A Drink Before the War

Dennis Lehane

This was my third trip through the wonderful world of Dennis Lehane (I started with Mystic River and then went on to Darkness, Take My Hand). While it was enjoyable enough, and is of historic value for introducing the world to Kenzie and Gennaro, I didn't get as much of a kick out of this one as I did out of the first two. Much of the reason for this is that Lehane spends far too much time in this book having Patrick Kenzie stop the action, turn to the reader, and make speeches about various political subjects. To Lehane's credit, at least they have something to do with the novel's plot, and they're never long enough to really start detracting from the novel itself. That they exist at all, though, is a problem. To his credit, it's obvious from the two more recent works I read before this one that Lehane has gotten much slicker at integrating medium with message since, and thus a little leeway should be allowed him here; those who found themselves turned off by the moralizing here should give Lehane another chance. Those who haven't read it yet, be prepared. Once you get past the moralizing, there's a fine little mystery/action hybrid here.