Mystic River by Dennis Lehane

I read ‘A Drink before the War’ by Dennis Lehane sometime ago and was not sufficiently impressed to read another.  Then I saw this quote on therealbookspy.com. “I think Dennis Lehane has written the best crime novel in the English language. Mystic River is an incredible accomplishment.”--- James Lee Burke. That accolade from such a mystery writing icon encouraged me to take another look.

Three mischievous boys in south Boston, Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus, and Dave Boyle have an experience that changes their lives forever.  One day when they are contemplating stealing a car just for the fun of it, two men posing as plain clothed policemen stop and ask them to get into the back seat of their car.  Only Dave does.  Turns out the men were not policemen and Dave is kidnapped and sexual abused before managing to escape.

 

Fast forward twenty-five years… Sean is a state homicide cop and is separated from his wife, and Jimmy is an ex-con who has gone straight, and now has a loving family and owns a neighborhood coffee shop and dry goods store.  Dave is forever guilt ridden, fighting the demons that tempt him to do terrible things.  He drifts from job to job and struggles to hold his marriage together… always mindful his demons may come out.

One night, Jimmy’s teenage daughter is found murdered.  Dave comes home that night with blood on his clothes and tells his wife he beat up a mugger.  Sean draws the case and knowing Jimmy’s history, is afraid he will take the law into his own hands in a fit of vengeful rage.  Here the mystery and suspense kick in.  It’s clear we are supposed to believe, Dave is the killer but enough doubt is strewed to open the possibility of someone else.  What possible motive could Dave have for killing Jimmy’s daughter?  Will Jimmy be able to control his need for revenge or will his criminal instincts overpower him?  Will Sean be able to re-insert himself into the lives of his childhood pals sufficiently and in time to avoid yet another life altering experience for the three men?

Burke was right to praise this outstanding crime thriller.  Lehane not only offers mystery and suspense, he delves deep into the lives of three pretty normal men and makes you search for the good and the bad in each one’s character.  That’s the thing… it’s hard to identify with any one of the three men but it’s easy to empathize with parts of each one.  I guess that’s the point, no man is perfect but some good lives within each of us… excellent read.  Now I need to go find the movie and then select another Dennis Lehane mystery.

Damon Runyon's Boys by Michael Scott Cain

Here we are. NYC post WWII. Damon Taylor worked the crime beat in Chicago, but the war dampened his enthusiasm leading him to develop a healthy case of cynicism. Still a crime reporter, he's relocated to NYC working for Crime Weekly magazine. Hey, it pays the bills.

But these are the heady days of big bands, ballrooms, and swing dancing. Folks line the streets trying to get in the Savoy Ballroom to see, be seen, hear hot music, and see some of the best dancing in the city. Right up until the dance troup's leader gets gunned down by two guys. Right there in front of everyone.  Right there in mid-performance. Ballsy hit.

Taylor's editor tells him to find out what happened and write it up. Now Taylor may be a cynic, but he still knows how to dig a bit and see if anything pops up that might make this killing something that will help Crime Weekly sell more magazines. Along the way, he gets some guidance from a certifiable legend in Walter Winchell and ends up with a newbie following him around looking to break into the NYC writing fraternity. Kid named Truman Capote.

What starts off looking like a simple hit, Taylor finds way more than he bargained for. Not hard to figure that out when he gets mugged in a men's room at Ebbett's Field or being shot at. A sly word here leads him into the fashion district. Another quiet word sets Taylor off trying to get an audience with the notorious mobster Frank Costello. Was this dancer really that well connected?

Thanks to the good folks at Stark House Press for the advance copy. Cain has five novels and five non-fiction books to his credit. A short blurb about Arbuckle's Dance has set me off trying to find it. I've read a few crime reporter books and found that I quite like them. A change from cops or PI's. A quick and easy read, one that opens quickly and keeps you interested by grabbing your lapels and not letting go. Good stuff. Very good stuff.

ECD

Sulfur Springs by William Kent Krueger

Been awhile since MRB last checked in on Cork O’Connor.

He got married to Rainy Bisonette a few months back and is looking forward to July 4^th in way upstate Minnesota. Both Cork and Rainy have kids from prior marriages. Rainy’s son Peter calls and leaves a cryptic message about him having killed a man and something about someone named Rodriguez. 

Peter lives well outside Tucson in Sulfur Springs, AZ, a nothing town on the Mexico border. He finished at the U of Arizona and then joined the Marines. He was wounded in Afghanistan and returns home addicted to painkillers. Rainy arranged for him to get rehab at a tony center in Cadiz, AZ. After getting clean, he knocked around at some odd jobs and eventually worked at the rehab center with other vets getting treatment. 

Rainy and Cork grab the next flights to Tucson to find out what’s going on. Peter no longer works at the rehab center and now works for a up and coming winery doing whatever needs to be done. But as with most all counties bordering Mexico, there is a constant stream of drugs, illegals, and human traffickers along with those who might see some profit in the cross border trades. All of which are being run by two main cartels, the head of one just happens to be Peter’s dad and Rainy’s first husband. Throw in the DEA, ICE, Border Patrol, a renegade biker gang, and the FBI and you get a pot cooking that is ready to boil over. 

Enter Peter. He takes on the task of humanitarian by helping struggling families make their way into the US, safely. And this doesn’t sit well with anyone. With no one able to trust anyone, standoffs lead to violence and a string of dead people. And plenty of folks think all would be well if that guy from Minnesota and his Ojibwe wife had just stayed home and not poked a den of rattlesnakes. 

MRB has reviewed a number of books by Krueger and all have been first rate, regardless of whether the book is about Cork O’Connor or not. The good folks at Atria Books turned us on to him and I know I've been grateful ever since. His 2013 novel Ordinary Grace was the Edgar Award winner for Best Novel – fiction’s version of Best Picture. If you love stories of the older wizened lawman out there in rural America (I’m thinking CJ Box’s Joe Pickett or Craig Johnson’s Walt Longmire), you’ll quickly bring O’Connor into your galaxy. With nearly 20 books to his credit, you’ll have plenty to keep you busy. 

ECD

The Disappeared

The Disappeared is the 18^th novel in the Joe Pickett Series by C. J. Box. We at Men Reading Books have reviewed all of them. I am so enamoured with Box’s stories about Joe Pickett that I have purchased one of Box’s tee shirts which reads (WWJPD) which means, What Would Joe Pickett Do. Joe is a Wyoming Game Warden and all of the novels follow his time on the job, encounters with crooks, and his trouble with the ever changing administration in Wyoming. This unceasingly honest man is constantly challenged by ethical dilemmas.

In this newest novel, Box is sent by the new governor, a shady and obnoxious man. Joe is sent to Saratoga, Wyoming in order to look for an English celebrity who disappeared after completing a week’s stay at the country’s most elite and expensive dude ranch. (I worked on a dude ranch in Montana for a summer in the 60’s, and I think Box captured the essence of that quite well.) Also, about the same time the celebrity went missing (an event which was an international sensation and a great embarrassment to the governor), the former Game Warden from Saratoga had walked off his job without explanation, and he disappeared. When Joe is in the midst of doing his investigation, he ran across the largest wind-energy project in the U.S., and he began to wonder if there might be a connection to the environmental challenges of the development company and the disappearance of the celebrity. And, his oldest child, a daughter named Sheridan, now 23, and had become romantically involved with the head wrangler at the dude ranch.

As usual, the story was richly told. Box’s description of the bitter cold winter that was occurring was as good as his usual descriptions of the rugged Wyoming territory. Box included the ongoing development of Joe’s family and the fascinating Nate Romanowski, a legendary outlaw falconer. This book gave me what a wanted – more time with Joe Pickett and the rugged Wyoming countryside. This would have been read in a single sitting, but fortunately, there were only a couple short interruptions. If you haven’t read Joe Pickett, get to it.

The Last Days of Night: A Novel

The Last Days of Night, a novel by Graham Moore is a wonderful story about the contest between Thomas Edison on one side and George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla on the other side to develop the electrical grid which would power the US. The story takes place mostly in the 1800’s and mostly in New York and Pennsylvania, the respective states of the competitors. Regarding the national electrical grid, Edison was betting on direct current (DC), and Westinghouse backed Tesla’s concept for alternating current (AC). The contrasting personalities and styles of the inventors was developed beautifully. Contributing to the story telling was Paul Cravath, who as an untested attorney and recent graduate of law school, became Westinghouse’s lawyer who was challenged by Edison’s monstrous and aggressive organization. Adding to the story was the presence of Agnes Huntington, a beautiful singer who had become a celebrity in NYC.

The pace of the story, the character development, and the unfolding of the plot were all excellent. The author has not previously been reviewed in the blog. I love historical fiction, and it’s possible that this book could be my favorite read in 2018.

Twisted Prey by John Sandford

Financially, Lucas Davenport doesn’t need to work.  He gained wealth early in his career by successfully starting a computer game company then selling it for a ridiculous profit.  Plus his wife, Weather is a well-respected surgeon.  Lucas’ law enforcement career could have ended with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension where he solved many of the toughest cases.  But with his political connections Lucas was able to land a job as a U.S. Marshall with the luxury of working only the cases he finds interesting… a way of scratching his itch for the thrill of the hunt.  Lucas didn’t know when he took the job, however, he’d get pulled into a dangerous fight between the two Minnesota U.S. Senators that would threaten his reputation and his life as well as the lives of his family.

Senator Porter Smalls is injured when his vehicle driven by a female aide is forced off the road near his remote cabin in the mountains of West Virginia.  His aide is killed and the senator is convinced the murderers were hired by his nemesis Senator Taryn Grant and intended to kill him.  Senator Grant has aspirations to be president and knows Smalls will stand in her way.  Years earlier she had anonymously planted kiddie porn on Smalls’ computer to defeat him in a senatorial election.  Smalls has since proven his innocence and subsequently was elected to the second seat for Minnesota senators.  But Grant is careful and sneaky.  She has connections to some ex-military special ops guys who are professionals in covert operations and in covering their tracks… an apparent mismatch for a former state cop now U.S. Marshall Davenport.

Lucas does what he does best… collaborates with and uses the resources of several law enforcement agencies to gather evidence… this time about the accident.  But as Lucas closes in, he and his wife become targets.  Lucas must put his life on the line to find evidence that leads through these professionally trained mercenaries to the twisted Senator Grant.

Twisted Prey is number 28 in John Sandford’s prey series and is just more of what his fans love… Lucas Davenport chasing the bad guys and charming everyone else along the way.  I wouldn’t categorize this one as a page turner but a solid, enjoyable read… pretty much what we expect from John Sandford.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.