Mystic River
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
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.
Observer (Peter Guttridge)
'Enormously impressive: page-turning but thoughtful; moving in its sad inevitability… One of the finest novels I've read in ages'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
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.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Dennis Lehane is a master at creating mood. With "Mystic River" he paints a portrait of a bleak working class neighborhood, Boston's East Buckingham Flats, and its inhabitants, who are doomed to spend generations stuck in the dark, brooding environment, just a breath away from exploding into violence. I used to think of Dennis Lehane as an excellent writer of mysteries. After reading "Mystic River," I consider him to be one of America's great new literary novelists. His characters are real, rich and complex; his dialogue is as true as the characters who speak it. The narrative is spare and elegant. And the plot is edge-of-your-seat suspenseful, always developing a new twist.
The book opens with three angry eleven year-old boys, Jimmy Marcus, Sean Devine and David Boyle, pushing each other around on one of the neighborhood streets. A car pulls up and two, (apparently) plain clothes cops aggressively order David into their car. Terrified, David admits he doesn't live on that street. One man says they're going to drive Dave home and tell his Mom he's been fighting. Then the three drive away, leaving the other two boys with sick feelings in their guts. These feelings of fear, and something gone terribly awry, will remain with them all their lives. The two men were not cops. And Dave never reaches his mother that day, nor for many days afterward. This incident will link the lives, and the destinies, of these three boys forever.
Twenty-five years have passed, and the boys are men now, living in the same neighborhood, not far from where they spent their childhood. The events of a seemingly innocent Saturday night on the town, turn violent. Murder most vicious is the outcome, and it brings all three, inextricably, back together.
This tale of friendship, family, loyalty and revenge is just plain brilliant in its intensity. The unsettled feelings the novel evoked in me, stayed with me for days after I completed it. This is one of the best, well-crafted novels I have read in a very long time. Kudos to Dennis Lehane!
JANA
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'd had 'MYSTIC RIVER' on my wish list for ages but did not actually purcahse it until I heard that they were turning it itno a movie staring Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon. While I heard great things anout Dennis Lehane as an author this was the firsrt of his books that I've read and I am very pleased that I chose this one to start with. Lehane paints a picture so realistically that you can alomst feel the grief, anger and despair that his characters feel.
Jimmy, Davey and Sean were childhood friends and while all very different in personality, Jimmy being the tough one, Sean the boy from the "right side of the tracks" and Davey the follower, they never missed a Saturday together. However, one Saturday things take a turn for the unexpected when two men posing as police officers abduct Davey. Once returned to his familly days later and knowing the horrors that Davey must have enduredd at the hands of these men, the friendship between the three boys is irrevocably torn. Twenty some odd years later, when Jimmy's daughter Kaite is murdered the three of them are thrown back into each others lives. Sean is the investigating officer in Katie's murder and Davey who is married to Jimmy's wife's cousin is there to lend his support. But with a secret hanging over his head about his own misdeeds the night of Katie's murder Davey must try to keep it together himself.
When young Davey is abducted in the first few chapters of the book you feel the anguish that his family and friends go through as they await his safe return. You can also feel how tourtured that experience has left Davey as an adult. When Jimmy's daughter is murdered you feel the pain and sadness that he and his family go through and understand his urge to find the killer and make him pay at any cost. And when Sean is forced to investigate the murder of his estranged friends daughter you can feel how torn he is between doing his job and a sense of loyalty to an old firend in the hardest time of his life.
After reading 'MYSTIC RIVER' I couldn't wait to see how this story played out on the big screen and for once the movie stayted very true to the book. Penn and Robin's performances were defintiley Oscar worthy as you see these characters brought to life. If you loved the movie you will love this book even more.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Irish Boston
This is the first Lehane book I've read and I'm going to try another. I bought it on the back of an interview with Lehane in a newspaper. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Merlin's Owl
Beautifully written
You won't find a more powerful and beautifully written police procedural than this. Blending multiple points of view and capturing South Boston's culture and atmosphere and flavor... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Jack
Superb
A superbly and well crafted novel by Dennis Lehane. I could not put this down until I read every single page, it was taught and tense and just a superb read. Read more
Published 7 months ago by London Girl
Dreary and depressing
This is a drawn out tale with little in the way of excitement, just a dreadful inevitability that awful things are going to happen. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Andrew Norman
River flows beautifully
Dennis Lehane writes thrilling books, full of action, emotion and tension. This book adds a depth and lyricism to his canon. Read more
Published 19 months ago by The Outsider
Mystic River
A friend recommended this book to me after I watched Shutter Island (The film is based on Lehane's book of the same name). Read more
Published 20 months ago by G. C. Gray
Mostly very good
For the most part, this is a very well written book. It has good pace, narrative structure and character insight. Read more
Published 23 months ago by D. OSHAUGHNESSY
A truly outstanding character-driven crime drama
This is without doubt one of the best crime thrillers I have read this year and it could not be left out of my top ten of all time. Read more
Published on 1 Dec 2009 by OEJ
More than a crime novel...
A book about a crime yes, but also about a community, about families, about loyalty, betrayal, loss, redemption, all of it in Lehane's great prose. Read more
Published on 11 Nov 2009 by Nicodemus Jones
Disappointing
I read some rave reviews about this book before which spurred me into buying it. I was really looking forward to reading it, because it sounded really good. Read more
Published on 27 May 2009 by Loz
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