Mystic River [Mass Market Paperback]

Dennis Lehane's Mystic River takes the material of the ordinary police procedural thriller and shapes it into heart-break. As boys, Jimmy, Dave and Sean were friends, until one day Dave was abducted by two men pretending to be cops, and was never quite the same again. As men, Dave is a damaged fantasist, safe in a quietly happy marriage; Jimmy a retired criminal making a good respectable living for the sake of his children; and Sean is the homicide cop who finds himself investigating the murder of Jimmy's eldest daughter Katie. This is not just a book about what becomes of the children who grow into adults; it is about what happens to a neighbourhood when the rules change, when an old established working-class district acquires gentrified espresso bars at one end and the beats of the city's most dangerous whores at the other. It is also a book about the tragedy of all sudden violent deaths; we never forget our sense of Katie as she was, dancing on the last night of her life--she is never just the corpse here, never just the object of mourning and investigation. --Roz Kaveney --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Lehane ventures beyond his acclaimed private eye series with this emotionally wrenching crime drama about the effects of a savage killing on a tightly knit, blue-collar Boston neighborhood. Written with a sensitivity toward character that exceeds his previous efforts, the story tracks the friendship of three boys from a defining moment in their childhood, when 11-year-old Dave Boyle was abducted off the streets of East Buckingham and sexually molested by two men before managing to escape. Boyle, Jimmy Marcus and Sean Devine grow apart as the years pass, but a quarter century later they are thrust back together when Marcus's 19-year-old daughter, Katie, is murdered in a local park. Marcus, a reformed master thief turned family man, goes through a period of intense grief, followed by a thirst for revenge. Devine, now a homicide cop assigned to the murder, tries to control his old friend while working to make sense of the baffling case, which involves turning over the past as much as it does sifting through new evidence. In time, Devine begins to suspect Boyle, a man of many ghoulish secrets who has led a double life ever since the molestation. Lehane's story slams the reader with uncomfortable images, a beautifully rendered setting and an unnerving finale. With his sixth novel, the author has replaced the graphic descriptions of crime and violence found in his Patrick Kenzie-Angela Gennaro series (Prayers for Rain; Gone, Baby, Gone) with a more pensive, inward view of life's dark corners. It's a change that garners his themesAregret over life choices, the psychological imprints of childhood, personal and professional compromiseAa richer context and his characters a deeper exploration. Agent, Ann Rittenberg. (Feb. 6) Forecast: Given the excitement in-house at Morrow that this is Lehane's breakthrough book, and the promotion they're placing behind it, it stands an excellent chance of leaping straight onto the bestseller lists. A one-day laydown, $250,000 ad-promo and an 11-city author tour, plus a blurb from Michael Connelly designating Lehane as "the heir apparent," should provide the groundwork for explosive sales. Rights have been sold in the U.K., France and Germany, and there will be a large-print edition as well as an audio from Harper Audio.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

This popular writer just keeps getting better and better, and this sharp, intelligent, suspenseful novel is sure to win him a lot of new fans. As children, Jimmy, Sean, and Dave have an odd kind of friendship, born more of geographical convenience than any actual affection for one another. A quarter-century later, Sean is a Boston police officer, Jimmy is an ex-con, and Dave is . . . well, let's just say he's got a lot of things to hide, including the truth behind something that happened a long time ago. When Jimmy's daughter is murdered, the three former friends are thrown together again, but this time at least one of them apparently is bound for self-destruction. Lehane's steadily growing reputation has been based, up until now, on his superlative Patrick Kenzie-Angie Gennaro series. Here he proves equally adept outside the series structure. Lehane is one of the small group of crime writers whose novels reveal a deep fascination with people, with motivation and inner turmoil and the subtle things that make characters walk off the page. As with the best crime writers, we rarely worry about solving a puzzle when we read Lehane. His people are too compelling for that. It's time to stop talking about Lehane as an up-and-coming genre star and acknowledge that he is one of our best fiction writers period. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

"A powerhouse of a...novel... heart-scorching... penetrating..." -- The New York Times Book RevieW

"Dennis Lehane might be the best mystery writer we have in this country today." -- Boston Magazine

"Stylish...Mystic River is Lehane's best book...it shimmers with great dialogue and a complex view of the world." -- Newsweek --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

When they were children, Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus, and Dave Boyle were friends. But then a strange car drove 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 is a homicide detective. Jimmy is an ex-con. And Dave is trying to hold his marriage together and keep his demons at bay-demons that urge him to do horrific things.

When Jimmy's daughter is found murdered, Sean is assigned to the case. His investigation brings him into serious conflict with Jimmy. And then there is Dave, who came home covered in someone else's blood the night Jimmy's daughter died. While Sean attempts to use the law to return peace and order to the neighborhood, Jimmy finds his need for vengeance pushing him ever closer to a moral abyss from which he won't be able to return.

A tense and unnerving psychological thriller, Mystic River is also an epic novel of love, loyalty, faith, and family.

Dennis Lehane is the author of the New York Times bestseller Mystic River; Shutter Island; Prayers for Rain; Gone, Baby, Gone; Sacred; Darkness, Take My Hand; and A Drink Before the War, which won the Shamus Award for Best First Novel. A native of Dorchester, Massachusetts, he lives in the Boston area.

When Scott Brick plunges into Mystic River, he does so with artistry and grace. This is a haunting, suspenseful, psychological thriller that calls for a multiplicity of reading talents--and Brick displays them all. One of three 11-year-olds playing together is abducted and molested by two pedophiles, released after four days, but is never the same person he was before. Fast-forward twenty-five years, and the daughter of one of the other boys is savagely murdered. The slaying brings all three into a complex, dark, emotional drama, which teaches that the past can never be totally forgotten. Brick brings it all together in an almost perfect reading. He switches emotions in an instant. Whether a character is pleading for his life or drowning in alcohol, his performance flows smoothly--right down to the end. Mystic River is the kind of book that allows the performer to shine, and Brick does. A.L.H. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.