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

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.

Fast, action-packed mystery about a missing child, the search, and the actions and reactions of everyone involved. Excellent settings, mood, timing and dialogue.

Opens discussion about good and bad parenting, the consequences, and society's responsibility toward children and families.

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.

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

It's been a while since I read the first 3 Kenzie & Gennaro novels and had forgotten most of the stories.
However, "Gone, Baby, Gone" soon had me up to to speed with the titular characters.

The story of the search for a missing girl was compelling and the writing strong, but God could it be depressing.
The city and characters, as described, felt so dark and bleak at times you could be forgiven for believing that even the
sun would not want to shine here.

Principles of justice and parenthood were examined as if through a prism, and what was the best course of action was not always right. And what was right had horrible consequences.

An excellent book. Dark, disturbing and at times hard to read. Highly recommended.

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.