Review: Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane
Reviewed by Mac M.
The human spirit is a study in contradiction. Capable in the same instant of honor or evil, little portends which path anyone chooses from one second to the next. The rich, gray space in between these extremes makes life interesting and informs great story telling. Few modern-day authors understand that gray world better than Dennis Lehane. Lehane can toss moral certainty into chaos quicker than anyone writing these days. With a unique gift for highlighting the thinly veiled ambiguities of social custom, any seemingly well-settled value, no matter the origin, is at risk under his gaze.
As the certain heir to Dashiell Hammet and Mickey Spillane, Lehane introduced Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro in A Drink Before the War, the debut installment of his wildly popular mystery series. Deeply rooted in the immigrant-infused, blue-collar culture of South Boston, Kenzie and Gennaro are hip and edgy, quick to violence; like Spade and Hammer before them, they inhabit a vacuum where their actions cannot be judged by any unifying principal outside of a sense of personal independence and blind loyalty to a select group of friends. Kenzie and Gennaro’s interactions with a wide-ranging cast of colorful and eccentric characters allows Lehane to comment on the current state of racial and economic politics with a rare, if dangerous, frankness that echoes the moral ambiguity of classic noir fiction.
In the latest, and perhaps last, episode in the Kenzie/Gennaro series, Moonlight Mile, the detective duo is enlisted to find Amanda McCready for the second time in their careers. The earlier Gone, Baby, Gone chronicled the disappearance of four-year-old Amanda when her drunk of a mother left the child alone in an unlocked apartment. Kenzie and Gennaro eventually learn that Amanda was kidnapped by a group of Boston cops dedicated to reallocating neglected children without the state’s involvement. The pair must return Amanda to an obviously unfit and abusive biological mother or leave her with a loving family who kidnapped her and murdered to cover it up. The decision shatters several lives.
[amazonify]0061836923[/amazonify]With Moonlight Mile, twelve years have passed, and Kenzie and Gennaro have grown tired of the danger and chaos of their younger days. Edging toward mainstream, they are now parents and are both pursuing safer, more mundane careers. But in Amanda’s second disappearance, Kenzie and Gennaro see an opportunity to right the wrongs of their earlier choices, even if it means being sucked back into a world of indiscriminate violence and unaccountable pain.
As with the other novels in the series, Moonlight Mile is a subtle and measured study on the complexities and contradictions of the human condition. The writing is a grade above most mystery writing; it is literary and intelligent without pretension. The book’s only failing is Lehane’s primary weakness in all of the episodes in the series: he sometimes forces a super-criminal or a twist-infused plot into an otherwise realistic and thought-provoking story. Save for about five pages, Moonlight Mile never stretches the boundaries of plausibility. But in those five pages, a sixteen-year-old girl is uncovered as a psychopathic master-mind only Ian Flemming could have imagined.
Bottom Line: Lehane writes with a talent few other mystery authors possess. Forgive his occasional lapse into thriller pulp and delight in his mastery and reinvention of classic noir.
Rating: 4 ½ bones!!!!!
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Every year I read at least one mystery series in total. This year, it was Dennis Lehane’s Kenzie/Gennaro series. For those interested, I’ve included a short comment on each of the entries in the series.
Bottom Line: A superb neo-noir mystery that confronts the corruption of modern civilization in a realistic and honest way. A compelling introduction to Lehane’s mystery series.
Rating: 5 bones!!!!!
Bottom Line: A disappointing continuation of the series, as Lehane’s superior story-telling takes a bit of a back seat to the sensational and the bloody in following a serial killer. Read it to keep up with Kenzie and Gennaro.
Rating: 4 bones!!!!
Bottom Line: Two super-criminals at war against each other, leaving Kenzie and Gennaro in the middle. Lehane seems more interested in plot-building, as the twists and turns in the book seem to serve no other purpose. Ultimately, the growth of Kenzie and Gennaro as people and as characters saves the book from itself.
Rating: 3 ½ bones!!!!
Bottom Line: Kenzie and Gennaro try to find a missing girl. Lehane is at his morally ambiguous best; he challenges everything you think you believe in. Gone, Baby, Gone fulfills the promise of the debut in this series. A favorite read for the year.
Rating: 5 bones!!!!!
Bottom Line: Adrift, Kenzie tries to reconnect to his life and his partner while trying to explain the suicide of a client. Grade-A writing and superior story-telling, even if the ending seems a little forced.
Rating: 4 bones!!!!
Mac M., aka blackdogbooks on Librarything, lives in the American Southwest and works in law enforcement.
This book was provided free of any obligation by William Morrow. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.
Category: For Men, Gift Ideas, Literature & Fiction, Mysteries/Thrillers, Mystery & Thrillers
As for Lehane’s A DRINK BEFORE THE WAR, we agree. You say five bones; I say five stars.
Don’t read reviews of A DRINK BEFORE THE WAR on amazon.com before you read it. They give too much information and spoil the story.
Dennis Lehane’s A DRINK BEFORE THE WAR introduces two PIs, Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. They’re hired by a politician to find a cleaning lady who he claims has stolen some important documents from him. That’s all the politician wants. Once they find the cleaning lady, their job will be done. But Patrick and Angela learn there is more to those documents, and more than one person wants them.
Their exploits as they learn more and more make this book a true mystery/thriller you won’t want to see end.
But take heart when end it does. A DRINK BEFORE THE WAR is just the first book in a series about Patrick and Angie. And they’re all excellent. I can tell you because I read them all. But this book, in particular, is probably my favorite in the series because of Lehane’s comments spoken through the voice and thoughts of Patrick.
So now I’m sad. I read the series out of order (which you can do with this series because Lehane writes so well) and, although A DRINK BEFORE THE WAR begins the series, I already read the rest of the series. And I also already read every standalone book Lehane wrote. And now there are no more until he writes another.
I have lots more to add about Lehane’s books. This will take more than one post. Here’s the first. (Or I guess this is the second after the post from October 2011.)
My Review of Moonlight Mile, Four Stars
MOONLIGHT MILE by Dennis Lehane is a continuation of his Patrick-and-Angela series. Lehane had said he’s all out of ideas for this series, and this book even sounds like it may be his last. Lehane fans, fear not. I mean his last in the series, not his last book.
Patrick and Angela are private investigators. In this book, they’re married and have a 4-year-old daughter. Consequently, they’re a bit more careful than they used to be. And Patrick hates his job.
If you’ve been reading this series, you remember when Patrick and Angela found a child who had been kidnapped from her neglectful (and trashy) mother. It turned out that the little girl had been taken by a loving couple who the child would have been better off with. The couple went to jail. Against Angela’s wishes, Patrick returned the child to the awful mother.
Now it’s more than 10 years later, and Patrick and Angela revisit this case. The girl, now 17, is again missing. And, although Patrick and Angela can’t afford it, Patrick gets sucked into the case.
Speaking of “can’t afford it,” our country’s sorry economy is a theme in this book.
This is another great Dennis Lehane book. It was a quick read because I didn’t want to put it down, which is as all books should be but so few are.
I’ve read everything Lehane has written. As you say, he writes literary thrillers that are far superior to the majority of thrillers out there.
I read somewhere that he said he’s all out of ideas for Patrick and Angela. I loved that series. I hope that he at least sticks to writing literary thrillers.
I am not family with this mystery series at all. I love mysteries but the part about a sixteen year old master mind just doesn’t do it for me. There are quite a few diffferent kinds of mystery. I love intelligence and shades of gray but I need to believe that it could happen. Pass for me.
Carol Wong
Hey Mac!
Awesome review as always! And while I hadn’t known of the author or the series, I look forward to reading it, I don’t know when though. Was this the last part or are there more sequels to this one?
I wasn’t aware Moonlight Mile was part of a series either! I remember seeing the movie Gone Baby Gone and loving it, so I will definitely check out the book. I read Shutter Island last year and LOVED IT! I can’t wait to read Dennis Lehane’s new book! It is on my wishlist already
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I had no idea Lehane wrote a mystery series. I will certainly check Moonlight as well as the rest of the series. Thanks for review and recommendation
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Wow, that was seriously a great review. You totally made me want to read this book and take a look at this series. I haven’t read any books in this series but after reading your review, I will totally take a look at them. From your description it sounds like this is seriously my type of book series.
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