A Drink Before the War
Dennis Lehane. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), $22.95 (267pp) ISBN 978-0-15-100093-7
Lehane's assured debut avoids several common first-mystery flaws before stalling on a less ordinary one. Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, two young, smart-mouthed Boston PIs, are hired by a trio of prominent macho politicians to find a State House cleaning woman who may have purloined some important ``documents.'' The pair quickly learns that Jenna Angeline has no documents. She does have a son and a husband who lead rival black street gangs, an angry sister and a photo of one of the pols with her husband in a hotel room. While helping Patrick, Jenna is gunned down in a hail of Uzi fire; gang war is quickly declared, and the two detectives aim for a plan that will avenge the innocent and punish the guilty. Lehane leaps right into the action; more gradually, we learn about Pat's abusive father, Angie's abusive husband and the attraction smoldering between the two principals. The light tone and whipsaw banter, however, can't carry the pace when the action later slows in this mystery that starts with a bang and goes on shooting-but doesn't hit the bull's eye. (Nov.)
Details
Reviewed on: 10/31/1994
Genre: Fiction
Downloadable Audio - 978-0-06-210173-0
Downloadable Audio - 978-0-06-210172-3
Downloadable Audio - 978-0-06-221274-0
Mass Market Paperbound - 368 pages - 978-0-06-199884-3
Mass Market Paperbound - 320 pages - 978-0-380-72623-3
Open Ebook - 336 pages - 978-1-4464-6583-7
Other - 368 pages - 978-0-06-201565-5
Paperback - 368 pages - 978-0-06-204910-0
Paperback - 300 pages - 978-0-15-602902-5
Paperback - 304 pages - 978-986-235-185-7