Lehane's first novel deals with serious issues: dirty politics, gangs, child abuse and racism. But beyond the issues, there is a fine new, entertaining and well-written novel here.
Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are two fresh, smart-mouthed Boston private investigators. They are hired by a prominent politician for a deceivingly simple assignment: find a State House cleaning woman who has absconded with some important `documents'. The PI duo finds the `documents' triggering a wave of violence that leaves a trail of dead bodies in their wake as they wade through a scandal that will rock the State House for years to come.
The cleaning woman is the first casualty, gunned down by her common law husband. Her husband and son are rivals, each an inner city gang leader. Predictably, gang war breaks out. The shocking roots of the bad blood between father and son lead back to the State House.
Most of these characters are damaged human beings who give testimony to the fact that the worst crimes are usually committed by people who caim to love one another. The smoldering passion between the two detectives adds a nice touch, their conversations are the best in the book- witty, slick, sparkling. Lehane's writing in general, for a first time novelist, is of the highest quality. Some of the novel's few flaws include the male detective's overdone sarcastic tone, which infrequently gets in the way of the action and grates. The PI duo dodge through veritable showers of Uzi bullets, then put the bad guy out with one well-aimed shot. For me, there was heavy-handedness occasionally with scenes of violence and too many racial diatribes.
But overall, this is an impressive debut...RECOMMENDED
Reviewed by Sibylle Barraso
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