Re-read: Mystic River by Dennis Lehane

Mystic RiverMystic River by Dennis Lehane
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

2020 re-read:

I had never considered how much we grow as readers over time, but re-reading this has taught me that I definitely have. A part of it is not comparing this to the film version this time around and a part of it is that there were so many passages that made me swear or blaspheme as is my habit when I read a great passage. I likely did it more during this one than any I've read for a long time.

There's a beautiful cynicism to this book that I think comes with age too and being the same age as the adult characters in this book let me soak in the prose even more. I don't think I need to spell out the plot as there can't be many who haven't either read or seen the film version.

The characters are amazingly etched and this is a dream novel in that it manages the task of being an immense character novel while having a compelling mystery at its heart. This is probably going to lead to more Lehane re-reads especially as my friend, Chris, has recently read the Kenzie and Gennaro books.

Synopsis:

There are threads in our lives. You pull one, and everything else gets affected. When they were children, Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus and Dave Boyle were friends. But then a strange car pulled up their street. One boy got in the car, two did not, and something terrible happened - something that ended their friendship and changed all three boys forever.

Twenty-five years later, Sean Devine is a homicide detective. Jimmy Marcus is an ex-con who owns a corner store. And Dave Boyle is trying to hold his marriage together and keep his demons at bay -demons that urge him to do horrific things.

When Jimmy Marcus' daughter is found murdered, Sean Devine is assigned to the case. His personal life unravelling, he must go back into a world he thought he'd left behind to confront not only the violence of the present but the nightmares of his past. His investigation brings him into conflict with Jimmy Marcus, who finds his old criminal impulses tempt him to solve the crime with brutal justice. And then there is Dave Boyle, who came home the night Jimmy's daughter died covered in someone else's blood...

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