Review: Mystic River

Lehane has set this story in working class Boston, delving into unpleasant memories and present day tensions, The result is a dark, atmospheric novel which explores the baggage three men have carried from their childhood into maturity.

Although they were playmates as boys, Sean, Jimmy and Dave have lives widely disparate from one another as adults. Sean works for the State Police investigative division, Dave has a blue collar job, and Jimmy runs a small retail store. As the action moves along, we learn that Jimmy served a two year prison sentence but in commitment to his young daughter he has avoided the criminal life since his release.

Dave also has a troubled past. When the three were young, one of their afternoons together was interrupted by two men in a car who abducted Dave. He was able to escape from his captors a few days later, but the event was virtually ignored by his mother, his teachers, and all other adults who might have helped him in the aftermath of his abuse. We gain gradual glimpses into what he endured, and even more gradual glimpses into the price he pays as an adult.

The area where the three lived faces pressure from "gentrification" as wealthy young professionals take over former working class neighborhoods, sending restaurant prices upward, filling up parking spaces, and renovating aging buildings. This trend operates as a kind of subtle vise in all the action of the novel. It's never a major part of the story, but Lehane refers to the changes just often enough to keep up the sense of inexorable pressure on the life of the men's community.

Things begin to spiral out of control when Jimmy's nineteen year old daughter is found murdered. Sean's department is assigned to investigate. Dave's wife must confront an ugly set of circumstances when Dave comes home late at night with an unsettling confession for her.

The reader at first comes to a conclusion about what must have happened, but as the story develops and Sean's investigation widens, there is the uneasy feeling that all the facts won't add up to support that early conclusion.

Reading this book is like opening one of those sets of nesting dolls. Each time something seems to make sense, some other fact jumps up and we still are wondering.

Excellent in every respect, especially for readers who like their books on the dark side.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Woodstock - RAM

Book Review: Mystic River