Lehane's writing mixes the streetwise and the lyrical…In the decade between the last Kenzie-Gennaro book and this one, Lehane has made quantum leaps as a craftsman…In returning to his old private eye series now, Lehane has narrowed his scope a little: The social commentary is less nuanced, more direct, and plot twists are more prominent than deep moral predicaments. Still, Moonlight Mile should hardly be considered a step back. Instead, Lehane is a writer bringing new confidence and an easy prowess to a new chapter in an epic story—the Kenzie-Gennaro saga.
—The Washington Post
What…keep[s] Moonlight Mile from heading down an overly well-trodden path…[is] the conviction with which Mr. Lehane breathes life into these characters. Unlike the usual sequel writer who simply puts old creations through new paces, Mr. Lehane registers a deep affection for the Kenzie-Gennaro team and a passionate involvement in their problems. And he treats each book in this series as an occasion for wondering what kind of world can produce the depravity that each new plotline describes.
—The New York Times
In the late nineties, a 4-year-old girl disappeared from her home in a Boston suburb. Investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro worked overtime to locate and retrieve her. Now, a dozen years later, Amanda has vanished again and Kenzie and Gennaro are back on the trail. As they assess the case, they become convinced that the old case holds clues to the new one. Moonlight Mile is the explosive standalone sequel to Dennis Lehane's Gone, Baby, Gone (9780061336218), which received high marks from general readers and reviewers.
An old case takes on new dimensions in Lehane's sixth crime novel to feature Boston PIs Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro, last seen in 1999's Prayers for Rain. Twelve years earlier, in 1998's Gone, Baby, Gone, Patrick and Angie investigated the kidnapping of four-year-old Amanda McCready. The case drove a temporary wedge between the pair after Patrick returned Amanda to her mother's neglectful care. Now Patrick and Angie are married, the parents of four-year-old Gabriella, and barely making ends meet with Patrick's PI gigs while Angie finishes graduate school. But when Amanda's aunt comes to Patrick and tells him that Amanda, now a 16-year-old honor student, is once again missing, he vows to find the girl, even if it means confronting the consequences of choices he made that have haunted him for years. While Lehane addresses much of the moral ambiguity from Gone, this entry lacks some of the gritty rawness of the early Kenzie and Gennaro books. (Nov.)
Unlike the usual sequel writer who simply puts old creations through new paces, Mr. Lehane registers a deep affection for the Kenzie-Gennaro team and a passionate involvement in their problems. And he treats each book in this series as an occasion for wondering what kind of world can produce the depravity that each new plotline describes. . . . So Patrick and Angie follow the bread-crumb trail of clues and suspects, giving Mr. Lehane many occasions to write acid-etched dialogue and show off his fine powers of description.
For fans of the Boston-based detective couple—a blue-collar Nick and Nora Charles, putting their relationship to the test in the face of thugs and bums, ethical dilemmas, and a balance-challenged checking account—the return is more than welcome. . . . The plot of Moonlight Mile—a title taken from the Jagger/Richards song—is mapped out with Hammett-like precision, but as with Hammett (and Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald and Charles Willeford), when Lehane’s on his game, it isn’t the plot that matters. It’s the characters, and the smart, hard-boiled prose.
Nobody pokes his nose into the crummy apartments and seedy bars and trash-packed alleys and emotional messes of lower-class life with more observational rigor than Lehane. . . . Moonlight Mile flies at you fast and sinks its hooks into you for keeps. . . . Lehane’s writing, as always, is tight, vivid and brilliantly assured.
Throughout, Lehane’s writing mixes the streetwise and the lyrical. . . . Elsewhere, an extended metaphor aches with confusion and loss - not just the core characters’ but that of a larger community, perhaps America itself. . . . Lehane has made quantum leaps as a craftsman. . . . Lehane is a writer bringing new confidence and an easy prowess to a new chapter in an epic story—the Kenzie-Gennaro saga
In many ways, the novel is an homage to happy family life. It’s a deft delivery system for a story that mixes guts, betrayal and the importance of good values. It’s also a sublime love story about what really matters in the grand scheme of things.
This is Lehane's (www.dennislehanebooks.com) sixth novel to feature Boston PIs Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro, whose working and personal relationship ended in Gone, Baby, Gone (1998) over Kenzie's decision to return a rescued four-year-old kidnapping victim, Amanda McCready, to her abusive mother. In this sequel, set 12 years later, Patrick and Angie are now married and have a four-year-old child of their own. When Amanda, now 16, once again goes missing, Patrick is determined to find her and redeem himself in Angie's eyes. Narrator Jonathan Davis affects a pseudo-Bostonian accent when speaking as Patrick; his Russian accent and humorous portrayal of the Russian characters make for an enjoyable listen. Recommended for crime novel enthusiasts and fans of the series. ["A few false notes involve some cartoonish Russian villains, but the resolution, while sad to series fans, makes perfect sense," read the review of the New York Times best-selling Morrow hc, LJ 9/15/10; the Harper mass market pb will publish in July 2011.—Ed.]—Ilka Gordon, Siegal Coll. of Judaic Studies Lib., Cleveland
