There are quite a few objectionable, borderline off-putting topics in this book. There are gang wars and Patrick and Angie find themselves under attack by absolute psychopaths. Patrick and Angie get hired by a politician to retrieve some ‘sensitive’ documents. But, this is how life works sometimes, I guess. It was difficult for me, and everyone in this story, to understand her motivation for staying with this man who bashes and batters her at the most trivial of issues.

The only person she is unable to put to place is her abusive husband, Phil. She is tough-as-nails and yet, has a big weakness. The perfect foil to Patrick Kenzie is his partner, Angela Gennaro. He has had a troubled childhood and has major Daddy Issues and yet he tries to find humor in the darkest of moments. He is smart, brave and damn funny! The wry wit and the sarcastic monologue he would sometimes get into, made this book a lot easier to read, especially during the violent parts of the story.

But I pushed through, and it turned out great in the end.Īs the lead characters were getting introduced, I immediately took a liking to the narrator of the story, private investigator Patrick Kenzie. The book is rather dark at times and it got really hard to stomach the violence in the words and actions of the characters. However, the character development, the story-building, and the way he has dealt with a very messy topic- it was all done in a very lucid and coherent manner. Info-dump at the beginning is understandable but it did slow my pace a little. The setting is in Boston, there are bits of political jargon thrown around in the beginning and the first few chapters were information dense. The book was written before I was born, in a world I know very little about, but Lehane still managed to drag me into the story. I was really surprised when I read that this was his debut novel. The delicate bits of prose that I found while reading this book, actually forced me to read and re-read parts of it. Dennis Lehane deserves all the hype, and more! I am deeply regretting never having ventured into Lehane-land because the man has exceeded all my expectations. Well, I was wrong to stay away from this. In my experience, the hype increases my expectations and I usually end up disappointed. I am like that when it comes to popular/hyped stuff. And that, I think, is the reason why I stayed away from his books for so long. I have seen mention of him in most crime fiction lists as an absolute must-read author. I have had friends, relatives even absolute strangers recommend his books to me.

My connection with him started quite a while into my reading days since my initiation into the mystery/crime genre was with Enid Blyton books, but I have had him on my radar for a pretty long time. Most readers of thrillers and crime fiction have heard of Dennis Lehane.

A drink before the war by dennis lehane