Darkness, Take My Hand
Product Description
The master of the new noir, Dennis Lehane magnificently evokes the dignity and savagery of working-class Boston in this terrifying tale of darkness and redemption.
Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro’s latest client is a prominent Boston psychiatrist running scared from a vengeful Irish mob. The private investigators know something about cold-blooded retribution. Born and bred on the mean streets of blue-collar Dorchester, they’ve seen the darkness that lives in the hearts of the unfortunate. But an evil for which even they are unprepared is about to strike as secrets long-dormant erupt, setting off a chain of violent murders that will stain everything — including the truth.
Amazon.com Review
In Darkness, Take My Hand, Dennis Lehane gives readers an authentic view of the Boston suburb of Dorchester, the scene of A Drink Before the War, winner of the Shamus Award from the Private Eye Writers of America. Dorchester, a solid blue-collar town with no shortage of good spots at which to sully up to the bar for a beer, is tarnished by a 20-year string of strangely similar killings. Patrick Kenzie, a local, becomes the improbable hero of this tale when he makes it his business to solve the slayings. The characters he encounters in Dorchester, with their distinctive accents and colorful pasts, make this mystery not only thrilling, but wildly entertaining.
Darkness, Take My Hand
Tagged with: Darkness • Hand • Take
Filed under: Book
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Well it seems like my last review was not published for whatever reason so I’ll try again.
I found this book a BIG disappointment after Shutter Island and Mystic River. It seems like DL set out to write a Thomas Harris style thriller without realising that one of the strengths of say SOTL is the contrast between the cool dedicated professionalism of the crime fighters contrasted to the erratic violence of the psychopath. When you make your ‘good guys’ just as violent and uncontrolled as the bad guys you are kind of missing the point. DL should have also bourne in mind that it’s a mistake to make your hero and heroine wise-cracking detectives if
a) you can’t write any wise-cracking dialogue for them;
b) they are so slow that the reader is usually several pages ahead of them – so why are they detectives at all?
Characters like Bubba and the various gangsters introduced belong in a comic rather than a serious novel and by overloading us with evil killers the few truly menacing moments lose the impact they should have had. Also surely I’m not the only one sick to death of the man/woman detective team with the ‘will they won’t they’ relationship (Mulder and Scully were bad enough).
However the book DOES show talent and certainly remains engrossing right to the end (though if I had known what the ending was like I probably wouldn’t have bothered). I really hope he has left this sort of immature parody in the past and goes on to write more books like Shutter Island.
Rating: 3 / 5
This is not Lehane writing in the intellectual, psychological vein of “Mystic River,” which I found brilliant. This is one of his Kenzie/Gennaro mysteries. They’re darker (if you can believe it), pulpier, extremely violent, but highly readable page-turners. I have to admit that, for me, all the killing (psychotic torture, in this one) became more than a bit wearing, and ultimately produced an “oh,come on — enough already” attitude on my part. I guess serial killers really do exist, but the plot of “Darkness, Take My Hand” ended up being just a bit too ridiculously unbelievable. And I’m beginning to sour on Pat and Angela, whose ethics are, at best, questionable. (Are all cops and PIs in Boston truly this cavalier about justice and the worth of human life — even the bad guys’ lives? And if their good pal and psycho bodyguard Bubba is comic relief, I guess I have no sense of humor.) Lastly, the main villain’s identity was pretty clear from mid-book. All-in-all, in “Darkness” Lehane seems to be trying to muscle in on Hannibal Lecter territory, with limited success. It’s a good disposable read, but one that’s highly flawed.
Rating: 3 / 5
I just finished this today, and, I have to say, I wasn’t thrilled. I read Mystic River when it first came out, and it was simply fantastic. Not knowing much more about Lehane, I picked this up hoping to hit the jackpot again.
Don’t get me wrong… it’s a good book, but certainly not of the Mystic River caliber. It seems a far less professional effort. While Mystic River concerns itself with realistic people – people who struggle with right and wrong and their own moral compass – these characters are not so complex. The bad guys are REALLY bad, and the good guys…. well they’re a little better.
My main beef is that I didn’t realize this was the second in a series, and I felt there were some things I didn’t “get” – having missed the first book. In particular, the central character, Patrick, keeps referencing someone he killed, but it’s never explained. I can only assume that was in the first book?
That said, it was a decent, if dark and gritty, read. I’ll probably pick up the others in the series to see what happens to Patrick and Angie. But, I won’t expect “Mystic River” when I do.
Rating: 3 / 5
The best thing about this book is its description of settings around Boston. It’s always nice to see my city featured in literature.
Although the story is at times very engaging, it is quite derivative and sometimes predictable. The jail scene is (too?) reminiscent of Silence of the Lambs and there are many other scenes that remind the experienced mystery reader of other, far superior crime novels.
I also found the main character often too rough around the edges and sometimes outright repulsive. When he rationalizes the torture and death of the book’s most vile criminals, he dissolves most of the sympathy he cultivated with the reader throughout the book. As someone whose job it is to uphold the law, one would have hoped he would have had a more refined sense of justice. Also disturbing are the subtle racial stereotypes that recur throughout the book (see Bubba).
The personal relationships between the PI and his girlfriend, as well as the one between he and his partner, are peppered with cheesy dialogue that is sometimes so corny, they border on being embarassing.
If you’re looking for a semi-suspenseful and quick read with all the typical brashness of the stereotypical PI, (perhaps on a long flight), this is an adequate read. It’s about what you’d expect, but nothing particularly gripping or memorable.
Rating: 2 / 5
Lehane delivers again another book filled with thrills, chills, great characters, great dialogue and non-stop action. To really appreciate Lehane’s books, read them in sequence. You’ll love the main characters–Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. And wait to you get to know Bubba! You’ll never want to even think about looking at him the wrong way. It would likely be your last thought!
Rating: 5 / 5