Join Amazon Prime and get unlimited Free One-Day Delivery. Already a member? Sign in.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
21 used & new from £0.14

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
A Drink Before the War
 
See larger image
 

A Drink Before the War (Paperback)

by Dennis Lehane (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
RRP: £6.99
Price: £6.29 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £0.70 (10%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Usually dispatched within 9 to 12 days.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

3 new from £5.00 17 used from £0.14 1 collectible from £22.24
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover (New Ed) Order it used
Paperback (New edition) £7.99 £5.49 27 used & new from £2.13
Mass Market Paperback (Reissue) 51 used & new from £0.01

Frequently Bought Together

A Drink Before the War + Sacred + Darkness, Take My Hand
Price For All Three: £17.77

Some of these items ship sooner than the others. Show details

  • This item: A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane

    Usually dispatched within 9 to 12 days.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Sacred by Dennis Lehane

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Darkness, Take My Hand by Dennis Lehane

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Darkness, Take My Hand

Darkness, Take My Hand

by Dennis Lehane
4.1 out of 5 stars (15)  £5.49
Sacred

Sacred

by Dennis Lehane
4.8 out of 5 stars (12)  £5.99
Gone, Baby, Gone

Gone, Baby, Gone

by Dennis Lehane
Prayers for Rain

Prayers for Rain

by Dennis Lehane
3.7 out of 5 stars (3)  £5.49
Shutter Island

Shutter Island

by Dennis Lehane
4.1 out of 5 stars (54)  £5.99
Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 334 pages
  • Publisher: Bantam Books (1 Oct 1998)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0553503855
  • ISBN-13: 978-0553503852
  • Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 10.4 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 114,101 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #15 in  Books > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Authors, A-Z > L > Lehane, Dennis

Product Description

Product Description
Set in summertime Boston, this novel tells of Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, tough private investigators in a city about to be ripped apart by an unspeakable scandal and a raging gang war.

From the Back Cover
Summer in Boston. The week before Independence Day. A city steeped in history and racial strife. A city about to be ripped apart by an unspeakable scandal and a raging gang war ...

Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are tough private investigators who know the blue-collar neighbourhoods and ghettos of Boston's Dorchester section as only natives can. Working out of an old church belfry, Kenzie and Gennaro take on a seemingly simple assignment for a prominent politician: uncover ther whereabouts of Jenna Angeline, a black cleaning woman who has allegedly stolen cofidential Statehouse documents.

But finding Jenna proves easy compared to staying alive once they have. The investigation escalates, implicating members of Jenna's family and rival gang leaders, while uncovering extortion, assassination, and child prostitution extending from bombed-out ghetto streets to the highest levels of state government.

See all Product Description


Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
Check a corresponding box or enter your own tags in the field below

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

A Drink Before the War
64% buy the item featured on this page:
A Drink Before the War 4.2 out of 5 stars (17)
£6.29
A Drink Before the War/Darkness, Take My Hand
11% buy
A Drink Before the War/Darkness, Take My Hand 5.0 out of 5 stars (2)
£6.67
The Given Day
10% buy
The Given Day 5.0 out of 5 stars (16)
£14.44
Sacred
9% buy
Sacred 4.8 out of 5 stars (12)
£5.99

 

Customer Reviews

17 Reviews
5 star:
 (10)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Beginning for Dennis Lehae, 13 Sep 2003
By prisrob "pris," (New EnglandUSA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)      
To find a great mystery writer is akin to a great bottle of wine for me. Dennis Lehane is one of the best mystery writers around. His stories center around Boston and South Boston is the neighborhood. In "A Drink Before the War" we meet Patrick Kenzie and Anglea Gennaro- a private detective team. Both are locked into their own mysteries- that of abvuse- Patick abuse from his father, a powerful man in his own right. And Angela abuse from her husband. The hint of a relationship is there, but it is subtle and nothing is out in the open.
This mystery opens with a cleaning woman who has stolen papers from an important Boston politico. She asks for assistance and as the storyline deepens- race relations between black and white come to the fore. The streets of Boston are explored and explained. There is violence in this mystery and some of it is not pleasant but somehow opens the mystery to deeper understanding. The writing is superb. This is the beginning of a series exploring Patrick and Angela's relationship and their business partnership. Come along on the journey of Dennis Lehane into the streets and neighborhood of Boston. One of the best writers available- collect all of his books. You will thank me. prisrob
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, 14 Sep 2001
By Untouchable (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
This is Lehane's first book, and what a devastatingly brilliant book it is too. It introduces us to Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro and their private investigation business in their hometown of Boston. The Boston we get to see, though, is the lower working class and slum areas of town. This is a hardboiled thriller to the core. Patrick Kenzie is haunted by memories of his abusive father; Angie Gennaro is married to an abusive husband. Together they have a fantastic chemistry in which they can virtually read each other's minds.

Kenzie and Gennaro are hired by a local Senator to find a black cleaning woman who was in his employ until she disappeared with some important documents. The case is simple, find the woman and return the documents. The woman is found, but from this point on, things start to go wrong, and it's clear that Kenzie and Gennaro haven't been told the whole story. They soon find themselves caught up in a gangland war where survival is looking less and less likely.

The dialogue is witty and sharp, the story is very well paced and the characters are very believable and all too real-life. I have read all the other Kenzie-Gennaro books before this one (shame on me for reading this out of order) and rate it very highly in comparison. In actual fact, it would have been of great benefit if I had have read this book first as it puts into perspective events that occur in the later books.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinarily Good!!, 29 Aug 2003
This is the third Lehane novel I have read (and yes, I know it should have been the first!). It is a well paced, witty and sharp and I couldn't put it down. Patrick Kenzie is a PI who always seems to have a "wise ass" comment and together with his partner and long time friend Angie Gennaro are hired to solve various crimes. I have read PI novels before, but most of the main characters are male and, while there is nothing wrong with this, you have to admire Lehane who has developed a gutsy female PI who can kick ass with the best of them. Actually, there are times in the book when her balls are bigger than Kenzie's! Superior stuff, an exceptionally good PI novel. Oh, and by the way - BUBBA ROCKS!!!
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Was this written by a clever college student?
The previous reviewers have discussed the plot so I won't get too involved with that, other than to say the book is about an Irish-American private investigator, Patrick Kenzie... Read more
Published 8 days ago by Kittycat

3.0 out of 5 stars Better to start at the beginning... ?
This was Lehane's first novel and, as the book introduces his private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, it also became the start of a series. Read more
Published 2 months ago by bressons_puddle

3.0 out of 5 stars Sorry but a bit of a disappointment.
Having recently read the reviews for Dennis Lehane's books here I thought I had discovered my next "favorite author". Read more
Published 14 months ago by noggy1810

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb
Crime in not a genre I generally read, but I discovered Lehane through the recommendation of a good friend and through his work on the HBO series 'The Wire'. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Rolo

4.0 out of 5 stars A cracker - awaken your inner wiseass!
What a hugely enjoyable novel! Sure, this is a debut effort and, sure, it may be a bit episodic and, sure, it asks the reader to suspend a lot of disbelief... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Chintan Nanavati

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Five Star Debut
Patrick and Angie, best friends since they were kids, are all grown up and are PI partners working out of a church belfry in Boston. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Katie Osborne

5.0 out of 5 stars Like the title suggests, an explosive story!
I first discovered Dennis Lehane passing a book display and like most people i'm sure i read the blurb, found it appealing, bought it, took it home and foolishly let it gather... Read more
Published on 15 Aug 2003 by i_gotta_bad_habit

5.0 out of 5 stars A Parker influence, but a deeper insight
There indeed is some Robert B. Parker style here, but Lehane doesn't stop there, and is not limited by that style, but goes beyond it into deeper looks into tortured souls... Read more
Published on 8 Jul 2003 by Neal C. Reynolds

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this book
Dennis LeHane is undoubtedly one of the finest crime writers at the moment. In Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro he has created two characters you actually care about. Read more
Published on 18 Jan 2003 by Rob Davis

1.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't finish it
Sorry, I thought this was a very poor effort. The most grating thing is that it tries much too hard to be funny. Read more
Published on 9 Aug 2002

Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]


   
Related forums


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Feedback


Health & Beauty at Amazon.co.uk

Elemis Resurface and Renew Skin Care Gift Set of 4 Products
From soap to shavers, massagers to mascara, stock up on your daily essentials or truly pamper yourself.

Discover Health & Beauty

 

More From Dennis Lehane

Shutter Island

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

Shutter Island is something of a departure for Dennis Lehane. It is... Read more
£7.99 £5.99

 

Up to 53% off Braun Series Shavers

Braun Series 3 390cc Clean & Renew System Rechargeable Foil Electric Shaver
Get in touch with your smooth side with Braun Series shavers, now with Gillette blade technology.

Discover Braun Series at Amazon.co.uk

 

Treat Someone

Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificates--available in any amount from £5 to £500 With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is).

Learn more about Gift Certificates

 
Ad

Where's My Stuff?

Delivery and Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.

Continue Shopping: Top Sellers

amazon.co.uk Amazon Home
International Sites:  United States  |  Germany  |  France  |  Japan  |  Canada  |  China
Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Fulfilment by Amazon  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage
Customer Service  |  Help  |  View Basket  |  Your Account
About Amazon.co.uk  |  Careers at Amazon
Conditions of Use & Sale |  Privacy Notice  © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates