A Drink Before the War/Darkness, Take My Hand

Kenzie & Gennaro #1-2

by Dennis Lehane

Master of new noir Dennis Lehane magnificently evokes the dignity and savagery of working-class Boston in Darkness, Take My Hand , a terrifying tale of 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 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 that have long lain dormant erupt, setting off a chain of violent murders that will stain everything – including the truth. With razor-sharp dialogue and penetrating prose, Darkness, Take My Hand is another superior crime novel from the author of Mystic River; Gone, Baby, Gone; and Shutter Island .

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Suspense

632 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Dennis Lehane (born Aug 4th, 1966) is an American author. He has written several novels, including the New York Times bestseller Mystic River, which was later made into an Academy Award winning film, also called Mystic River, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Kevin Bacon (Lehane can be briefly seen waving from a car in the parade scene at the end of the film). The novel was a finalist for the PEN/Winship Award and won the Anthony Award and the Barry Award for Best Novel, the Massachusetts Book Award in Fiction, and France's Prix Mystere de la Critique.

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent page turners from Lehane, though not as good as the other stuff I've read of his, Mystic River and Gone, Baby Gone. Both of those felt a little more grounded and not as genre driven as these two. However, the best part of both of these is that they were fantastic page turners I couldn't put down. I'll say this for Lehane: He writes a helluva thriller.

[Reb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't finish the second story. Way too brutal and graphic. Had planned on reading the series but not sure now.

[Elizabeth Bennet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Darkness, Take My Hand well, darkness indeed. It may not be the best among Mr. Lehane's bibliography but it is still a lot better than many others out there.

This author is a safe bet for me, I like all his novels, some more some less but all of them are good reading.

These two novels are a part of a series and it is good if you read them in order but definitely not necessary.

Note: I have read A Drink Before War early on as a separate paperback. I'd give it three stars.

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This author is one of my favorites. This book was fast paced, and easy to read. It is not my favorite by this author by any means but is well written and has strong characters. I love Angie she is very complex. I felt a real connection between her and Patrick (Skid). The story line was believable and it ended up being a terrific story.

Great read but not his best book.

Rating: 3 out of 5

[Aris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful novels.

Sometimes, you don't have to think really hard in order for you to decipher whether other universes of customs and behaviours really exist. You just have to read because, more often than not, that "mirror of reality" thing is there and ready, always ready, to let you see through.

[Beverly Manring · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought it was a page turning thriller from the start it takes place in south Boston,! (more specifically, Dorchester) gritty novel and dismal look at life in general but specifically the lives they touch
In this place husband and wife can work two three jobs and still don’t have anything.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perfect quick moving book. An older book of Lehane but
well written and a page turner. The characters are developed and believable
A good read
This review is for the first book in a 2 book volume
A Drink Before the War

[Adrianne Adelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crazy intense. Graphic. Very graphic as always for Lehane. But if you are looking for a detective thrill ride this is it.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

as dark as midnight and gave me nightmares but so good.

[Cyndi · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG. Read the last 110 pages in one sitting!!!! Darkness, take my hand was a great read WOW 5 stars for this one.

[Malcolm Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not his best

[David Finer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this because it’s set in Boston, but I couldn’t love it because it’s not good

[Trish W. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A double publication of the first and second books in the Kenzie/Gennaro series that Lehane started in 1994; there are six books in total. The author is a talented writer who has since become quite well-known. He kept the well-paced plots of both stories interesting with well-developed characters, which doesn't always occur early in a series. Since the protagonist and his partner are private investigators rather than law enforcement, the stories don't get bogged down in the usual confines of the "police procedural". "A Drink Before The War" won the 1995 Shamus Award for Best First P.I. Novel. This is an entertaining read in crime fiction and I look forward to reading the other three books in this series.

[Mark R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whoever made the decision to publish these two novels in one volume--congratulations to you. These two novels make an excellent "double feature", the first two stories in Lehane's five-novel-long private detective series.

"A Drink Before the War" introduces Patrick Kenzie (whose first-person narration tells the story) and Angela Generro, private eyes whose office is located in a church tower and who have grown up in Boston and seem to know just about everyone in town. In this story, they're hired by a couple of Senators to find some missing documents that were likely stolen by one of the men's assistants, who is herself missing. This sets the detectives on a path that leads to some extremely nasty individuals, culminating in a face-off between two rather large rival gangs. Lehane poses questions on racial and familial relations in ways that do not easily provide answers. The main character's struggle with himself, to do the correct thing, keep his liberal social status in tact, and not allow himself to get swallowed up by the ghost of his father, who is always somewhere towards the front of his mind, takes center stage in the second half of the book. And, as I'd imagine a good detective book is meant to do, the action and violence accelerate right up until the very end, and, at least for this slightly unobservant reader, nothing was predictable.

"Darkness, Take My Hand" is, as its title suggests, very dark, even darker than "A Drink Before the War". When the story picks up, the hero detectives are looking into a case for a friend, a woman who feels that her son is being stalked, though by who, of course, no one can say. This leads Kenzie and Generro to a plot much more complicated, and even more sinister, than that of the first book. Characters, even those who took up only a few pages in "War", are expanded upon, and the histories of the two leads are developed more, as are themes of family, loneliness, and the acceptability of unnecessary violence in extreme situations.

[Jesse Bornemann]

Dennis Lehane is 1) my favorite mystery novelist and 2) considers "Bostonian" a religion - so, I was prepared to cut him some slack on these two novels, if necessary. They're not only the first two in the Kenzie-Gennaro series, but also his first-ever published...i.e. pre-Mystic River, pre-Gone, Baby, Gone. Pre-Affleck.

Of course, Lehane didn't require my charity. "A Drink..." and "Darkness..." establish the theme of "bad good-guys and good bad-guys" that works so well in Lehane's subsequent, blockbuster novels. No matter how many heroic deeds Patrick Kenzie accomplishes in his detective beat, he still battles his own ugly impulses of racism and homophobia, and a self-destructive inability to forgive his abusive father. Meanwhile, the atrocities committed by the novels' "villains" are only trumped by the inhumane actions of their mothers, fathers, neighborhood cops, local politicians, and the societies they inhabit. "

A Drink..." and "Darkness..." only betray Lehane's newbie status in some of their unnecessary details - in particular, more clothing descriptions than a Baby-Sitter's Club book. Don't know about you, but I'm more interested in Kenzie's thoughts and motives than his "pearl gray, unstructured linen jacket."

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

These two novels form part of the "Kenzie and Gennaro" saga, and they've cemented my love for these two working class Dorchester kids. Lehane's characters tend to be hard to love, at least on the surface. They come up out of the racism and violence of the urban Boston area, and Lehane's depictions, as Bob Dylan said in his Academy Award acceptance speech, "don't pussy foot around with the human condition." Patrick and Angie have evolved into private detectives, hard-ass sleuths who struggle to keep their humanity and morality. The panoply of characters they interact with--corrupt politicians, cynical cops, angry young gangsters, cold and calculating third generation mobsters, psychotic serial killers (who sometimes turn out to be combinations of the preceding list of characters), and loyal, but crazy friends from childhood and the neighborhood--are often hard to stomach, but usually arrive as authentic representations of American social and cultural realities.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you liked the film Gone Baby Gone, there's a good chance you'll like the novel series as well. I had a blast. Lehane does an excellent job introducing us to the grimy underside of Boston. I think the stories are a bit over the top, and some of the scenes feel like they were directed by Michael Bay, but the characters are spot on.

Read these two books together or separate, it's all good. I happened to pick up this 2-for-1 deal, but you're neither getting anything extra nor losing anything with this package. Enjoy!

[Ding · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is the real deal in mystery and suspense. This is a volume of two books. The first two books of a series. I like the second book better as it is more thrilling but they are both good reads. The first book sets the tone of the whole series and establishes characters with enough depth. The real work comes in the second book where the case becomes personal to the main character. The story is gripping. The mystery is mind-boggling and the emotions are so real. I love this book and will follow on it with the 3rd book.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man, this was a good read! After watching GONE BABY GONE and rewatching MYSTIC RIVER, I was very excited to start reading Lehane and starting here, with his first novel. It introduces Patrick Kenzie and Angela Genarro (from GBG) in a story about poverty, race relations, gang violence, domestic abuse, and political corruption that reads like a dime detective novel. Fast, fun, and simultaneously sympathetic and vicious toward its characters.

[Sigrid Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this. Nothing about it particularly stood out for me, which I feel is a really weak thing to say about a critically acclaimed novel. But, there you have it. I liked the characters, I thought the writing was tight, I agree Lehane is a talented author, yet I doubt I'll read it again.

If you like gritty urban crime novels with a strong sense of time and place, and that time and place is 1990s Boston, this is THE book for you.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you liked "Gone, Baby, Gone", you will like this. Even if you only saw the movie and didn't read the book (I read Mystic River, so knew I liked Lehane). The dialogue and narrative has the same wise-cracking, Boston attitude that Casey Affleck did a great job of portraying in "Gone, Baby, Gone". This book is a page turner. Started it last night and will finish before bed tonight. Can't help wondering why it hasn't been turned into a move also.

[Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the dead tree version.

Drink Before the War:
Loved the dialog and the pacing. Dennis Lehane is one of my favorite authors.

Darkness, Take My Hand:
The title would make an awesome band name. The prologue was depressing as hell! I didn't notice the dialog as much in this one, but I still flew through it, loving every minute.

[Eric Chow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Both of these books explode with violence and tap into the painful realization that we are all blood, bone and nerve-endings. Lehane's characters come alive like people we grew up with, and their survival through the plot twists keep the reader on his/her toes. Both of these titles are worth reading on their own merit, and can't be compared to each other.

[Abbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The really fun thing about this book is that it's two Dennis Lehane novels in one volume, following the same two detectives through two different cases. Dennis Lehane's writing is so easy to read, and so engaging that it's hard to put his books down!

[Kim]

FANTASTIC series! This compilation that contains 2 books is an awesome start to a series by Dennis Lehane. I read the entire series in less than 2 weeks. I credit them with giving back my love of reading!

[Alissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe if I had read this Dennis Lehane first, I would have liked it. Unfortunately, I read it after reading a bunch of his other books. It's a first novel, and it shows. Also, we get it: Patrick wants to fuck Angie, and thanks for the blatantly obvious foreshadowing. Yawn.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic! I had trouble putting this book down. I would have to say I liked Darkness, Take My Hand slightly better than A Drink Before the War, but only slightly. I cannot wait to finish this series and find out what Kenzie and Gennaro get themselves into next!

[Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though both are filled with an effective dose of violent paranoia, Darkness is the much better story of the two. Would make a good screen adaptation. Neither of these did much for me in the prose department, but were well-plotted and paced, with characters you care about.

[Renee Giglio · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Lehane, but I just wasnt as enthralled with this book as I was with the others. I can't put my finger on it but definitely not his best work. Even the sequel to this was sooo much better.

[Rich Corcoran · Rating 4 out of 5]

What can I say. Kenzie and Angie are the best detective series since Spencer and Hawk. Again another book set in and aeound Boston and it's great to know where every location is.Great dialoque ,suspence and thrills that you would expect from a classic crime/mystery novel.