While Mystic River is normally classified as a thriller, it's so much more than that, an exploration of growing up and what a traumatic childhood event can blossom into. However, I'm back aboard the Lehane Train now and quite pleased.

It probably would have been had I not discovered George Pelecanos. Yeah, 2013 was supposed to be the year of Dennis Lehane for me. Did Boyle do it? And if he didn't, can Sean find the real killer? Decades later, Dave Boyle, the kid who got into the car, is accused of killing the daughter of Jimmy Marcus, one of the other boys, and the third boy has grown up to be Sean Devine, the cop in charge of the case.

One kid gets in the car, the others stay put, and their lives will never be the same. Once upon a time, three boys were fighting in the street when two men claiming to be plainclothes cops show up. And then there is Dave, who came home the night Jimmy's daughter died covered in someone else's blood.Ī 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. His investigation brings him into conflict with Jimmy, who finds his old criminal impulses tempt him to solve the crime with brutal justice. When Jimmy's daughter is found murdered, Sean is assigned to the case. And Dave is trying to hold his marriage together and keep his demons at bay - demons that urge him to do terrible things. Jimmy is an ex-con who owns a corner store. Twenty-five years later, Sean is a homicide detective. One boy got into the car, two did not, and something terrible happened - something that ended their friendship and changed all three boys forever. But then a strange car pulled up to their street.

While Sean attempts to use the law to return peace and order to the neighborhood, Jimmy finds his need for vengeance pushing him ever closer to a moral abyss from which he won't be able to return.Ī tense and unnerving psychological thriller, Mystic River is also an epic novel of love, loyalty, faith, and family.When they were children, Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus, and Dave Boyle were friends. And then there is Dave, who came home covered in someone else's blood the night Jimmy's daughter died. His investigation brings him into serious conflict with Jimmy. And Dave is trying to hold his marriage together and keep his demons at bay-demons that urge him to do horrific things. One boy got in the car, two did not, and something terrible happened - something that ended their friendship and changed all three boys forever. But then a strange car drove up their street. When they were children, Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus, and Dave Boyle were friends.

Mystic River by Dennis Lehane