“There are threads in our lives. You pull one, and everything else gets affected.”
When they were children, Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus, and Dave Boyle were friends. But then a strange car pulled tip to their street. One boy got into the car, two did not, and something terrible happened — something that ended their friendship and changed all three boys forever.
Twenty-five years later, Sean … forever.
Twenty-five years later, Sean Devine is a homicide detective. Jimmy Marcus is an ex-con who owns a corner store. And Dave Boyle is trying to hold his marriage together and keep his demons at bay — demons that urge him to do terrible things.
When Jimmy Marcus’s daughter is found murdered, Sean Devine is assigned to the case. His personal life unraveling, he must go back into a world he thought he’d left behind to confront not only the violence, of the present but the nightmares of his past. His investigation brings him into conflict with Jimmy Marcus, who finds that his old criminal impulses tempt him to solve the crime with brutal justice. And then there is Dave Boyle, who came home the night Jimmy’s daughter died covered with someone else’s blood.
While Sean Devine attempts to use the law to return peace and order to the neighborhood, Jimmy Marcus finds his need for vengeance pushing him ever closer to a moral abyss from which lie wont be able to return, and Dave’s wife, Celeste, sleeps at night with a man she fears may very well be a monster… a monster who fathered her child and hides his true nature from everyone, possibly even himself.
A tense and unnerving psychological thriller, Mystic River is also an epic novel of love and loyalty, faith and family, in which people irrevocably marked by the past find themselves on a collision course with the darkest truths of their own hidden selves.
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Superb. The story of a man trying to go right, when things go so wrong for him. How he is drawn back into the darkness.
Are you what you were born to be? Can you fight it and win? Or is it inevitable you will be drawn back into it? Not just for the protagonist, but for the major supporting characters also.
And, yes, the movie is almost as good as …
I was extremely surprised by how much I enjoyed Mystic River. I don’t read many thrillers or mysteries, but I’d heard great things about this one and I live in Boston, so I decided to give it a try. I’m very glad I did! It’s a haunting, sad, moving, and suspenseful story. The suspense doesn’t come from relentless action or shocking twists, but …
I’d recommend Mystic River kind of in the same way I’d recommend Child 44: it’s an extremely well-written book if you are looking for something harrowing.
The slow burn of this book happens so much inside the minds of various characters, and Lehane did a fantastic job carrying the story along just with tweaks and explorations of …
Mystic River is one of those unforgettable reads that leave you in awe of the author’s powers of storytelling. Lehane weaves an intense tale involving three lifelong friends in working-class Boston. This novel, which is both a mystery and a psychological thriller, is required reading for anyone who loves those genres as well as for anyone who …
The best private detective author of our generation. Probably one of the best standalone novels I’ve ever read. Can’t say enough good things about this book. All of Lehane’s novels are simply amazing, and if you’ve never read him before, this is the perfect place to start
A oldie – time to catch up on great books you missed the first time around,
Mystic River is a mystery that spans many years and many characters. It therefore, takes a while to sort it all out and gets a little complicated , but it is worth continuing on with the read because it all falls in place. The author takes you to a place that is very much a close knit community with secrets that all play into the story and leads …
Dennis Lehane is the best of the best!
A modern classic.
A great book turned into a great movie. Lehane is a genius.
Talk about a master class in brilliant writing. This book is filled with gorgeous prose, gritty and tragic characters, and an emotional realism that will stick with you long after you finish. I loved it.
We recently started a book club at work. This was the first book selected via popular vote. I was enthralled from the very beginning. Even when it was slow with laying foundation elements, i found my mind spinning at the possibilities of where everything would go. It was disturbing and very entertaining.
Great original story and characters!!
Great story with a twist
(audiobook)
Three friends already experienced tragedy when years later one friend experiences the unimaginable when his daughter is murdered. What happens next is a mystery that brings out past demons. I thoroughly enjoyed this read and I loved how the narrator brought each character to life. I did feel the story was a bit drawn out though. I …
The author can definitely describe things. I can definitely see the neighborhood. I did not give him a 5, because the descriptions were sometimes too long that I forgot what was going on in the story. On the counter to that, his descriptions more often than not were very good. So I give him 4.5 stars. I very much liked the story and couldn’t wait …
His best book
Many twists and turns. Hard to put down.
Can’t believe the boxes above- inspirational? World building? It’s a thriller spanning 2 generations. Highly recommended!
Dennis Lehane is an incredibly gifted writer. Read every thing he writes!