Rating: 9

I picked this book for two reasons:

1. Lots of crime fic readers—Lehane fans a given—recommended it highly.
2. I knew the movie was getting lots of advance buzz, so I wanted to read it before I saw it.

That said, I waited to write this review (which I’m doing on November 11th… the post date says October 17th) because I wanted my opinion of the movie and the book both to stand on their own. I’m not sure why it mattered to me. It just did.

Now, three weeks after the fact, I wish I’d done them together because, quite frankly, the review for the book would’ve been just two words long: LOVED IT!

My prior experience reading Lehane was UNTIL GWEN, a short story complied in the 2005 volume of THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES. I loved that, too. (Not a complete Lehane neophyte, I’d also seen the movie version of MYSTIC RIVER.)

So why had I taken so long to drink up more of Lehane’s brilliance? Ignorance? Nah. More like “too many books, not enough time.” We all know how that story goes.

In a way I’m glad I’ve left Lehane off my TBR for so long. I’m late to the party, yes, but I got here when all the good shit happens.