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Dennis Lehane was born and raised in Dorchester, Massachusetts. He has written eight novels, A Drink Before the War, Darkness, Take My Hand, Sacred, Gone Baby Gone, Prayers For Rain, Mystic River, Sutter Island, The Given Day and a short story collection, Coronado. Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone have both been made into oscar nominated films.
Before becoming a full-time writer, Mr Lehane worked as a counsellor with mentally handicapped and abused children, waited tables, parked cars, drove limos, worked in bookstores, and loaded tractor-trailers. His one regret is that no one ever gave him a chance to tend bar. He lives in the Boston area.
Author photo © Gaby Gerster
A Maxim Jakubowski selected title. A stand alone psychological thriller by the author of the Gennaro and Kenzie novels, Mystic River and Shutter Island, this represents something of a departure for Lehane. Rachel Childs, a former journalist, with a baggage of bad experiences, comes across an old friend who wishes to help her overcome her fears and the encounter just uncovers a fiurther barrel of traumas and problems, including the identity of the father whose existence her mother had always shielded from her. With a failed marriage and on-air TV breakdown to her credit, Rachel is anything but strong and though a new marriage briefly brings some relief, it too soon begins to fall apart and Rachel has to bring her journalistic skills to an investigation into both her life and the life of others. Splendidly-engineered, wide-ranging plotting and Lehane's intuitive pulse for human frailties make this a compelling read. ~ Maxim Jakubowski
Maxim Jakubowski's May 2015 Book of the Month. Set during WW2 in Florida, this is a an epic recreation of Mafia life witnessed through the eyes of an Irish mob 'consigliere' whose loyalties are caught up in the territorial wars of the Italian gangs he once presided over. Although the main character is as much a ruthless killer as the thugs he now advises, Lehane wonderfully manages to draw the reader into evoking sympathy for Joe Coughlin's meticulous planning and strategy and his protective feelings for his own partly orphaned son as a ferocious net closes around him that leads to a bloody conclusion. A gallery of vividly-etched characters embraces kingpins and henchmen alike and strikingly brings the protagonists and the period to life, together with the vivid southern landscape that extends to Cuba and beyond. Not just another version of The Godfather from a different point of view but an acute vision of the mechanisms of evil and Lehane's best and most exciting novel since Mystic River and his Kenzie and Gennaro series. ~ Maxim Jakubowski
Set during WW2 in Florida, this is a an epic recreation of Mafia life witnessed through the eyes of an Irish mob 'consigliere' whose loyalties are caught up in the territorial wars of the Italian gangs he once presided over. Although the main character is as much a ruthless killer as the thugs he now advises, Lehane wonderfully manages to draw the reader into evoking sympathy for Joe Coughlin's meticulous planning and strategy and his protective feelings for his own partly orphaned son as a ferocious net closes around him that leads to a bloody conclusion. A gallery of vividly-etched characters embraces kingpins and henchmen alike and strikingly brings the protagonists and the period to life, together with the vivid southern landscape that extends to Cuba and beyond. Not just another version of The Godfather from a different point of view but an acute vision of the mechanisms of evil and Lehane's best and most exciting novel since Mystic River and his Kenzie and Gennaro series.
Maxim Jakubowski's May 2015 Book of the Month. Set during WW2 in Florida, this is a an epic recreation of Mafia life witnessed through the eyes of an Irish mob 'consigliere' whose loyalties are caught up in the territorial wars of the Italian gangs he once presided over. Although the main character is as much a ruthless killer as the thugs he now advises, Lehane wonderfully manages to draw the reader into evoking sympathy for Joe Coughlin's meticulous planning and strategy and his protective feelings for his own partly orphaned son as a ferocious net closes around him that leads to a bloody conclusion. A gallery of vividly-etched characters embraces kingpins and henchmen alike and strikingly brings the protagonists and the period to life, together with the vivid southern landscape that extends to Cuba and beyond. Not just another version of The Godfather from a different point of view but an acute vision of the mechanisms of evil and Lehane's best and most exciting novel since Mystic River and his Kenzie and Gennaro series. ~ Maxim Jakubowski
Set during WW2 in Florida, this is a an epic recreation of Mafia life witnessed through the eyes of an Irish mob 'consigliere' whose loyalties are caught up in the territorial wars of the Italian gangs he once presided over. Although the main character is as much a ruthless killer as the thugs he now advises, Lehane wonderfully manages to draw the reader into evoking sympathy for Joe Coughlin's meticulous planning and strategy and his protective feelings for his own partly orphaned son as a ferocious net closes around him that leads to a bloody conclusion. A gallery of vividly-etched characters embraces kingpins and henchmen alike and strikingly brings the protagonists and the period to life, together with the vivid southern landscape that extends to Cuba and beyond. Not just another version of The Godfather from a different point of view but an acute vision of the mechanisms of evil and Lehane's best and most exciting novel since Mystic River and his Kenzie and Gennaro series.
A Maxim Jakubowski selected title. Begun as a wry story of low level crime set in Boston, Lehane's short novel is a rich mix of humanity, compassion and sudden violence. Animal Rescue was the tale of a lonely and deceptively harmless barman who finds a dog, adopts it and quickly finds himself wrapped in conflict with local hoods and confronted by a terrible dilemma; Lehane has now also expanded it into a movie script (with Tom Hardy and James Gandolfini) which has relocated the action to Brooklyn but is otherwise remarkably faithful to the book. Small-time crime, badly emotionally bruised but utterly believable characters, crime at its most basic, the ordinary poetry and camaraderie of bar life: no one does this better than Lehane. Low key but indispensable. The film version of The Drop is released in UK cinemas on Friday 14 November 2014. Click below to view the trailer.
Featured on The TV Book Club on More4 on 3 Jul 2011. Moonlight Mile sees the return of the much-loved characters Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. Lehane, author of Shutter Island among others is one of the best crime writers around, not surprising then that he's also been busy writing scripts for the TV drama, The Wire. If you're looking for a well written strong plot with real world characters and dialogue then Lehane is your man.
A big novel in every way, packed with action, in a time of huge social upheaval, for this is Boston 1918-1919. With strikes, poverty, racism, corruption, anarchist bombs, riots on the streets and the arrival of the world flu pandemic, the book builds to the most violent part of a violent book, the police strike. It’s terrific. Comparison: R J Ellory, Nelson DeMille, Mario Puzo.
Lehane creates believable and vulnerable characters, even the good guys have their faults. A child has gone missing without a trace, drug money has gone missing too. Are the two connected? And then another child goes missing. This is one of Lehane’s best and can be read without having read his previous novels. Shocking and haunting it will keep you glued til the end. February 2010 Guest Editor Simon Kernick on Gone, Baby, Gone A beautifully written and crafted thriller, packed with twists and turns, and containing probably the tensest shootout scene I’ve ever read, as well as several of the most terrifying characters. But it also has real heart, with an ending that is absolutely gut-wrenching.
The tough neighborhood of Dorchester is no place for the innocent or the weak. A territory defined by hard heads and even harder luck, its streets are littered with the detritus of broken families, hearts, dreams. Now, one of its youngest is missing. Private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro don't want the case. But after pleas from the child's aunt, they open an investigation that will ultimately risk everythingtheir relationship, their sanity, and even their livesto find a little girl-lost.
When a former client jumps naked from a Boston landmark, Private Investigator Patrick Kenzie wants to know why. Once a perky young woman in love with life, her suicide is the final fall in a spiral of self-destruction.What Kenzie discovers is a sadistic stalker who targeted the woman and methodically drove her to her death a monster that the law cant touch. But Kenzie can. He and his former partner, Angela Gennaro, will fight a mind-twisting battle against the psychopath, even as he turns tricks on themPrayers for Rain is another superior thriller from Dennis Lehane, the bestselling and acclaimed author of Mystic River, Shutter Island, and Gone, Baby, Gone.
A beautiful, grief-stricken woman has vanished without a trace. So has the detective hired to find her. And a lot of moneyEnter tough-nosed private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. Rooted in the streets of blue-collar Dorchester, they've seen it all and survived. But this case leads them into unexpected territory: a place of lies and corruption, where trusting anyone could get them killed, and where nothing is sacred.Another superior thriller from Dennis Lehane, the bestselling and acclaimed author of Mystic River, Shutter Island, and Gone, Baby, Gone.
Featured on The TV Book Club on More4 on 3 Jul 2011. Moonlight Mile sees the return of the much-loved characters Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. Lehane, author of Shutter Island among others is one of the best crime writers around, not surprising then that he's also been busy writing scripts for the TV drama, The Wire. If you're looking for a well written strong plot with real world characters and dialogue then Lehane is your man.
Sixteen-year-old Amanda McCready has disappeared. Her anxious aunt contacts Patrick Kenzie to investigate. It is not the first time she has gone missing, as Patrick well knows - he was the investigator who worked on her case when she was kidnapped before, as a four-year-old. But this is not a simple case of a runaway girl. In fact, nothing in Amanda's life has been simple: brought up by the world's worst mother, neglected throughout her childhood, she has nonetheless blossomed into a formidably intelligent young woman. A young woman so bright that she can seemingly out-think and out-manoeuvre anyone... For Patrick, the case leads him down Boston's darkest, most dangerous streets - and into a world of shocking secrets that will threaten not only Amanda's life, but also his own and that of his partner Angie Gennaro.
Boston private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are hired to find four-year-old Amanda Cready. Despite extensive news coverage and dogged investigation into her abduction, the police have uncovered nothing. And as the Indian summer fades, Amanda McCready stays gone - vanished so completely that she seems never to have existed. Then a second child disappears. Confronted with a police force seething with lethal secrets, Kenzie and Gennaro soon discover that those who go looking for the missing may not come back alive.
Dying billionaire, Trevor Stone hires private detectives, Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro to find his missing daughter. Grief-stricken over the death of her mother and the impending death of her father, Desiree Stone has been missing for three weeks. So has the first investigator, Trevor Stone hired to find her: Jay Becker, Patrick's mentor. As Patrick and Angie begin their search, they are led down a trail of half-truths and corruption into a world in which a therapeutic organization may be fronting for a dangerous cult; a hi-tech private investigation firm may be covering up lethal crimes; and a stolen cache of millions in illegal funds may be tied to both disappearances and a tanker full of heroin. Nothing is remotely what it seems as the detectives travel from the wind-blown streets of Boston to the rum-punch sunsets of Florida's Gulf Coast and back again, searching for a woman and a man who could be saints or sinners, victims or victimizers, alive or dead. And the more Patrick and Angie discover, the more they realize that on this case, any wrong step will certainly be their last.
Boston private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are hired to find four-year-old Amanda McCready.Despite extensive news coverage and dogged investigation into her abduction, the police have uncovered nothing. The case is rife with oddities: Amanda's indifferent mother, a couple with a history of paedophilia and a shadowy police unit. As the Indian summer fades, Amanda McCready stays gone - vanished so completely that she seems never to have existed. When a second child disappears, Kenzie and Gennaro face a local media more interested in sensationalizing the abductions than helping to solve them, a local police force seething with lethal secrets, and a faceless power determined to obstruct their efforts. Caught in a deadly tangle of lies, and determined to unravel the riddle that is anything but child's play, they soon discover that those who go looking for the missing may not come back alive.
When Boston private investigator Patrick Kenzie meets Karen Nichols, she strikes him as an innocent from a protected upbringing. But six months later when Karen takes her own life, Patrick is left wondering what can change so drastically and so quickly that suicide seems the only option?Through the final weeks of a stifling summer, and with the help of his ex-partner, Angela Gennaro, and his friend, the lethally unbalanced Bubba Rogowski, Patrick enters into psychological warfare with a brilliant sociopath who, instead of merely killing his victims, prefers to make them wish they were dead.As the stakes grow higher and more personal, they find themselves fighting a losing battle with an enemy the law can't touch, who is always one step ahead, who is gradually discovering their weaknesses, their loves, and is determined to tear their world apart.
There are threads in our lives. You pull one, and everything else gets affected. When they were children, Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus and Dave Boyle were friends. But then a strange car pulled up their street. One boy got in the car, two did not, and something terrible happened - something that ended their friendship and changed all three boys forever. Twenty-five years later, Sean Devine is a homicide detective. Jimmy Marcus is an ex-con who owns a corner store. And Dave Boyle is trying to hold his marriage together and keep his demons at bay - demons that urge him to do horrific things. When Jimmy Marcus' daughter is found murdered, Sean Devine is assigned to the case. His personal life unravelling, he must go back into a world he thought he'd left behind. His investigation brings him into conflict with Jimmy Marcus, who finds his old criminal impulses tempt him to solve the crime with brutal justice. And then there is Dave Boyle, who came home the night Jimmy's daughter died covered in someone else's blood...
U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels has come to Shutter Island, home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane, to find an escaped murderer named Rachel Solando.As a killer hurricane bears down on the island, the investigation deepens and the questions mount. How has a barefoot woman escaped from a locked room? Who is leaving them clues in the form of cryptic codes? And what really goes on in Ward C?The closer Teddy gets to the truth, the more elusive it becomes. And the more he begins to believe that he may never leave Shutter Island. Because someone is trying to drive him insane...
A small southern town gives birth to a dangerous man with a broken heart and a high-powered rifle... A young girl, caught up in an inner-city gang war, crosses the line from victim to avenger... An innocent man is hunted by government agents for an unspecified crime... A boy and a girl fall in love while ransacking a rich man's house during the waning days of the Vietnam War... A compromised psychiatrist confronts the unstable patient he slept with... A father and a son wage a lethal battle of wits over the whereabouts of a stolen diamond and a missing woman.In turn suspenseful, surreal, romantic, and tragically comic, these tales journey headlong into the heart of our myths - about class, gender, freedom, and regeneration through violence - and reveal that the truth waiting for us there is not what we'd expect.
Boston, 1918. A city in turmoil as soldiers return home from World War One.Danny Coughlin is the son of one of Boston's most powerful police captains. An undercover cop, he is hunting for revolutionaries and anarchists who are pledged to overthrow the city's ruling classes. But Danny's about to find out that doing his duty may also mean betraying those who are closest to him. Luther Lawrence is on the run. Having survived a murderous confrontation with a crime boss, he lands a job in the Coughlin household. Desperate to find a way home for his pregnant wife, Luther is determined to avoid trouble. But it isn't long before his dangerous past and his tenuous present collide - with life threatening consequences. As the city goes into meltdown, Danny and Luther must confront the storm of violence that threatens to engulf them if each is to survive...
A big novel in every way, packed with action, in a time of huge social upheaval, for this is Boston 1918-1919. With strikes, poverty, racism, corruption, anarchist bombs, riots on the streets and the arrival of the world flu pandemic, the book builds to the most violent part of a violent book, the police strike. It’s terrific. Comparison: R J Ellory, Nelson DeMille, Mario Puzo.
The New York Times bestselling novel from Dennis Lehane is a gripping, unnerving psychological thriller about the effects of a savage killing on three former friends in a tightly knit, blue-collar Boston neighborhood.When they were children, Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus, and Dave Boyle were friends. But then a strange car pulled up to their street. One boy got into the car, two did not, and something terrible happened -- something that ended their friendship and changed all three boys forever.Twenty-five years later, Sean is a homicide detective. Jimmy is an ex-con who owns a corner store. And Dave is trying to hold his marriage together and keep his demons at bay -- demons that urge him to do terrible things. When Jimmy's daughter is found murdered, Sean is assigned to the case. His investigation brings him into conflict with Jimmy, who finds his old criminal impulses tempt him to solve the crime with brutal justice. And then there is Dave, who came home the night Jimmy's daughter died covered in someone else's blood. A tense and unnerving psychological thriller, Mystic River is also an epic novel of love and loyalty, faith and family, in which people irrevocably marked by the past find themselves on a collision course with the darkest truths of their own hidden selves.
