| Title | : | A Drink Before the War (Kenzie Gennaro, #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0156029022 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780156029025 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 282 |
| Publication | : | First published November 1, 1994 |
| Awards | : | Anthony Award Best First Novel (1995), Shamus Award Best First PI Novel (1995) |
A Drink Before the War (Kenzie Gennaro, #1) Reviews
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Dennis Lehane - from Boston Magazine
A noir touch, complete with nifty madcap dialogue and a dark sense of humor makes this a fun detective tale. It begins when two politicians come to PI Patrick Kenzie and employ him and partner Angela Gennaro to retrieve some documents purloined by a cleaning woman. What follows is a large scale gang-war between two of the most notorious lowlifes in Boston, two who share a surprising connection. Depravity, turf, shame, revenge all figure in this dark tale of embarrassing pleasures and public corruption. The PIs are the target of multiple murder attempts, with the usual result, damage but not of a terminal nature. A cast of supporting characters gives this tale a rich ambience, a black columnist, old-time cops, a too-well-armed psycho who happens to be on the side of the angels. Race in Boston is also given considerable attention. This is an excellent book in the tradition of Chandler. It made me eager to read more.
=============================EXTRA STUFF
Links to the author’s
personal,
Twitter and
FB pages
Other books by Lehane I have read/reviewed
Kenzie and Gennaro
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Darkness, Take My Hand
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Sacred
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Gone, Baby Gone
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Prayers for Rain
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Moonlight Mile
The Coughlin Series
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The Given Day
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Live by Night
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World Gone By
Read, but not Reviewed
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Mystic River - a masterpiece
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Shutter Island - not -
My very first Dennis Lehane…and I LOVED every gorgeous, kick-ass, page-turning word of it.
I loved the writing...which paired genre grit and humor with a polished, emotive literary quality that you don’t often see in detective novels.
I loved the plot...which had a duo of private detectives trying to locate some “incriminating” documents for a group of political mucky mucks, and ending up mired in a conspiracy of dark family secrets, gang warfare, racial tensions and the U.S. Senate.
I loved the tone...a blend of world-weary cynicism and unflappable optimism, garnished with self interest, and tempered by a good heart and a working moral compass.
And I loved, loved, loved the characters...and their relationship with one another. Patrick Kenzie, the womanizing, authority-averse Boston boy with mondo daddy issues, and his petite, tough-as-nails, except when it comes to her abusive, alcoholic husband, partner, Angela Gennaro. These two are life long friends who, “met when we were both majoring in Space Invaders with a Pub Etiquette minor at the Happy Harbor Campus of UMass/Boston.” Their personal issues, their messed up private lives and their smoldering, just bellow the surface, attraction for one another was very compelling.
However what really sent me to happyville was the iron-strong bond of friendship and respect the two have for one another. They argue, disagree and mock each other mercilessly, but you just know that, if need be, they would literally burn the world to save the other.She felt like everything good. She felt like the first warm gust of spring and Saturday afternoons when you’re ten years old and early summer evenings on the beach when the sand is cool and the waves are colored scotch. Her grip was fierce, her body full and soft, and her heart beat rapidly against my bare chest. I could smell her shampoo and feel the downy nape of her neck against my chin.
Oh, and speaking of burning the world, Patrick and Angie have a sociopathic, "violence junkie" named Bubba (that’s right, Bubba) who does “dirty work” for them when they need it and hates everyone and everything, except the two of them. “The world according to Bubba is simple - if it aggravates you, stop it. By whatever means necessary.” Bubba doesn't get much page time in this novel but I have it from a reliable source (i.e., Kemper), that Bubba plays a major role in future stories. I can't wait.
Lehane’s writing really knocked me on my ass. I didn't know what to expect from him, and he really pulled me up on his bandwagon with his street-wise, highly literate style infused with working class indignation.“L.A. burns, and so many other cities smolder, waiting for the hose that will flood gasoline over the coals, and we listen to politicians who fuel our hate and our narrow views and tell us it's simply a matter of getting back to basics while they sit in their beachfront properties and listen to the surf so they won't have to hear the screams of the drowning.”
Throughout the book, Lehane worked the gamut of my emotions, from anger to laughter, from outrage to compassion, from papa bear protectiveness to vengeance-seeking “kill 'em all and let the bodies fall where they may."
In short, I had an absolute blast reading this book. Lehane kept the pacing brisk and the story front and center, but also managed to decorate the narrative with honest, insightful observations about our culture, race relations and the nature of good and evil.As I grew, so did the fires, it seemed, until recently L.A. burned, and the child in me wondered what would happen to the fallout, if the ashes and smoke would drift northeast, settle here in Boston, contaminate the air. Last summer, it seemed to. Hate came in a maelstrom, and we called it several things—racism, pedophilia, justice, righteousness—but all those words were just ribbons and wrapping paper on a soiled gift that no one wanted to open.
If you haven’t checked out Lehane before, I think you should. I'm shocked I waited this long to read him, but at least I now have a whole host of his other works to enjoy.
You should join me.
5.0 stars. HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION!! -
My friend
Kelly recently read the fourth book in this series and clued me into it.
I read Mystic River and Shutter Island by Lehane and they were both okay reads. This one I LOVED.
You have Angie Gennaro who is tough as nails except for where it comes to her abusive husband.
Then Patrick Kenzie. Kenzie has lots of daddy issues. Kenzie might just have lots of all kinds of issues.
My gun is, as Angie would say, "not a fuck-around thing." It's a .44 magnum automatic-an "automag," they call it gleefully in Soldier of Fortune and like publications-and I didn't purchase it out of penis envy or Eastwood envy or because I wanted to own the goddamned biggest gun on the block. I bought it for one simple reason: I'm a lousy shot.
They take on the case (they are private investigators) of a black cleaning woman who allegedly stole some documents.
That puts them into the middle of corrupt politicians and a gang war. Racial tensions run hot in the book.
"Everyone needs someone to hate for some reason."
"Everyone's too damn stupid." He said.
I nodded. "And too damn angry."
He sat down again. "Goddamn."
I said, "So where's that leave us, Rich?"
He held up his glass. "Crying into our scotch at the end of another day."
One big thing that Angie and Kenzie have on their side is Bubba:
The world according to Bubba is simple-if it aggravates you, stop it. By whatever means necessary.
Now I'm sucked into another series. Dang you Kelly and your Book Boar. -
As a gang war looms on the horizon, private detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are hired to find a missing woman who stole some documents from a senator. What they find could ignite a race war and burn Boston to the ground...
When I recently got caught up on
Robert Crais's Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series, I wondered if I'd find an acceptable crime series to fill the void. Consider the void filled to the point of overflowing.
A Drink Before the War stars PI team Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. Patrick's a PI with unresolved issues with his dead father and not at all secret romantic feelings for his partner. Angie's a tough but beautiful lady with an abusive husband. Their office is in the bell tower of a church. Sound good so far?
The story sees them visiting Boston's dark underbelly in their search for a missing cleaning woman who happens to have some damning documents about a senator and ties to the heads of two rival gangs. The plot is a pressure cooker waiting to whistle. Driving the story along are Patrick and Angela and their complicated relationship. Both characters go through the wringer as they discover the truth about what they're after.
Lehane's writing is a notch above most series detective books. I kept noticing lines I would have read out loud if anyone was around to hear them. I like that Lehane didn't make anything easy for Patrick and Angie. Like a lot of good series detective books, the Dorchester setting was almost a character on its own.
A Drink Before the War is damn near perfect for what it is. I hope I don't devour the entire series too fast. -
Before he wrote Mystic River, Shutter Island or was part of the crime novelist dream team that worked with David Simon on The Wire, Dennis Lehane was just another writer trying to establish a private eye series. Of course, they’d end up being some of the best books of their kind because Lehane is just that damn good.
Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro have been friends since their childhood growing up in a blue collar Boston neighborhood and now they’re partners in a detective agency. They’re more than a little in love with each other, but Angie is married and loyal to a man who abuses her regularly. Patrick is baffled by how the strong-willed and tough-as-nails Angie is willing to be a punching bag for this asshat, but his efforts to try and stop it have only made matters worse. Plus, Patrick has his own issues in dealing with his background as a physically abused child at the hands of his father, a hero firefighter. So their relationship is a bit…complex.
Patrick and Angela are hired by some local politicians to track down documents they claim were stolen out of a state senator’s office by a cleaning woman. The woman has vanished, and the pols are desperate to get their documents back. What should be a routine job quickly turns bloody, and Patrick and Angela become the targets of both sides of a massive gang war.
But since this is a series with smart-mouthed, gun-toting PI’s, there’s got to be a bad-ass friend they can turn to. Spenser has Hawk. Elvis Cole has Joe Pike. And Patrick and Angela have Bubba Rogowski, ‘a lovable sociopath’ with a talent for mayhem and a hatred for everyone in the world except Patrick and Angela. Bubba is the kind of guy that when you ask him for a couple of guns, he'll also provide some hand grenades. Because you never know when a good grenade might come in handy...
A quick plot summary and the Bubba character make it seem as if this just another unrealistic PI series. (We all know that there aren’t really any private detectives who go around shooting people with friends who supply them with grenades.) In fact, the first chapter almost seems like the Boston-born Lehane is doing a straight rip-off of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series. It’s a first person story told from Patrick’s point-of-view, and he meets the clients at the bar in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, a favorite Spenser watering hole. He also delights in throwing out smart ass comments to tweak his employers, just as Spenser does.
However, as the story progresses, it gets much richer and deeper in characterization and themes than most PI series. Race plays a huge part in this story, and Lehane allows his heroes have some less than politically correct thoughts regarding racial issues. There’s a lot of violence, and Patrick and Angie can play the tough smart-ass when need be, but privately, they show the physical and emotional toll it takes on them. These aren’t larger than life action heroes who can shoot their way out of any problem, these are real people struggling to do the right thing in impossible circumstances and there are no easy answers.
It looked like Lehane might have been done with Patrick and Angie’s story after the fifth novel, when he went on to do his stand-alone novels, but he’s finally delivering us a new P&A book later this year. Woo-hoo! -
Posted at
Shelf Inflicted
Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are offered big bucks to find a cleaning woman who made off with some confidential documents. It sounds like a simple case, but there’s a lot more to those documents than just state secrets.
Kenzie and Gennaro both grew up in blue-collar Dorchester and even though they’re tough, dealing with sleazy politicians and dangerous gangs takes all their energy, resolve and determination.
The detectives have their own issues to deal with too. Angie is married to an abusive husband, yet harbors some feelings for Patrick, who is her childhood friend. Patrick can relate, having suffered abuse at the hands of his own father.
I loved this dark, gritty, and violent story that explores racial and class conflicts, politics, and the evil that lurks in people’s hearts. I love the witty banter between the detectives and their growing relationship. A believable and realistic urban setting, gun battles, car chases, and a rich cast of secondary characters help make this a very fun and worthwhile start to a series. -
"L.A. burns, and so many other cities smolder, waiting for the hose that will flood gasoline over the coals, and we listen to politicians who fuel our hate and our narrow views and tell us it's simply a matter of getting back to basics while they sit in their beachfront properties and listen to the surf so they won't have to hear the screams of the drowning."
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/4
Initial Thoughts
Although I'd never read Dennis Lehane before, he was someone I was well aware of from sensational movies like Mystic River, Shutter Island and Gone Baby Gone. Wanting to try something I'd never experienced before I decided to tackle one of his earliest novels, the first book in his critically acclaimed Kenzie and Gennaro series, a drink before the war. A winner of the Shamus Award in 1994 no less. I had good feelings going into this one.
The Story
Set in the early 1990's, two Boston politicians are offering big money for a seemingly routine job. Private detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are on the hunt for a missing cleaning lady, who stole some documents from one of the aforementioned politicians. Sounds simple, but obviously this wouldn't be a story if that were the case.
The city is on the verge of all out gang warfare and as the plot thickens everything seems to tie in with the job in hand. As the pair get closer to the truth they have to enter a dark and dangerous world where one false move can get you iced. It's all very taut, tense and edge of your knickers stuff.
The Writing
Lehane is obviously a talented guy when it comes to slinging ink at a page. His writing is smooth and compulsive with a real sense of humour that captures the mood and social dynamics of the time. After a fairly slow start, the story really picks up and soon becomes a real page-turner.
"People died last summer. Most of them innocent. Some more guilty than others. And people killed last summer. None of them innocent. I know. I was one of them."
Lehane has a real sense of humour and adopts an often sarcastic tone with his characters that I really enjoyed. There's some really dark and dastardly themes and subject matter in this and the way he mixes it up is fantastic.
Something that really impressed me was the way he brought to life the location of working-class Boston and the social dynamics that existed at the time. It's clear that Lehane is writing what he knows and I really had a clear picture of the environment and all its shady corners and dark alleys.
The Characters
A Drink Before the War grabbed top marks for the character work with detective duo Kenzie and Gennaro really growing on me through the course of the story. Kenzie narrates the story, and it's from his point of view for the majority. I really took to his witty sense of dark humour and self-deprecating attitude and as someone working in law enforcement it struck a chord with me. It really helped to balance some of the nasty business that he was involved in.
Angela Gennaro is a perfect balance for him. A tough cookie, who adopts a more serious approach, she is on the ball with everything accept her personal relationship with an abusive husband. There's always an awkward sexual tension between her and Kenzie, which adds an interesting dynamic to the story. But they do make a fantastic pair and I'd love to share a beer with the pair of them.
“Maybe that’s what love is counting the bandages until someone says, ‘Enough.’“
But Lehane doesn't stop there and brings some fantastic secondary characters to the party. I really appreciated the way he added different facets to each and none of them were one-dimensional. This is real human beings with real flaws, that helped convince me that I was reading about actual people.
Final Thoughts
This for me is crime noire at it’s best. This being the first in a six book series of Kenzie and Gennaro, I'll certainly be reading more. Next up is Darkness Take My Hand and that's supposed to be even better! But there's a host of other books by Lehane that I've now got my eye on. He certainly could be my go to author when I fancy a bit of detective fiction or a good mystery. And as they say in Boston...cheers!
Dennis Lehane -
this was surprisingly good.
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A Drink before the War by Dennis Lehane was re-released by William Morrow on April 6, 2021 and was first published in 1994. It was also the debut novel by this author and the first book in the Kenzie and Gennaro series.
Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are private detective partners as well as childhood friends. They’re hired by some powerful Boston politicians who are willing to pay a lot of money for them to find a missing cleaning woman who is accused of stealing some documents. What seems a simple job becomes something much bigger than finding a missing person.
The characters of Patrick and Angela have amazing depth for a debut album; especially for Patrick. There is also a host of supporting characters that will hopefully show up in future books in the series ranging from a reporter to police detectives to a friend that seems to have an affinity for weapons of all types.
The plot is well-written with excellent pace and well-developed ideas. There is plenty of action to go with some intermittent reflection. The world-building is good and it felt like I was on the Boston streets with the characters. Themes include racism, murder, domestic violence, child abuse, child molestation, gangs, poverty, corruption, and much more. However, it also about relationships between fathers and sons, husbands and wives, friends, and sisters.
Overall, this was a suspenseful, disturbing, and thought-provoking start to a new series. My reason for rating this 3 out of 5 stars instead of 4.5 stars is due to the repeated use of a racial slur.
I won a digital copy of this book in a Goodreads Giveaway. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way. -
Actual rating : 4.5 stars
Dark and addictive,
A Drink Before the War is probably one of the best thrillers I've ever read, and I can't wait to get my hands on the other books in the series.
With none of the stereotypical crap I've learnt to dread, the characterization constitutes the greatest achievement of
A Drink Before the War. Indeed I'm so tired of the one-dimensional archetypes which are often served to us on a silver platter. None of that here, but more nuances : none of them can be described in one word, and that's for the best, trust me.
▨ Patrick : what a sarcastic little shit (of course I love him) : His nonconformist and dark humor had me giggling at every page, balancing perfectly the darkness lurking at every turn. Smart-ass an arrogant but strangely endearing, he isn't perfect but faces his flaws with a lucidity I adored. Wandering through his cutting inner comments was simply fantastic. He's conflicted, scarred, and so, so loyal to his partner, Angie. Oh, and he's badass with a gun.
Let me 2 seconds to smile weakly okay? Sigh. I loved the guy.
▨ Angie : Despite the difficulties she faces in her marriage (her husband is a violent asshole, so yes, that's an understatement) by no means can she be defined by them. Don't you know persons who are strong in every aspect of their lives except when it comes to their love relationships? I do. Trapped in her memories of better times and her love for her husband, Angie, as kickass as she is, struggles to escape from this situation and yes, it was heartbreaking. I found that the way Lehane pictured domestic abuse was sadly realistic and can I say? The moment she acted on it was fucking GLORIOUS.
The friendship between the two of them gave me so many heart-warming feels (of course I ship them, duh).
As for the secondary characters, I grandly appreciated that none of them was one-dimensional. Really, a wonderful characterization in my opinion.
(Oh, and there's a panda.)
"Once that ugliness has been forced into you, it becomes part of your blood, dilutes it, race through your heart and back out again, staining everything as it goes. The ugliness never goes away, never comes out, no matter what you do. Anyone who thinks otherwise is naive. All you can hope to do is control it, to force it all into one tight ball in one tight place and keep it there, a constant weight."
Patrick and Angie's investigation leads to the depiction of a dark and realistic world, whose undercurrent of hopelessness reminded me of Dos Passos at some points.
Racism. Hypocrisy. Politician corruption. Prostitution. Just name it. Between justice and self-preservation, what will you choose?
Every issue is dealt with without never simplifying it into snap judgments. So much depth and shades. Patrick is neither knight in shining armor nor selfish asshole, but his behavior embraces everything in between, and if it can be uncomfortable, it stays really believable and realistic.
You should know that the issues dealt with are pretty heavy, and more than once I felt like Lehane took my heart and squeezed it forcefully : all in all, this book isn't for the faint of heart, and it seemed important to notice it to possible readers. Violence is everywhere, sometimes lurking, sometimes graphic.
But in the end, I thought that
A Drink Before the War asked the right questions and showed how much our opinions can be biased by our prejudices. Do we all see life through double standards, depending on the subject in question? Are we sure that we'd realize it if that was the case? For example, I had a discussion with people about the way some music lyrics can appear to condone sexual violence and violence against women in general. Everybody could quote some hip-hop song and ... that was it. When I quoted Alt-J, an Indi-rock band for their (repeatedly) violent songs nobody agreed and people told me that the group wrote pieces of art and nothing else (Fitzpleasure, for example, is based on a gang-rape scene from
Last Exit to Brooklyn). I'm sorry but no. If you don't want your lyrics being interpreted as glorifying abuse like these :
She may contain the urge to run away
But hold her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocks
Germolene, disinfect the scene
My love, my love, love, love
But please don't go, I love you so, my lovely
or these :
She bruises, coughs, she splutters pistol shots
Hold her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocks
She's morphine, queen of my vaccine
My love, my love, love, love, la, la, la, la
("Breezeblocks")
... You take the time to publish a public statement to condemn it AT THE VERY LEAST, because I'm not private to your mind and I don't have a clue if you're glorifying or denouncing that kind of behavior as it is. Sorry, I digress, but all of that is to say that without even realizing it, people assumed that this catchy song written by a rock band was a piece of art and that the only problematic songs were from hip-hop. I don't agree and find it hypocritical, for crying out loud. The world isn't a simple place, and Lehane shows it perfectly.
As for the writing, what can I say except that it was addictive? Indeed after a rather slow beginning, the story picked up and became a real page-turner for me. Moreover, as I said earlier, I absolutely adored the sarcastic tone of the book.
Concerning the settings, I thought that they were splendidly described : rarely authors manage to bring a city to life as Lehane does with Boston here - making it almost as if the city itself was a character. Each neighborhood, each slice of life appear tainted with too much distrust and hopelessness - even when it comes to 'rich' ones, which ambience is less claustrophobic but just as dark.
► Next one, please?
For more of my reviews, please visit:
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Terrific first half of this book (4-star), but what a disappointment in the last half (2-star), and the ending was awful (1-star)
Lehane shows great promise in the beginning, with tight dialogue and action sequences, some great humour, and interesting characters and plot.
By the end of Chapter 4, he finds his true voice: Patrick and Angela are talking and flirting after the first day’s work. Wonderful. Then Phil arrives and silently spars with Patrick over Angela’s attention, then they leave and Patrick watches from the window. What great writing here!
12% ... There is some wonderful prose here about Patrick's father-
"My mother followed the Hero to the grave by six months, so I never got to ask her either. But I doubt she would have told me. Irish parents have never been known for speaking ill of their spouses to their children.
“I sat back on the couch in my apartment, thinking about the Hero once again, telling myself this was the last time. That ghost was gone. But I was lying and I knew it. The Hero woke me up at night. The Hero hid in waiting in shadows, in alleys, in the antiseptic hallways of my dreams, in the chamber of my gun. Just as in life, he’d do whatever he damn well pleased.”
16% ... Straight out of Robert B Parker:
“She had a purse you could hide Peru in, which she dropped on the floor as she crossed to the couch.”
25% ... Wonderful humanity here -
“Jenna sat back down and looked at me and I held her dark eyes. They had the odd mixture of terror and resilient bravery of a cat backed into a corner; the look of someone who isn’t sure she’s up to the task, but has decided there’s no other way out but straight ahead. It’s the look of the crumbling soul trying to pull it all together for one last worthwhile breath. It’s not a look I’ve ever seen in the eyes of people like Sterling Mulkern or Jim Vurnan or Brian Paulson. I never saw it on the Hero’s face or a president’s or a captain of industry’s. But I’ve seen it in the faces of most everyone else.”
33%... Very poetic, warm and wonderful -
“She felt like everything good. She felt like the first warm gust of spring and Saturday afternoons when you’re ten years old and early summer evenings on the beach when the sand is cool and the waves are colored scotch. Her grip was fierce, her body full and soft, and her heart beat rapidly against my bare chest. I could smell her shampoo and feel the downy nape of her neck against my chin.”
62% ... The first half of the book is much better than second half. It's still fun so far, but Lehane has gotten overconfident and a bit sloppy.
72% ... I really get tired of Hollywood physics. Very stupid stuff -
“Then Bubba stepped out of the crowd and blew off the back of his head with a shotgun. The kid vaulted up in the air, arms spread wide, chest out in a swan dive, and hit the ground on his face.”
73% ... The shootout in the train station is quite stupid. Not credible at all. Robert B Parker would never stoop to this. More lousy Hollywood physics. Ugh.
And the book deteriorates badly from here, becoming repetitive and very, very dull.
Too bad.
Note: There are some quite unpleasant scenes here of paedophilia and child torture, as well as quite unpleasant racism throughout. Ugh.
A General Note about the Kenzie and Gennaro series by Lehane
Patrick, Angie and a few others have been closest friends since their impoverished childhoods. They've now formed a detective agency in South Boston. Angie is married to one of their friends, but is mistreated by him when he drinks. Patrick loves her truly, but restrains expression of it.
One of my favourite aspects of this series is how smart, strong and beautiful Angie is. She is a true partner, and complements Patrick in so many ways, both emotionally and as detectives.
Start with the first book "A Drink Before the War"; the first half is amazing, the ending not so much, but the stories should be read in order. The prose is superb. This was Lehane's first book and it shows how brilliant he will become. The mysteries are complex and true.
"Darkness, Take My Hand" is the second book, and Lehane grows in power and complexity. Things start simple, and then grow ever more convoluted. The repressed passion that Patrick had for Angie seems gone, but it's going to be there forever, really. Watching their relationship grow is quite wonderful. Full of great quotes.
Book #3, "Sacred" is 5-stars. Great complex plot, interesting lying characters, a marvellous femme-fatale, twists and turns that Chandler would love, and plenty of action scenes.
My review here with amazing quotations.
The ten-star noir masterpiece, "Gone, Baby, Gone" is extraordinary. Superb, complex, and full of amazing passion, action and quotes. One of my all-time favourite books.
My review. READ THE QUOTES. Wow.
By the end of this book, you won't ever want to stop reading Kenzie and Gennaro. The next two books are superb, very very good, and then ten years later Lehane is pressed into writing a final book for Patrick and Angie, and does a very good job, a fine farewell, warm and mature.
Bosch, Kenzie and Gennaro and Spenser. Wonderful. -
A crime drama set in '90s Boston?! Yes and thank you!
I came of age in the 1990s just 45 minutes outside of Boston. So much of this book speaks to me.
What didn't feel as intimate was the race relations/strife plot. There was one black family in my sleepy little suburban hometown when I grew up. I'm sure we had racists, but racism wasn't a thing because there weren't races, just a bunch of whities. The subject didn't come up unless it was in the newspapers. The city had its problems, has had its problems right along. A Drink Before the War touches upon Boston's race problem in a grand, as well as intimate, way.
Plot summary quickie: Two private investigators are tasked by local politicians to retrieve certain documents. The pair end up in the middle of a gang war. But something deeper and darker is going on, which pushes our heroes to go above and beyond the call of duty. Also, during the investigation one of the investigators struggles with memories of his own past while the other deals with an abusive husband. Big and small, political and personal storylines pulse throughout A Drink Before the War.
I loved the two main characters, maybe not as people, but at least as well developed characters. Why not as people? Well, no one is clean. I mean, just about everyone in this book has flaws. Some are bigger and harder to overlook than others. But Dennis Lehane was looking to prick his readers' moral repugnance and he did a hell of a job, all while telling a fast-paced thriller.
There's nothing wrong with this book from my perspective. So why didn't I give this a five star rating? It's fantastic! And yet, it doesn't quite feel like a masterpiece. Maybe it's because it spends most of its time in the dirt. You feel filthy after reading this one, tarnished by the crooked politicians, the degenerates, gangland violence, unrepentant slayings, etc. However, that was its intent and it succeeds...oh man, does it ever succeed. -
This debut novel by Lehane re-issued by William Morrow in 2021, introduces us to the gritty noir writing, unique to the author. His command of dialogue and captivating characters, keeps the reader engaged throughout. The plot is more mystery than thriller. Thank you to HarperCollinsPublishers for providing a complimentary trade paperback copy.
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Sinead O'Connor sings "somebody cut out your eyes" in
Drink Before the War. It is a very sad song.
Basil Fawlty asks "would you like to eat first, or
would you like a drink before the war? AHH! Er trespassers will be tied up with piano wire SORRY, SORRY!" It's a very amusing skit.
If you could somehow combine these two into a book, you'd have
A Drink Before the War.
Denis Lehane's writing is very amusing, sometimes silly, often glib, yet with moments of poignancy. The world his characters live in is dark, violent and dangerous. You get a giddy sense of pleasure - and a kick in the gut.
There is a beautiful little 'prologue'. It's an enigmatic summary of what is about to begin, with an nostalgic image of home and fatherhood,My father, a fireman, often woke me at night so I could watch the latest news footage of fires he’d fought. I could smell the smoke and soot on him, the clogging odors of gasoline and grease, and they were pleasant smells to me as I sat on his lap in the old armchair. He’d point himself out as he ran past the camera, a hazy shadow backlit by raging reds and shimmering yellows
It's a little misleading. The fireman father is not what he seems to be. The sad yearning for a happier time before life went all to hell is hinted at.
And what hell.
The children in this story suffer. Then they grow up and inflict suffering. But it is at a comic-book level, and while it might make you wince, it's somewhat shallow. Lehane is trying so hard to shock you with how horrible life is for these people that he gets carried away and loses the reader. Or me, at any rate.
And I found it to be preachy at times, but still the writing is very fine.And then there was Roland taking all that hate and ugliness and depravity that had been shoved into him since childhood at every turn, and spinning around and spewing it back at the world. Waging war against his father and telling himself that once it was done, he’d be at peace. But he wouldn’t. It never works that way. Once that ugliness has been forced into you, it becomes part of your blood, dilutes it, races through your heart and back out again, staining everything as it goes.
Angie and Patrick the two main characters are solid. Hardboiled solid. You become quite fond of them, and it's no accident. Lehane is quite careful in their development. He describes the process in Writers magazine (with some spoilers):When I wrote my first novel, A Drink Before the War, I started with a character. That's all I had. And the character in my head was not Patrick Kenzie, the protagonist of the novel; it was his deceased father, Edgar, aka "The Hero;' a man who was, in Irish-American vernacular, a "street angel/house devil"
I created a man who was a hero fireman and, later in life, a beloved city councilor, cherished by all except his family whom he abused and tortured and generally treated in a very, very bad manner. Yet, as I wrote about him, I found myself slipping into the first-person point of view, which told me the character I was really writing about was his son. And so, in the best biblical sense, Patrick was begot by Edgar.
So, now I had this guy, a private investigator whose father was evil, yet loved by the general public. What kind of man would the son be? He'd hate hypocrisy, for one. He'd have a mistrust of politicians. He'd have a keen sense of injustice and an identification with those who are abused--by families, by government, by society in general. He would also, logic told me, have his father's temper. And maybe, I told myself, he'd be a bit self-righteous; he'd have a lot of anger, and anger often turns into self-righteousness.
OK. I had my character. What kind of case would explicate him?
He gets hired by politicians to find a cleaning woman who, it turns out, is being sought for far different reasons than the ones Patrick was given. When she dies, he realizes he's been used not only to find her but also to lead her to the spot of her assassination.
He also discovers she has an abused son, who's grown into a feared gang leader locked in a death struggle with his father, who's in bed with the politicians. And because Patrick is white and caught in the middle of a black-on-black gang war, he also has to (involuntarily) confront his own racism. And the result isn't one he'd have necessarily hoped for.
The process of defining my main character ultimately led me into the core of what my novel was about: race warfare as class warfare; violence as a multigenerational disease; white-collar crime as a far more insidious transgression than blue-collar crime; child abuse as a hamster wheel from which no one-victim or victimizer--can vacate once they've stepped on and started pedaling.
And all of this--along with some hopefully whizz-bang shoot-outs, car chases, betrayals and unmaskings-stemmed from one character. Who begot another. Who begot another.
I loved so much of the writing in this book. Lelane can toss a word or two in a description that gets the job done and you do not forget it. A character isn't just skinny he has "the thin of adrenaline burn" and,His slim hands twitched constantly by his sides, as if grasping for the trigger of a gun. He was wearing a simple black suit with white shirt and black tie, but it was expensive material silk, I guessed.
The boys behind him were dressed exactly the same, their suits of varying quality, deteriorating steadily the farther back they stood from Socia and the grave. There were at least forty of them, the whole group in a taut, structured formation behind its leader. A conspicuous air of Spartan devotion. None of them, except Socia, looked much over seventeen, and some didn’t look old enough to have had an erection yet. They all started beyond the grave in the same direction as Socia, their eyes devoid of youth or movement or emotion, flat and clear and focused.
In spite of the flaws, I do recommend this book. Lehane certainly has a way with words.
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Private detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro are hired on to do what seems like a simple job - find a black cleaning lady that disappeared with some important documents. But suddenly they find themselves caught up in something more. Something that could kill both of them.
I picked this up because I enjoy Dennis Lehane's writing and was looking for a new series since I just finished the last published book in Tana French's series. This completely fit what I was looking for: flawed characters that delve into the dark side of humanity. This one being focused primarily on racial tensions.
Finding someone to blame. You're white and can't get a job? Blame affirmative action. Can't get one and you're black? Blame the white man. Fucking whole country's filled with nasty, unhappy, confused, pissed-off people, and not one of them with the brain power to honestly deal with their situation.
Although this book was written some time ago in 1994, the truths are still scarily true today, which is the sign of a good book.
We listen to politicians who fuel our hate and our narrow views and tell us it's simply a matter of getting back to basics while they sit in their beachfront properties and listen to the surf so they won't have to hear the screams of the drowning.
They don't respect us because we are their molested children. They fuck us morning, noon, and night, but as long as they tuck us in with a kiss, we close our eyes and go to sleep, trading our bodies, our souls, for the comforting veneers of "civilization" and "security," the false idols of our twentieth-century wet dream.
The characters are also real, and I thoroughly enjoyed the banter between Angie and Patrick. I'll definitely continue to book 2.
Cross posted at
Kaora's Corner. -
Came across this series when looking for some good crime fiction (which is not cooked up by ghost writers and doesn't bear a name of
James Patterson on its cover) to bind me over until the next
Tana French's and
Gillian Flynn's releases. I think I am going to stick with it.
The main characters of this series are Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro, Boston PIs. In
A Drink Before the War they get hired by an influential state senator to locate a woman who, according to him, stole some sensitive documents while performing her janitorial duties. Naturally, the task is not as easy as it seems at first. The documents manage to put the investigators' lives in an immediate danger and start a war between two local gangs. Kenzie and Gennaro have to work very hard to get out of this bind and stay alive.
At first I didn't care for the story too much, particularly for the narrator - Patrick Kenzie. I don't read much fiction written from male POV and his grated on me for awhile. He was just too cocky and tried too hard to be witty. No, thank you. But later on, as the shit hit the fan, people started dying left and right, the most appalling atrocities came to light and there was no time to joke around any more, I liked it much more.
I liked the portrayal of Boston. The city became almost one of the main characters in the novel, like Dublin did in
Tana French's thrillers. I liked how Lehane wrote about racial tensions in his city, how frank he was about them. It was interesting to see that racism takes a completely different tone in Boston than, let's say in South.(The Southern type of racism I am more familiar with.) But the most I liked that the challenges that the PIs had to face were so morally ambiguous.
The only thing I ended up scratching my head over was the fact that Kenzie and Gannaro managed to get away with a lot of illegal stuff in this book. I am talking about murders, assaults and carrying unlicensed guns around. Do PIs in general do whatever the feel like without any consequences? -
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Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro are PIs who have been hired to find a woman believed to have stolen some possibly incriminating documents from a government official. Finding the woman is easy, but when she is gunned down in the middle of the street before Kenzie’s eyes (and before the documents have been recovered) the case gets a LOT more complicated.
Dennis Lehane where have you been all my life????? If you think I’m going soft with two 5-Star ratings within a couple of weeks, you’re mistaken. Lehane writes THE quintessential crime thriller with “A Drink Before the War”. It has everything needed to make a great mystery novel – dirty politicians, gang violence, prostitution/drug ring, underlying racial tensions, ghosts from the past, I mean EVERYTHING. Patrick Kenzie is a character you just can’t help but immediately fall in love with and Angie is a perfect counterpart. Lehane’s timing is absolutely impeccable – he balances the most serious situations with quick humor to soften the blow before the darkness reaches a point of no return. He is also smart enough to write a novel of just the right length. I never found myself zoning out or wandering off while reading – the pace was spot on and the editing superb. If you are a lover of the crime thriller series, Kenzie & Gennaro should not be skipped. -
Action-packed, philosophical and written with wit. A lot of good material in 320 pages.
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*3.5 Stars*
Once that ugliness has been forced into you, it becomes part of your blood, dilutes it, races through your heart and back out again, staining everything as it goes. The ugliness never goes away, never comes out, no matter what you do. Anyone who thinks otherwise is naive.
There have been so many books I've read and fallen in love with, lately. I'd love to say I'm just that good at picking out books and taking extraordinary leaps to try new and exciting genres and different authors...but that's rarely the case. Yes, I have gotten so picky nowadays that I don't generally find many stinkers...but I don't usually take many risks. But I guess that's what I can count on one of my best friends and co-bloggers for-In the last year, I can attribute about, hmm, 80% of my favorite/absolute favorites to an adventurous alien named Anna. She takes risks I never would have had the guts to go through with, ie
I Hunt Killers,
This is Not a Test,
Pines, etc. As you can see, she is my proverbial guinea pig, if you will.I looked at the grenades. Didn't have a clue what to do with them. I had the feeling that if I left the house, they'd roll off the bed, take out the entire building. I picked them up, gingerly, and put them in the fridge. Anyone broke in to steal my beer, they'd know I meant business.
My point in saying all this, if you haven't guessed, is that she has helped me find some amazing books that I never would have tried. And with this gift, I have began to really expand my horizons, to really open my eyes wider to greater, grander stories. Do you realize how nice it is, how very very nice, to not be pigeon-holed to one genre? I LITERALLY go through moods and mercurial spurts for months on end where I don't know what the fuck I'll be in the mood to read. Meaning, it could be three months of fantasy, and then, inexplicably, all of a sudden I just HAVE to try a contemporary, or a dystopian (when done right, still my favorite), or a paranormal or whatever I feel like, really. I never have a clue, month-to-month, day-to-day, what I will want to read. That's why, when in the mood, I hurry to devour the very genre I'm obsessed with because I have no clue-literally none-when I will be in the mood for it again.Vanity and dishonesty may be vices, but they're also the first forms of protection I ever knew.
As it is-I'm obsessed with tortured boys and thrillers right now. It kind of goes hand in hand that I'm so obsessed with this genre, though. What's not to love about peril, mystery, and young men who are ambiguous in character and tortured within? Whoops. Did I say that out loud....Yes, okay, I'm a sick little weirdo-get over it! You know this, if you read any of my reviews. I love flawed characters that long for a better life, for the girl they can't have, etc. etc. I don't know, call me crazy, but I just can't seem to get enough of these types of books.I'd been a punching bag for my father for eighteen years, and I'd never hit back. I kept believing, kept telling myself, it'll change; he'll get better. It's hard to close the door on optimistic expectations when you love someone.
I guess, even if just briefly, I need to talk about the book and it's characters right? Patrick...boy have I heard a lot about this Patrick ;). He and Angie, his partner....okay. Never mind.I don't know how to do this!!I ran my hands through my hair, felt the grit and oil from the last day, smelled the trash and waste on my fingers. At that moment, I truly hated the world and everything in it.
They get cases. They investigate crimes. They turn the people in when they find them (to their clients). Patrick has been in love with Angie since the third grade. Angie is married to an asshole. Patrick doesn't like the asshole....so he puts him in his place, every now and then, in sensible ways with sensible objects....sensibly.L.A. burns, and so many other cities smolder, waiting for the hose that will flood gasoline over the coals, and we listen to politicians who fuel our hate and our narrow views and tell us it's simply a matter of getting back to basics while they sit in their beachfront properties and listen to the surf so they won't have to hear the screams of the drowning.
In this story, they are hired by real top-of-the-class types who have lost some documents after the maid up and left with them. What was supposed to be a simple case turns out to be deeper, scarier, more deathly than they ever could have imagined. And it is only opening them up to what I'm sure will be a very exciting series.My gun is, as Angie would say, "not a fuck-around thing." It's a .44 magnum automatic-an "automag," they call it gleefully in Soldier of Fortune and like publications-and I didn't purchase it out of penis envy or Eastwood envy or because I wanted to own the goddamned biggest gun on the block. I bought it for one simple reason: I'm a lousy shot.
Bahaha this is all I thought about-
I wish I had gotten more time to read this because I know I ruined many parts because I was so tired. I would pick up the book, totally excited, and then only get 10% done when I would start to nod off-seriously, my puppy is psycho. And I'm not so stupid as to think this book was boring-it wasn't. I would just be getting somewhere, something happening, and then BAM-my eyes started to close. Ugh. ARGHHH! So aggravating. So, a 3.5, I think, is fair. I can't say for sure it wouldn't have been higher or lower...but, from what I read, I liked that I felt deeply...and everyone knows I go based on feelings. I got good vibes from this one.I looked at Angie again. I wasn't worried about her; I was considering what would happen to my business if my partner shot the dicks off a barful of people in Lansington. I wasn't sure, but I didn't think we'd be able to keep that office in the church.
All in all a wonderful addition to add to my list of ever-growing Anna wins. I only hope the series continues to grow on me. I hear great things about this wonderful cast of complex and flawed characters, making me excited to dig deeper into their world. I'm 10% into book two, and I already have a 5 star sitting pretty and ready to go...I figure it couldn't get any lower, right?? RIGHT?! Sigh. Guess I'll see!Angie once said, "Maybe that's what love is-counting the bandages until someone says, 'Enough.'"
Maybe so.
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****************
Didn't even read the blurb.
Don't need to because Anna said....Patrick.
K. -
'Some people, you either kill them or leave them be, because you’ll never change their minds.'
A drink before the war is the outstanding first book in the Kenzie and Gennaro series and I've gotta say this is a completely absorbing crime thriller that explores racial divides, political power plays, abuse in a sickening form, gang wars and a distinctly profound lack of goodness in people.
Private Investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are hired by big guns Senator Sterling Mulkern and Senator Brian Paulson to find some important paperwork apparently stolen by a cleaning lady from Paulsons office. Now missing the hunt is on.
I look back at my notes while writing this review and I'm struck by the quality of the writing, the delightful prose all coupled with a plot that ratchets the tension exponentially. The characters are deeply fleshed out, their lives away from the main story are as gripping as the twists and turns that comprise the main event. Kenzie is a man with a sense of humour that his beautiful partner doesn’t always share and he’s also deeply in love with her. She knows but is trapped in a relationship with an abusive husband that she won’t give up on.
'Unfathomable terror swam in his irises, and I could tell his brain was scrambling to get past it, searching his soul for the courage necessary to achieve resignation.'
I underlined that many passages of quotes and the like that I enjoyed, that there's just too many to include. So I've peppered a couple through the review just to give you an idea of why this guy's stuff is just top notch.
'Vanity is a weakness. I know this. It’s a shallow dependence on the exterior self, on how one looks instead of what one is.'
If you’ve not tried this series yet then you really need to, the detectives get into more and more trouble as the investigation progresses, pretty soon their lives are in danger but a really serious problem is somehow mixed with little gems of humour that add so much to the story and characters.
Highly recommended and I will definitely be reading more from Lehane soon.
Also posted at
http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/... -
A Drink Before the War was my first Dennis Lehane book and an excellent start to the Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro series. The only thing I wondered was, why the hell did it take me so long before reading this book?
I liked Patrick and Angie, I didn't like Phil, Angie's husband and wondered how long before she would get rid of him. But there was one person beside the detective duo that I liked; Bubba. I have a bit of fondness for one person armies! The case was interesting and seemed to be a simple one, just retrieve some documents. But as usual when it comes to the duo (as I came to learn reading more books about them) it never is that easy and soon they are up to their ears in trouble...
This is a great first book that I warmly recommend anyone that likes crime books to read! -
This book had both the makings of greatness and potential disaster for me. For one, high-marks in gritty detectivery (not a real word) from a trusted source or two had me going in with high expectations. Then there are the elements of the story itself. A guy/girl PI duo, Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, could make for tension-laced banter (see Archer and Lana for the spyland ideal), but I'm not a fan of romance when it encroaches on the territory of my mystery plots. Likewise, the geographical setting is one I know well, Boston (it even has a shoutout, albeit an ignominious one, to my home town of Marblehead toward the end). When done right, I love reading about places I know and
Lehane has done Boston oh so well in the past (e.g.
The Given Day). However, I can also be easily distracted by anything anatopistic (yes, I had to look that word up,
anatopism is to space as anachronism is to time).
So how did it go? Well, as you might have guessed from the stars (review stars, not astromancy), pretty darn well. Dennis Lehane leverages two of Boston's notorious institutions, dirty politics and bad race relations, into a story that breathes into the world around it. It speaks to my own willful blindness to the well-being of bigotry in the world around me that I had trouble figuring out the time period during which the story takes place (musical references to Lou Reed, and U2 had me off by a few decades before Lehane dropped in mentions of Urban Outfitters, Store 24 and the now closed Filene's store landed me somewhere near the time of the book's publication in the early 90s- corrections welcome!)
Long of the short, consider me signed up for the next one. -
After reading "Shutter Island", which I liked, (with reservations that have grown in hindsight), and having seen the film "Mystic River", which I also liked, I decided to hunt down some of Dennis Lehane's other novels. "A Drink Before The war" is Lehane's first novel and is proof that a writer gets better with experience, (though they do have a ceiling and Lehanes is a low one). Let me explain;
While Shutter Island had an interesting plot with clever twists, an interesting lead character, and a well written phrase every few pages it suffered with generic dialogue. The plot was developed solidly enough to overcome the books flaws though. The same can not be said of "A Drink Before The War".
Lehane's star characters, two private investigators named Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro made their debuts here and I simply do not understand how either was found interesting enough by the publisher to warrant sequels. I suppose the nature of the publishing industry is every writer has to have recurring characters, even when they are as insipid as these two. Kenzie is completely generic as the wise guy P.I. and the only distinguishing characteristic for Gennaro is that she is an abused spouse. There is the typical sexual tension between the detectives but none of the charm and humor that made that so entertaining in "Moonlighting" with Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepard.
While reading Shutter Island I did have a nagging unvoiced complaint. I felt that the dialogue could have been better. It wasn't so bad as to distract from the story though. The dialogue in Lehanes debut novel is so cliched it overwhelms the already weak plot. Honestly, it is full of "groan-out-loud" CONVERSATIONS. Not a line here and there but entire exchanges between characters. One cliche after another. So many, so often it left me wondering if Lehane lacks self-awareness at all. I also wondered if he is surrounded by "yes-people" that never tell him the truth. The cliches are most noticeable whenever Lehane attempts to portray his characters as witty or sharing chemistry.
The plot itself concerns incriminating material, powerful politicians, street gangs, and, well, I suppose, on the chance one might still want to read the book I should not say more about the plot.
One other thing that bothers me about Lehane is his emphasis on race both here and, to a lesser degree, in Shutter Island. It comes across as, and I know this is speculation, but it is my review, Lehane might think it makes him edgy but to me it is just more generic cliches trying to pass itself off as some kind of enlightenment.
Bah. I think I have had enough of Mr.Lehane. Hollywood seems to be able to make his novels worth watching and the ones I've read could benefit from a few rewrites themselves. -
3.5 Stars
3.5 stars but rounding up to 4. This was the first book by
Dennis Lehane that I have read. Very dark. Noir. Not very realistic ... I hope!
Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro are private investigators in Boston. They were childhood friends from a working class neighborhood and never left. Patrick (don't call him Pat) grew up in a home where his fire fighter father beat him regularly. Angie married another one of their childhood friends, Phil. She is tough as nails except apparently when it comes to Phil who is abusive. The relationship between Kenzie and Gennaro is strange. Complex.
The story opens with Kenzie meeting some heavy weight politicians. One of them, a senator, wants to hire Kenzie and Gennaro to find a cleaning woman who disappeared and the "documents" that went missing at the same time. Simple. At least that is what Kenzie thinks at first. Finding Jenna Angeline is easy but staying alive once they do isn't. Kenzie and Gennaro find themselves in the middle of a war between two rival gangs.
The majority of this story doesn't take place in Beacon Hill, Back Bay, or Newbury Street. In
Dennis Lehane's Boston the reader visits the ghettos and underbelly of the city. Gangs, child prostitution, and corrupt politicians. There is nothing in this story that would entice the reader to want to visit Boston.
This story would probably make a pretty good movie. Lots of action, car chases, guns, murder, and mayhem. All you need is the popcorn. I had mixed feelings reading this story. I wavered between 3 stars and 4 so I give it 3.5 but am rounding up to 4. I liked both Kenzie and Gennaro and would be interested in reading other books in the series. They have a friend, Bubba Rogowski, who they call on when they need some backup. He seems to be a bit of a psycho but a good psycho if he is your friend. Fortunately for Kenzie and Gennaro he is their friend. Angie's husband, Phil, is an a$$hole and I found myself hoping that what goes around comes around for him. Apparently when Patrick, Angie and Phil were children he was popular and funny but then they grew up and Phil changed.
Overall an entertaining story with characters you become engaged with and keeps the reader turning the pages. Not a pleasant story so reader beware. -
9/10
A great start to this series, I had high expectations from the off after some very positive reviews and my enjoyment (if that is the right word) of the film, "Gone, Baby, Gone", but this was better than anticipated.
The story starts with a light hearted tone with a private investigator, Kenzie, meeting with some high powered political players who want him to recover some missing documents that a cleaner has stolen. All sounds innocent enough. Let the mayhem ensue!
The story goes at a fair old pace after this meeting (the book isn't exactly long at something like 300 pages of large print) with things moving quickly in the investigation into finding the missing cleaner. Things turn sharply after this and the tone seemed to change somewhere in the middle from breezy to pretty heavy but the transition from this was barely noticeable, so absorbed was I into the story and the characters. By the end of this I was heavily invested with the two main characters and a lot of character development had taken place in not a lot of time.
I can't wait to continue this series and read more of Kenzie and Gennaro, and I can see me reading all of Dennis Lehane's other novels in the not so distant future. I'm very excited for this series.
If you like this try: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Steig Larsson -
[3.5 stars]
A pretty solid start to a crime series, especially for a debut novel. Dennis Lehane seems confident in his writing from the get-go. Having read a few of his novels before, returning to his first shows how ingrained is his fascination with Boston, liquor and shoot-outs. This has all of those things, plus some interesting—if a tad underdeveloped—discussions on racial inequality, especially pertaining to crime & punishment.
Content warning for predatory violence on minors, sexual crimes, gore, profanity, racial slurs, etc. I suppose if you are reading Lehane, you should expect many of those elements, but if you are unfamiliar, there you go.
Also I hope Gennaro's character gets a little more agency as the story goes on. I liked reading about her life, but she reminded me of Robin from J.K. Rowling's crime series in a way and I'd rather not have her become lurid as only the love interest but rather as a tough, take-charge detective in her own right. -
19 February, Update:
Last night I found a screenshot in my phone which I took from this book and watch this out:
El Caminos. Two of them. A car that couldn't decide whether it wanted to be a truck; a truck that couldn't decide whether it wanted to be a car -obscene, hybrid results.
Huh? What? What is he talking about?😂😂😂 Seems like getting high and writing is actually a thing among writers.
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15 November:
DNF 33%
All I could think about was "why am I still reading this shit".
The MC, if I met him in the real world, I would slap hard in his gorgeous white face. -
This book is the first in the Kenzie and Gennaro series, and I really loved it. It was a delightful read from start to finish.
Amazing plot twists along the way. Compelling and intriguing story that keeps you on edge. I still don’t know why it took me so long to read this first instalment, having read the next ones a little while ago. Dennis Lehane is one of those authors whose every book is bound to be rated five stars. All his books are gifted with snappy dialogues, with brutal, realistic action mixed in equal perfect shares.
I’m not interested in giving a full plot description here, just a “Read it!” to anyone who like a well written, well plotted murder mystery reading, all of this wrapped in one wonderful story! Way to go, Mr Lehane!!!! -
A stunning crime fiction debut. Lehane strikes a nerve in his too close to home depiction of fraught inner city racial tensions and seedy local politics. The storytelling stands out with evocative, penetrating prose and gripping portrayals of the love/hate dynamics of abusive family relationships and the indelible scars they leave. Well balanced and paced, my only knock is that I could see the major plot developments that were coming well in advance. Not generally something I spend much energy trying to do, or have much success doing.
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This is a book that took me to some dark places. The descriptive writing is wonderful. Here are the passages that truly stood out from the rest:
I laughed when I heard the narrator state that "She had a purse you could hide Peru in."
And on another occasion, "Angie was rifling through her purse, probably looking for a misplaced microwave or an old car."
Descriptive language I enjoyed: "Her voice struck like a worn clutch." And, "The word 'justice' came off her tongue as if she were trying to taste it."
Yep, sounds about right: "The day after a holiday is like the day after your birthday, everything seems old, like tarnished copper."
On the darker side was the description of Patrick's relationship with his father who had a violent temper. "Vanity and dishonesty may be vices but they are also the first forms of protection I ever knew."
"When [Patrick] was growing up, [his] father's fear of flame burgeoned in direct proportion to his success in fighting it." An incident occurs in the kitchen of the family's apartment while Patrick and his sister try to cook their dinner and accidentally set the kitchen on fire.
"[Patrick] thought of [his] father's reaction when he discovered we'd allowed [fire] into his home. The embarrassment he'd feel, the rage that his embarrassment would turn into, thickening the blood in his hands until they turned to fists and he came looking for [him]."
Another toxic father/son relationship: Roland was "waging war against his father and telling himself once it was done he'd be at peace, but he wouldn't. It never works that way. Once that ugliness has been forced into you it becomes part of your blood, dilutes it, races through your heart and back out again staining everything as it goes. The ugliness never goes away never comes out no matter what you do. Anyone who thinks otherwise is naive. All you can hope to do is control it, to force it into one tight ball in one tight place and keep it there, a constant weight."
Dark and interesting: "People who don't have much usually protect what they've got in lethal ways, whether the trigger is pulled by a Bobby Royce or a little old lady the damage can often be damn similar."
Darkest of all: they "inhaled his product and exhaled their souls."
Jonathan Davis wonderfully narrates this book.
