In the mid-1990s, Dennis Lehane published A Drink Before The War, the first in a series of mystery novels featuring Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. I was hooked. His writing includes both standalone novels as well as series – and in my opinion all can be read in any order (although as is often the case with series featuring crimefighters, the evolution of the characters and their relationships is better when read in order. Among his many books, Mystic River, Shutter Island, and Gone, Baby, Gone were made into successful movies, and he wrote for The Wire, which is possibly the best crime-centered TV series ever. I admit I haven’t loved everytiing of his that I’ve read, but I am always eager to explore his latest, so I was pleased to receive a copy of Small Mercies from Harper and NetGalley in exchange for this honest review.
Small Mercies is set in Lehane’s Boston in 1974, just when the court-ordered busing to integrate public schools began. Lehane has a vivid memory of riding through South Boston late one night in the car with his parents (he was nine at the time) and being terrified as he witnessed the frenzied mob of protesters who seemed ready to burn it all down. He says “This is a novel about those times. And maybe about the times we live in now.”
South Boston was known as a rough area: “…in Southie, most kids came out of the womb clutching a Schlitz and a pack of Luckies.” The racism for which Boston is well known is a given. The protagonist, Mary Pat, “...can’t blame the coloreds for wanting to escape their shithole, but trading it for her shithole makes no sense.” People talk a lot about their religion, but “No matter what we claim in public, in private we all know that the only law and the only god is money.” Mary Pat has grown up in the projects, and the story revolves around the search she undertakes when her teenage daughter doesn’t come home one night– the same night a young Black man is found dead, having been struck by a subway train.As Mary Pat begins asking questions in her search for her daughter, the head of the Irish mob and the tough guys who work for him feel a threat to their business, and Mary Pat is doing a dangerous and possibly foolish thing as she continues her quest. In this tale of crime and power, the exploration of the racism that is more and more overt makes for some tense reading. Optimistically, I like to believe that “…maybe the opposite of hate is not love. It’s hope. Because hate takes years to build, but hope can come sliding around the corner when you’re not even looking. Small Mercies is an amazing book. Five stars.