comes out. Luckily there's the character of Bubba to add some needed comic relief to the story. A story that's hard to put down, and harder to shake when you finish it.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific from first page to last
Review: I don't like "hard-boiled" mysteries, and this is a hard-boiled mystery. I don't give 5 stars to simple genre books, no matter how good they are. So obviously, this one floored me. The story is set in Boston, and tells of a missing four-year-old girl who is abducted from an unlocked apartment while her irresponsible mother is hanging out at a bar with a friend. Two detectives are hired by the child's aunt and uncle, and the detectives then work along with the police to find the child and apprehend the kidnappers. Everything about this book is superb. First, there is the scintillating quality of the writing. Just when I thought all the good metaphors and similes had already been taken, Lehane describes something as "smooth as the edge of a nickel", or describes a state trooper giving a presentation in the following words: "...those hands were the only softness in him. The rest of him was constructed of shale, his slim frame so hard and stripped of body fat that if he fell from the podium I was sure he'd break apart in chips." Lehane has a razor-sharp eye for detail and he often translates his vision into dazzling English. Secondly, the plot is tightly woven and completely convincing. There are no clumsily invented characters who are present only to make an otherwise-illogical event seem plausible. Thirdly, the final resolution of the case is powerfully thought-provoking. No thoughtful person can read through this novel and come away with any certainty about who was right and who was wrong in this story. You'll be thinking of the issues raised in this book long after you have closed the last page. In short, this one is terrific! If you actually LIKE hard-boiled detective novels, as I usually don't, you'll be enthralled.
Rating: 
Summary: TRUE BUT SAD!!!!!!
Review: This book was, to me, really two stories in one. One was about Samuel Pietro and the people who kidnapped him and the other was the main story of Amanda McCready and the people who kidnapped her. There are many twist and turns. I thought I had it all figured out, them wham, we went off in another direction. I was really liking Poole and Broussard at first, then they ending up being pond scum. Amanda is kidnapped, a ransom demanding stolen money is received. Drug dealers are killed, the stolen money is stolen again, one of the drug dealers may have been an undercover agent, the girl is still missing. I did not like the ending at all. My heart went out to the little girl, which was one ending, my heart went out to Angela which was the other ending. All in all another good mystery about Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. This is the fourth book, I would suggest reading them in order. But, I would suggest reading them. They have all been prety good.
Rating:
Summary: This is Lehane's Best One So Far
Review: I've read his previous three books - all of which were pretty damn good - and expected this to be equally as good or better. I was disappointed at the slow start, and thought that maybe he took a break from his intensity. This also led me to think, how exciting a book about child kidnapping can get. BUT WOW, things pick up pretty fast, and few hours later you can't believe it ended so quickly. The best part was his many plot twists that leaves you guessing and on your toes, though only towards the end do you really know what the real deal is. The beauty is everything all ties up in the end. THIS WHAT GREAT MYSTERY WRITING IS ALL ABOUT!
Rating:
Summary: Another fine effort from Lehane
Review: In his fourth book, Lehane delves deep into the moral beliefs of his two star detectives. Faced with tracking down a kidnapped little girl, and dealing with child molesters, Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro find out how far they are willing to let their moral compass stray. Lehane once again does an excellent job with plotting and pace, and offers a moral dilemma that will keep you thinking long after you finish the book. If you have not read the other Kenzie-Gennaro books, you should give them a try as well.
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