Product Description

When Jimmy Marcus's daughter is found murdered, his friend Sean Devine is assigned to the case. Sean's investigation takes him back into a world of violence he thought he'd left behind. As the race for a killer heats up, all are pulled toward an abyss that will force them to face their true selves.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #154873 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Synopsis
When Jimmy Marcus's daughter is found murdered, his friend Sean Devine is assigned to the case. Sean's investigation takes him back into a world of violence he thought he'd left behind. As the race for a killer heats up, all are pulled toward an abyss that will force them to face their true selves.

From the Back Cover
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 to confront not only the violence of the present but the nightmares of his past. 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.

About the Author
Dennis Lehane:
Dennis Lehane is the author of A DRINK BEFORE THE WAR (which won the Shamus Award for Best First Novel); DARKNESS, TAKE MY HAND; SACRED; GONE, BABY, GONE; PRAYERS FOR RAIN; SHUTTER ISLAND and the NEW YORK TIMES bestseller MYSTIC RIVER. A native of Dorchester, Massachusetts, he lives in the Boston area.

Customer Reviews

Better than average but...
This book is beautifully crafted. Literate and substantial. The resolution took me by surprise and that doesn't happen often.

It was the subject matter that was the disappointing feature - child abuse as a plot device. This "issue" must've featured in about 99 of the last 100 crime stories I've read. In fact, no, I can't remember an occasion when it didn't feature to a lesser or greater extent in every crime story I've read over the past 10 years. It's so tired, such a cheap device. And so ill-informed. Frequently reinforcing, as this one does, that the victim will ultimately become a perpetrator. Haven't the victims got enough to deal without having that old falsehood trotted out ad nauseum? For that reason, I'd have serious reservations about recommending it.

Heartbreak River
I bought the video of 'Mystic River' and was two thirds of the way through when I decided that I would read the book before I saw the end of the movie. And I really wanted to see the end...
So I read the book over four nights, and was surprised at just how closely the film version was sticking to the story. (A very rare event.) Certain details were changed - Jimmy has fair hair, Katie has blonde hair - minor stuff I know, but significant when you are visualising characters in a novel. And there were an extra few plot strands, of course.
The strengths of the novel originate in Dennis Lehane's authorial voice.He seems to be able to articulate despair and grief, to cut to the quick of things, with great honesty and perception. A case in point is Dave Boyle's remembering of his mother singing 'Old Macdonald' to him after he returns from the most traumatic experience possible, and his caustic, heartbroken commentary on it.
Apart from all the harsh questions 'Mystic River' raises, especially during its harrowing closing chapters, it is also a great read. A crime thriller which genuinely thrills. Lehane gets everything right in this department.
After closing the book I also felt I had read a great American novel. A novel of stature, up there with Steinbeck and Heller and Doctorow.
And when I watched the ending of the film I was surprised not only at how close it still kept to the novel - Brian Hegeland's script has used the engine of the book to great effect - but just how much Clint Eastwood had captured the atmosphere. And how perfect the casting was. A double whammy. Perfect book and perfect film.

Simply the best
Pure & simple - the best book I've read in years!

Gripping tale, brilliantly told & involving characters you care about. If you don't buy another book this year, get this one.