Rating: 
Summary: Who Will Care for the Children?
Review: When Beatrice McCready and her husband ask Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro to help find a missing niece, the detective partners immediately realize that they do not want this case. At the end of three days, police have failed to turn up even a minor lead to the missing Amanda. Helene, Amanda's mother, is a drug addict and alcoholic who has raised the four-year-old child in near total neglect. This was a case with few possible good endings.Kenzie and Gennaro are unable to resist Beatrice's pleas, though, and thus begins the harrowing tale of "Gone, Baby, Gone." As they dig away at a trail that leads to dead-end bars, drug dealers in prison and hints of child abuse the two detectives tease away at the mystery. When a shoot-out in a quarry nearly kills the detective team, the two realize that they are up against an evil that will stop at nothing to keep Amanda's fate a secret. An evil that corrupts everything it touches. "Gone, Baby, Gone" is the grimmest of the Kenzie and Gennaro series. While not the most violent or horrific of the series, it eats away at you steadily as the detectives untangle Amanda's story. The fine narrative style and sparkling dialogue that marks a Lehane story draw you in and mesmerize you, but the little voice in your head never forgets that at the heart of this crime is a young child. You share in the anguish as betrayal destroys friendship, as right becomes wrong and relationships are strained to the breaking point. Lehane has once again written the perfect balance between psychological thriller and devastating action story. "Gone, Baby, Gone" is not for the fainthearted. Long time Lehane fans will know what to expect, but newcomers might want to read some earlier novels in the series. This is intense noir fiction at it's best.
Rating:
Summary: An Outstanding and Varied Series
Review: Lehane's fourth novel in the series is once again outstanding. As always, he takes you in a direction you don't expect with plot twists that are impossible to predict but not unfair. I'd have preferred Angie to act differently at the end, but that's a minor quibble. The downbeat plot conclusion is necessary in order to emphasize the social criticism that Lehane wants to make, and the most important motives are highly original, even mind-boggling (can't be too specific here as I don't want to give things away). (And yes, the prologue and epilogue make excellent sense and add considerably to the intrigue and impact of the story.)
Rating: 
Summary: Long Gone!
Review: This was my first LeHane novel as many people had recommended him. I didn't like the main characters Kenzie and Gennaro. Kenzie seemed like too much of a follower (although he was tough with a gun--sarcasm) and Gennero wasn't a likeable love interest. This book did manage to pick up 3/4 into it but by then it was too late.
Rating:
Summary: Twists and Turns
Review: This Lehane guy is good. The book twists, turns and spirals through several confrontations-all of them harsh and revealing. Patrick and Angie are trying to find a kidnapped child and the trail first leads them into a setup when they try to trade stolen drug money for the child. Another trail leads to the grisliest death house this side of "Silence of the Lambs" as the duo and the police face a serial killer pedophile family. The trail takes a turn again and the pair are faced with a circle of rogue cops. The book sizzles through every scene without any missteps by the author. Lehane may be the best of the current group of PI writers. This is one of the grisliest, grimmest private eye novels ever written-- and one of the best.
Rating: 
Summary: Why?
Review: I was only disappointed that Patrick was willing to do any number of illegal things but was unwilling to allow the child to stay with a family who loved her. I thought Angela was right in her decision to leave but I also thought that a different ending would have been better for the child. However, this being fiction I guess in the long run it doesn't really matter. I would just like to know why arms dealing is okay to the author but allowing a heroin addict's child to stay with her is okay. Thank you. Shannon
Rating:
Summary: Grisly and depressing, but superbly crafted
Review: With each successive work in his Kenzie/Gennaro private investigator series, Dennis Lehane has shown increasing maturity, depth, and complexity in his writing. The plots have become more unpredictable in their various twists and turns, and his treatment of socially relevant subject matter has become more insightful. Given that its subject is crimes against children, *Gone, Baby, Gone* is a highly disturbing and depressing work, but one that is sufficiently well-presented to be rewarding for readers. The best mysteries include surprises in the plot, hidden clues that lead to later revelations that transform the entire nature of the crime under scrutiny and point toward suspects that heretofore were considered above reproach. Lehane has crafted just such a story here, and in doing so has created a book that in many ways resembles the work of Michael Connelly, perhaps the very best writer in the contemporary "hip private eye" genre. Whereas in *Sacred*, Lehane provided few new insights into his male and female protagonists, in this book, Patrick and Angela are shaken to their very emotional foundations by the nature of the crimes they are investigating, and this leads the reader ever-deeper into their respective psyches. It must be said, however, that Lehane's ability to probe Kenzie's thoughts and reflections is far superior to what he demonstrates with respect to Angela. I must say, in fact, that besides being "gorgeous" and a great sharpshooter, Gennaro is not really presented as a particularly appealing or interesting character, at least in my view. Maybe it's her chain-smoking that alienates me. Finally: the extremely dark, almost nihilistic view of human life presented by Lehane can be depressing, but readers should keep in mind that this element of *noir* is part and parcel of this venerable literary genre. In other words, it makes for a great read and some valuable insights into the dark recesses of the human soul, but it's best not taken TOO very seriously.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps The Best Lehane Yet!
Review: I had fairly low expectations approaching this book. Don't get me wrong, I have loved the Patrick Kenzie series, especially "Darkness." But I thought "Sacred" was poor, so it seemed as if the series was on a downward spiral. I'm happy to report I couldn't have been more wrong! "Gone" has all the best of Lehane: violence, grit, talk-tough dialogue and snappy banter (but not too snappy, as was the case in "Sacred.") The book is very dark, and the subject matter of disappearing children is not pleasant. Lehane never chickens out, he delivers the real, sometimes inhumane cruel world to many pages. And there are two long scenes, back-to-back, that are among the most exciting and intense Lehane has ever written. If you like mysteries or crime fiction with an edge, or modern noir without the posing, Lehane is your man. Start with "Prayers For Rain" and work your way up to this book - you will be rewarded!
Rating: 
Summary: Is Lehane Going, Baby Going?
Review: I started reading this author with "Darkness Take My Hand", I was bowled over. Since then, I've been working my way through the series and frankly its becoming a hard furrow to plow. "Gone" is better than "Sacred", but not up to "Darkness". With each book of the series the author has fallen deeper into the self-referential trap. There is nothing more distracting than popping the reader out of the story with "remember three books ago when I capped that dealer/pimp/psychopath/rogue cop/Irish mafioso" to create some instant background. Lehane could handle this much better. Also, the characters are becoming too predictable. "Yup, Bubba will bail us out with the psychopathic application of heavy firepower." I'm also wondering what crimes Patrick is going to solve once all of the bad eggs he went to grade school with get whacked by him, Bubba, or a dealer/pimp/psychopath/rogue cop/Irish mafioso. Patrick's love affair with is partner is becoming tiresome. There was better material there before they hooked-up. Now, having said that, Lehane's prose is still there. I love his gritty descriptions (of new characters and locations). This author needs to take a fresh look at what he's doing. Maybe its time to give Dorchester a rest and write something else. The talent is there, but the stories are becoming a bit too predictable.
Rating:
Summary: Something has gone, baby, gone
Review: I've just started the fifth Dennis Lehane, Prayers for Rain, which chronologically appears to follow the fourth, Sacred, and, during its opening pages, seems as wonderfully sardonic, violent and colourfully bleak as the others BUT - and its a big BUT, as you can tell - there must be a unpublished manuscript laying around in the author's home. For the backstory, the soapy element vital to a long-running series, has jumped and all our favourite players have been re-arranged. I will not say how, because you do have to read these exceptionally-enjoyable books in order, but can anyone explain to me, quietly, what is going on? Have I missed a book, or is the author just a sadist? Yours reviewing in confusion...John Harlow.
Rating:
Summary: Read, baby, Read
Review: Read this book and enjoy the story, the plot, the language, the characters - the books by Dennis Lehane are absolute top-class. Intelligent, witty, hard-boiled - all at once. The words makes you feel like if you were there yourself inside the book. I keep the books by Lehane on the same shelf as the books by Raymond Chandler and Michael Connelly.
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