Gone, Baby, Gone

The human spirit is layered in contradiction. Capable in the same instant of honor or evil, little portends which path any of us chooses from second to second. The rich, gray space in between these extremes of human behavior is what makes life interesting and informs great story-telling. Dennis Lehane understands that gray world better than most any modern-day author.

Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro reluctantly agree to investigate the disappearance of four-year-old Amanda McCeady from their gritty South Boston neighborhood. Amanda’s mother, Helene, left the child alone in an unlocked apartment to numb herself with alcohol and television in a neighbor’s place. With no ransom message from kidnappers and no evidence of a sexually show more motivated abduction, Amanda seems to have simply vanished. Local drug dealers and an odd conspiracy of child sex offenders seem good potential suspects, but something is always tilted slightly out of square. In the end, Amanda’s fate challenges Kenzie and Gennaro’s most basic understanding of right and wrong.

Lehane can throw moral certainty into chaos quicker than anyone writing these days. Any well-settled value, no matter the origin, is at risk under his gaze. After two installments in the Kenzie/Genarro mystery series focused more on slick plot and shock value, [Gone, Baby, Gone] marks Lehane’s return to uncovering the thinly veiled ambiguity and contradictions of social custom with solid story-telling and realistically conflicted characters. There are no pat answers, no happy endings here, like in life.

Bottom Line: Lehane 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.

Five bones!!!!!
A favorite read for the year. show less

Denis Lehane was listed as one of the Times' (London) 50 best crime writers, and this book was the suggested example of his work. I think he deserves his place on the list. The writing is fluent and pacy without too much of the philosophising or observing the beauties of nature that can creep into some crime novels with literary pretensions. The PIs, criminals and police share common backgrounds and many attitudes. In fact the 'normal' criminals - drug dealers, murderers and the like - tend to be portrayed as being as easy to get on with as the street cops. The paedophiles are a different category and are given the full horrorshow treatment which, for me, had the effect of making them less than credible.

The central challenge of the book show more is how to deal with neglect and indifference to children rather than the intentional abuse of the perverted. What rights should a parent have over their child? How much state intervention in child care is appropriate? Who is to make the decisions? Recent well-publicised cases in the UK have highlighted the pitfalls. To avoid spoilers, let's just say that a question is asked at the end of the book and the author's answer may not be what the reader would choose.

The plot is complex but not excessively so. The characters are well portrayed - I thought at first Patrick and Angie were shaping up to be better balanced and less tortured than many literary detectives, but by the end it's reassuringly clear that they are as screwed up as their rivals. Another reviewer has remarked that the series would better be read in order: given some of the background described in this book, I would agree. I am looking forward to making the acquaintance of Kenzie and Gennaro again, and I'm particularly glad that this isn't the last of the series.

Recommended with little reservation. show less

Wow, even with knowing how good Lehane's writing can be, this just amazed me. It’s probably the darkest psychological thriller I’ve come across and certainly the most disturbing. The book starts off with a missing child case and expands into the sordid world of crimes against children. And something that seems like a simple matter of right and wrong, good guys vs. bad guys, turns into a moral dilemma that questions if doing the right thing is always the right thing to do.

A great writer but very gritty and dark. A true believer that everything is grey and it's not easy to know what shade of grey is the right one. I give Lehane extra brownie points for a throw away line -- "... and the Wang was showing the latest bombastic Andrew Lloyd Webber or someone similar's piece of soldout, overwrought, overdone, singing dung, extravaganza ..." Thank you!!!

Seriously, his plots are brilliant and unpredictable, his characters are deeply nuanced and his writing style is compelling and driven toward a messy conflicted climax that both satisfies and frustrates the reader -- frustrates because you feel the main characters' frustration. Good stuff.

I rekindled my new found flame with Dennis Lehane when the book Gone Baby, Gone turned up on my book buying list. I was excited to read it and thrilled and surprised when two characters from the last Lehane novel I read, Angie Gennaro and Patrick Kenzie, popped back into my life.

These two inner city Boston private eyes have their offices in a belfry in a church near their respective apartments. Since I am reading out of order, the author was kind enough to fill in the blanks for those of us who do that, by letting me know that they were now a couple. Once again, Lehane does a brilliant job of painting a vivid picture of the city of Boston and surrounds.

I am not going to give much away because I want readers to go out and get this book. show more But, the story begins with the abduction of a four year old from her bedroom in a rough Boston neighborhood. Mom is a hard drinking, party girl who's story is that she left her daughter alone in an unlocked apartment to go next door and watch t.v. And drink with a neighbor. In fact, she left her alone in an unlocked apartment to go drink at an extremely unsavory neighborhood bar.

While the story moves along at a cracking pace and involves good and bad cops, neighborhood toughs, drug dealers, organized crime and a host of other issues, what is never far from your mind is the fact that the clock is ticking and there is a four year old out there who is at risk now and was at just as much risk at home. The book even begins by reminding you how many children go missing in the United States each day.

That concern over what is happening to the child made me anxious and that anxiety in turn, kept me up reading long past the hour that I should have been asleep. There area ton of twists and turns in the plot that keep you guessing right up to the final page.

This is my second Dennis Lehane read and I see consistency in his books and his writing. I knew I would be back to read other books by this author and I was not disappointed. I can assure other readers that they won't be either. Just be prepared to stay up past your bedtime! show less

The fourth in Lehane's series is at least as good as what's come before. Kenzie and Gennaro are as screwed up as ever, Lehane's writing is fantastic, and the story is as captivating as they come.

Gone, Baby, Gone centers around the disappearance of a little girl, but like all Lehane books, things are never simple. In this case, the girl's mother is more interested in the media exposure than in her child and the mystery of exactly what happened just keeps getting deeper and deeper. Eventually, the question of just what happened becomes a compulsion with Kenzie and Gennaro. As with most of Lehane's books, part of what's great about this book is the discussion of bigger issues that takes place within the context of a particular story.

Highly show more recommended, but best if you start from the beginning of the series. show less

Not perfect but a great read. The uber-villain here was not the main villain. The book is memorable because the bad guys were also the good guys and the ending showed that sometimes the right ending isn't a just one. There are so few of these with this level of complexity. Granted his characters are violent but that is the world of Kenzie and Gennaro's Southie. Gennaro taking off at the end was a little too self-involved which was good because her and Kenzie were being a little too perfect in love. Looking forward to reading Prayers.