Appearance
Darkness, Take My Hand (Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro)
As I write this review, 55 other people have already reviewed this book. I agree with most of them, that this was a fine book. Out of the five Kenzie/Gennaro books in the series, this is perhaps my favorite. It leans a little more into the thriller/suspense genre than it does the PI genre, but that is OK, because I know it is a series and not a stand-alone book.Some reviewers (a few) have panned this book as derivative and in one particular spot too much like 'Silence of the Lambs'. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but I would just say that almost everything is derivative in some way, and Harris does not have a patent on prison visitations as a plotline.Dennis Lehane crafts some of the best sentences I have read in this genre, so you should read the entire Kenzie/Gennaro series starting with 'A Drink Before the War', and if you have already read it, then read 'Darkness, Take My Hand' NOW.
Darkness, Take My Hand (Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro)
I found myself reading well after midnight, long after I should have turned the light out, but I found it difficult to leave Patrick and Angie and their incredibly dangerous situation. I tend to prefer cozies, stories which are lighter and not nearly as violent as this, but Lehane hooked me and I couldn't turn away. I've now read the first three in the series, and I will continue.
Darkness, Take My Hand (Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro)
When a book like Mystic River comes along and so thoroughly blows me away, I run to the author's backlist, hoping to find another masterpiece. While Darkness, Take My Hand is suspenseful, well plotted, and very entertaining, it's the work of a developing author, not the master that Lehane has since become. By all means, read it. Just know that it's an early work and Lehane not yet at the top of his game.
Darkness, Take My Hand (Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro)
I just finished this book and let me tell you, if you are lover of thrilling books then this is the one for you. The story is well written and Lehane writes just as good as any other of his books. I just read Shutter Island so I decided to try this next and in my opinion this is much better. My only issue is that the Kindle does not have the first book to the series so i don't know how Kenzie and Angie became who they are. Now its time to read the next one in the series, Sacred.
Darkness, Take My Hand (Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro)
In this the second book in his Kenzie-Gennaro detective series, Dennis Lehane begins to show his skills in earnest (surpassingA Drink Before the War). The complex plot is well-constructed and expertly revealed. The book opens with Kenzie reflecting on the events to follow and foreshadowing an ominous tale.Kenzie is called in by a young man's mother to investigate a threat against him by the Irish mob. Kenzie and Gennaro get a sit down meet with the mobsters through their own psycho friend Bubba that leads pretty much nowhere.Kenzie continues to poke around in Boston's underbelly and what he finds is anything but pretty. Dead bodies start to stack up that suggest a serial killer is on the loose - but another killer reaches out to Kenzie from prison. His interview with this inmate called to mind the Silence of the Lambs. Lehane creates a truly disturbed person who causes primal fear even though he's shackled and behind bars.Are the events separated by some two decades somehow related? And who's calling the tune? The writing is very good, the story is taut and a page-turner. If you are like me, you will soon develop a whodunit theory or two that turn out to be way off course, a sign of a good mystery. Lehane explores the psychology of the extremely violent and how they got that way, but be forewarned, the violence is extreme and not infrequent. Even the survivors are damaged perhaps irretrievably.With the caveat about the violence, this book is highly recommended. But really folks, Lehane is not kidding about the darkness. A conditional five stars.
Darkness, Take My Hand (Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro)
This is an incredibly engrossing story. Be warned though--the violence is horrific. The murder descriptions are VERY disturbing but I never felt they were gratuitous. This is a fascinating story of friendship and family but it also shows the violence that both the most-twisted among us and ordinary citizens are capable of. Sometimes they are one and the same.