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.
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.)
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.” — Chicago Tribune
“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.” — New York Times
“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.” — USA Today
“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” — Washington Post
“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.” — Philadelphia Inquirer
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.
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
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.
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.
In 1998's Gone, Baby, Gone, Boston PI Patrick Kenzie rescued a four-year-old kidnapping victim and returned the child to her neglectful mother over partner and lover Angela Gennaro's objections. That decision ended the couple's professional and romantic relationship, although they briefly reunited in Prayers for Rain. In the 12 succeeding years, Lehane wrote several acclaimed stand-alone titles (e.g., Shutter Island; Mystic River) and his first historical novel, The Given Day. Yet the haunting conclusion of Gone, Baby, Gone obviously resonated with the author, as the result is this satisfying sequel. Now a freelance investigator for a white-shoe law firm, Patrick knows he was legally right but morally wrong in his actions years ago, but he and Angie, now married and raising a young daughter, don't discuss the Amanda McCready case. That is, until Amanda's aunt asks for Patrick's help in finding her missing (again) niece, who has grown into a brilliant but aloof 16-year-old. This time, he and Angie are determined to do the right thing by Amanda. VERDICT Longtime readers will appreciate how Lehane's protagonists have believably aged. Fatherhood has mellowed Patrick, but he's not above inflicting a little pain with the help of sidekick Bubba. Temporarily a stay-at-home mom, Angie misses the hard-edged excitement of her old life. A few false notes involve some cartoonish Russian villains, but the resolution, while sad to series fans, makes perfect sense. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/10.]—Wilda Williams, Library Journal
Lehane returns to characters Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, last heard in 1999 in PRAYERS FOR RAIN. Narrator Jonathan Davis hits the accents hard so there's no mistaking that Patrick and Angie haven't strayed far from their Boston roots. In fact, an old case ignites Patrick's passionate sense of justice, and he's back in the game of chasing gangsters and thieves. Davis keeps listeners on track, but the unfortunate choice of a heavy-handed accent for Patrick's interior narrative is consistently jarring. Lehane's elegant, crisp writing, sharp wit, and great characters are not obscured, but a lighter touch with the ever-challenging Boston accents would have made this more memorable listening. R.F.W. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine
DECEMBER 2010 - AudioFile
A modern master of suspense revives the series that initially earned him a hard-core following.
Before Lehane attracted a lot more attention through the film adaptation of hisMystic River (2001) and then made a major literary leap withThe Given Day (2008), the author had built a loyal fan base through a series of detective novels featuring Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. In this sequel toGone, Baby, Gone (1998), they are no longer partners as Boston private investigators but a married couple with a four-year-old daughter. Patrick freelances for a venerable firm that caters to the city's power elite, where he wrestles with the morality of his work but hopes for a full-time job. While Angie finishes grad school, they are all but broke. Twelve years earlier, they'd been racked by the case of a kidnapped four-year-old, Amanda McCready, when they rescued her from a couple who only wanted the best for her and returned her to her unfit mother. Now Amanda has disappeared again, and Patrick must decide whether to revisit a case that had caused his estrangement from Angie for over a year, and which now could threaten their domesticity and their daughter. As a return to earlier form for Lehane, the novel lacks the psychological depth and thematic ambition of his recent work, but its wise-cracking dialogue, page-turning (though convoluted) plot and protagonists who are all the more likable for their flaws extend the addictive spirit of the series. "When your daughter asks what you stand for, don't you want to be able to answer her?" Angie challenges her husband. To do so, he becomes enmeshed with the Russian Mob, shifting allegiances and a wise-beyond-her-years, 16-year-old Amanda, who rubs his nose in the aftereffects of his earlier involvement with her. By the breathless climax, it may appear that this book is the last in the series. But Lehane has fooled us before.
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