By Dennis Lehane

Rating: 5/5

Three-Word Summary: Gangs of Boston

After having read Shutter Island and Mystic River, I became a fan of Dennis Lehane‘s stark and clean prose.

It’s no wonder why he has become such a popular and successful author. Each of his books reads like an instant best-seller with a movie contract in the works.

A Drink Before the War was a prime example of this exemplary writer. Lehane’s debut novel takes us straight into the heart of Boston’s crime warfare.

We see this world of violence and mystery play out through the eyes of detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. In fact, this novel would become the first in a long series featuring the two hard-nosed, foul-mouthed partners.

It begins when Kenzie is given an assignment from some corrupt Massachusetts politicians, who knew his abusive father. The job is to find a missing woman who stole sensitive documents, but it quickly becomes apparent to the Irish gumshoe that something more sinister is afoot.

Quickly paces and deftly crafted, A Drink Before the War still stands as one of Lehane’s finest works. The writing is precise and effortless. He manages to balance the humor with the gruesome situations his characters encounter.

In a literary world littered with half-bit, overwrought detective stories, Lehane has managed to find a unique voice and establish his Bostonian voice.