Wed 7 Sep 2022
An Archived PI Review by Barry Gardner: DENNIS LEHANE – Darkness, Take My Hand.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[7] Comments
DENNIS LEHANE – Darkness, Take My Hand. Patrick Kenzie & Angela Gennaro #2. Morrow, hardcover, 1996. Avon, paperback, 1997.
Lehane won a well deserved First Novel Shamus from the PWA for 1994’s A Drink Before the War, though the book didn’t even make the Edgar short list. Why are we not surprised?
It seemed relatively innocent. A friend of Kenzie’s had a friend with a son she was afraid was being stalked by someone who meant him ill, and she wanted them to allay her fears. Then someone got killed in a particularly messy way, and the modus operandi matched that of a crime more than a decade old, whose perpetrator was still in prison.
That wasn’t the last of the bloody, perverse deaths, and yes, it all turned out to be connected. Everything that either Kenzie or Gennaro held dear would be threatened and damaged before the twisted skein was unraveled.
Darkness, I guess so. This makes his previous book seem like a fairy tale. Well, maybe not quite, but it’s tougher than the back end of a shooting gallery. Don’t read it if you’re depressed, because the pain and bloodshed are, or seemed, unrelenting.
Lehane did not fail of the promise of his first book in terms of writing, though this is an excellently written book. You know I don’t like serial killers, and I’m not too crazy about cowboy PIs, and there’s both here, and that tells you something about how good a job Lehane did.
This is going to be a strong contender for both an Edgar and a Shamus, unless the judges of each go completely brain-dead. Um. Come to think of it …
September 7th, 2022 at 11:22 pm
…and Lehane got grimmer and better yet.
He’s a very good writer who writes in a genre, rather than a very good genre writer.
September 7th, 2022 at 11:34 pm
I thought The Given Day was outstanding with the single exception of his handling of Babe Ruth, a criticism, or objection that should be readily understandable.
September 7th, 2022 at 11:40 pm
From the back cover:
“Set in Boston at the end of the First World War, bestselling author Dennis Lehane’s extraordinary eighth novel unflinchingly captures the political and social unrest of a nation caught at the crossroads where past meets future. Filled with a cast of richly drawn, unforgettable characters, The Given Day tells the story of two families — one black, one white — swept up in a maelstrom of revolutionaries and anarchists, immigrants and ward bosses, Brahmins and ordinary citizens, all engaged in a battle for survival and power. Coursing through the pivotal events of a turbulent epoch, it explores the crippling violence and irrepressible exuberance of a country at war with, and in the thrall of, itself.”
September 7th, 2022 at 11:43 pm
And regarding the Babe Ruth story line, Wikipedia says:
“The notable historic ball player Babe Ruth is featured as a recurring character in The Given Day, along with other historic figures. He appears in the prologue and various transitions within the novel. In the prologue, the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs are traveling by train from Chicago to Boston during the 1918 World Series. The train breaks down in Ohio. Ruth happens upon a pick-up game among some African-American players, one of whom happens to be Luther Laurence. Ruth admires his skills, then is joined by other of the Cubs and Red Sox players, who want to take on the African Americans. Ruth’s team ends up cheating and although he knows it is wrong, he sides with his teammates. He is ashamed of his action and reflects on it at different points when he re-appears in the book.”
September 8th, 2022 at 9:37 am
Steve,
Regarding The Given Day and Babe — Ruth is essentially presented as an unsophisticated, uneducated boob typically American in the worst ways. I resent the superior tone. Ther is another book, less celebrated by Alan Geik, The Glennfidich Inn that takes this position, only more so. Hate it.
September 8th, 2022 at 9:41 am
There is still another book, The Gift of The Bambino by Jerry Amernic, that treats Babe’s shortcomings both accurately and still makes him into an inspirational figure. My associates and I optioned the film right about ten years ago, but we could not come up with a viable screenplay, and we drifted to other things.
September 9th, 2022 at 8:57 pm
I almost hate to confess I haven’t read Lehane, something I might change after this review and the comments. Nothing against him, I just somehow never got around to reading him.