Mystic River

Dennis Lehane

I picked up this one because it was cheap at the bookstore and I wondered whether Lehane was any good without his regular characters. And he was. I don't know if there was a lot of hype around this book because here there wasn't and I think it only came into translation after the movie was produced. First of all I am very curious about the movie since the book was very clear and graphic and from the previews I saw of the movie it looks as though they didn't have such a tough job in implementing it. However I am not all that impressed with it as a whole. Funny enough roughly halfway through it suddenly struck me what must have happend and I wasn't even “digging into” the fact who has killed the girl! That was a bit of a setback for me, but probably I just had a hint of insight or intelligence and was it probably just me. Because ofcourse that is not what the book is about, who killed the girl. It is about grief, revenge and ignorance. Those emotions are very well written by Lehane he gives all the characters enough depth and they are all very believable. I personally was struck the most by the saddness of Dave's character and story. The vengeance and agressiveness of Jimmy, the father of the murdered girl and an ex-con was well written but his character didn't grab me that much. Sean's relationship to his wife who has left him, I just didn't get that or at least it didn't touch me either. Again maybe it's just me but I thought it an average novel with some interesting plots and characters.