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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
I think this novel is the best of the Patrick Kenzie series. I was totally sucked into the story. Great read.
Bubba, Patrick, and Angie, on the job together again! Can't beat that!
Here I am back at Dennis Lehane and his protagonists of this series, Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro, for the first time in a while.
This book pulled me right in and I didn't want to put it down after I started it.
A "blonde and petite" woman named Karen Nichols hires Patrick because she's being harassed by some scumbag. No sooner than Patrick thinks he's got the bully scared off, Karen jumps to her death from a huge Boston landmark.
Patrick wants to know why and the meat of the novel begins...
This one was definitely a step up for me in the Kenzie/Gennaro series. As I said, it was hard to put down and Lehane gets away from the "missing persons" plot he's used already a couple of times in the series.
Fans of Lehane and the series will get pretty much what they've come to expect in a good, solid, neo-noir mystery and this one's a real page-turner, in my opinion.
This book pulled me right in and I didn't want to put it down after I started it.
A "blonde and petite" woman named Karen Nichols hires Patrick because she's being harassed by some scumbag. No sooner than Patrick thinks he's got the bully scared off, Karen jumps to her death from a huge Boston landmark.
Patrick wants to know why and the meat of the novel begins...
This one was definitely a step up for me in the Kenzie/Gennaro series. As I said, it was hard to put down and Lehane gets away from the "missing persons" plot he's used already a couple of times in the series.
Fans of Lehane and the series will get pretty much what they've come to expect in a good, solid, neo-noir mystery and this one's a real page-turner, in my opinion.
Builds and holds the tension very well... unpredictable to the end
I first read this book when I was 13, maybe 14 (I can't remember) and I've re-read it more than once, so this is the third, maybe fourth time I'm reading it.
I remember loving it the first time I read it. I loved the story and most importantly, the characters. Now... everything that seemed so fantastic back then just didn't cut with me anymore.
My favourite scenes just weren't so great anymore and neither were the characters. The writing itself... I used to say the only policial books I read were by Dennis Lehane and I'm starting to think it's time to change that because I just don't like his writing as I used to.
It was still a nice book, with a nice story (but of course, since it's not my first time reading it I was already expecting every scene so I guess that took a bit of the suspense away), it just wasn't as great as I remembered it. I'm guessing I won't be re-reading it anytime soon.
I remember loving it the first time I read it. I loved the story and most importantly, the characters. Now... everything that seemed so fantastic back then just didn't cut with me anymore.
My favourite scenes just weren't so great anymore and neither were the characters. The writing itself... I used to say the only policial books I read were by Dennis Lehane and I'm starting to think it's time to change that because I just don't like his writing as I used to.
It was still a nice book, with a nice story (but of course, since it's not my first time reading it I was already expecting every scene so I guess that took a bit of the suspense away), it just wasn't as great as I remembered it. I'm guessing I won't be re-reading it anytime soon.
So, most people who only "just liked" Prayers for Rain or didn't enjoy it all are quick to say "It was no 'Gone Baby Gone'". And they would be right...Prayers for Rain was actually better than 'Gone Baby Gone', in my opinion. While Gone Baby Gone was good and slightly better of the Kenzie and Gennaro novels prior to it, I felt like it was a smidgen melodramatic. For me, the Kenzie and Gennaro series are not only superb thrillers, there's also an underlying sense of humor that makes them great for me. However, Gone Baby Gone was sort of short on the humor. Prayers for the Rain adds a superb mystery and keeps the wit that the previous books in the series had.
Not only did Prayers for Rain have the wit that the previous novels had, we also got more insight into Bubba. He's always been one of my favorite characters and he has more of a role in this novel. At first, Bubba was just an impulsive and criminal childhood friend of Patrick and Angie's who had a hard on for explosives, but in this one he serves more of a purpose. You can actually see the love that these three characters have for each other. Admittedly, that made me go "awww" and "tear", which is surprising when you consider how twisted and psychologically thrilling Prayers for Rain was.
So, if you want to read a thrilling, witty, and superbly written (I mean, come on, it IS Dennis Lehane after all, so what else would you expect?) mystery (and overall) novel, definitely pick up Prayers For Rain.
Not only did Prayers for Rain have the wit that the previous novels had, we also got more insight into Bubba. He's always been one of my favorite characters and he has more of a role in this novel. At first, Bubba was just an impulsive and criminal childhood friend of Patrick and Angie's who had a hard on for explosives, but in this one he serves more of a purpose. You can actually see the love that these three characters have for each other. Admittedly, that made me go "awww" and "tear", which is surprising when you consider how twisted and psychologically thrilling Prayers for Rain was.
So, if you want to read a thrilling, witty, and superbly written (I mean, come on, it IS Dennis Lehane after all, so what else would you expect?) mystery (and overall) novel, definitely pick up Prayers For Rain.
I enjoyed this book - I love all Dennis Lehane - but it's definitely not my favorite. I felt like he wrote it a long time ago, when he was still an immature writer, but it's supposed to be the sequel to Gone, Baby, Gone, which is an amazing novel. I don't know... I just didn't connect with this one nearly as much.
Karen Nichols, a seemingly perfect prime and proper young lady, hires private detective Patrick Kenzie to warn off Cody Falk, a stalker who has a history of rape and abuse of women. Patrick and his new sidekick, Bubba, who has the face of a deranged two-year-old but with the physique of a “steel boxcar with limbs” pay Cody a visit. Bubba rearranges Cody’s car and they leave with suitable threats of potential carnage should anything happen to Karen. Six months later Karen jumps naked from a six story building and Patrick wants to learn what happened.
He learns that Karen’s boyfriend had been killed in a car accident and that she had been raped before her descent into drugs and despair. But he also discovers that someone had been setting her up.
Feeling somewhat contrite at one point, Patrick decides to attend Mass in spite of being more than a lapsed Catholic. He’s astonished by the priest’s short sermon. “Father McKendrick definitely had Red Sox tickets. The parishioners looked dazed, but happy. The only thing good Catholics love more than God is a short service. Keep your organ music, your choir, keep your incense and processionals. Give us a priest with one eye on the Bible and the other on the clock, and we’ll pack the place like it’s a turkey raffle the week before Thanksgiving.”
In a previous book in the series, Patrick had split up with his onagain-offagain sweetheart and investigative partner, Angie Gennaro. This case gets them back together. They need to discover why Karen had slowly descended into a quagmire of drugs and prostitution before committing suicide. They discover that her fiancé might have been deliberately killed in what had apparently purely an accident while crossing the street.. Karen's family is uncooperative and clearly hiding something. The family secrets begin to unravel.
Despite some of its rather fantastical aspects — how convenient that Angie's grandfather is a mob boss with the power to call off the mob fangs at one point, and the level of evil strains credulity — this book reminds me a lot of some of Ross MacDonald’s better work, a peeling off of layers of ostensible respectability to reveal putrid corruption and evil permeating family relationships.
He learns that Karen’s boyfriend had been killed in a car accident and that she had been raped before her descent into drugs and despair. But he also discovers that someone had been setting her up.
Feeling somewhat contrite at one point, Patrick decides to attend Mass in spite of being more than a lapsed Catholic. He’s astonished by the priest’s short sermon. “Father McKendrick definitely had Red Sox tickets. The parishioners looked dazed, but happy. The only thing good Catholics love more than God is a short service. Keep your organ music, your choir, keep your incense and processionals. Give us a priest with one eye on the Bible and the other on the clock, and we’ll pack the place like it’s a turkey raffle the week before Thanksgiving.”
In a previous book in the series, Patrick had split up with his onagain-offagain sweetheart and investigative partner, Angie Gennaro. This case gets them back together. They need to discover why Karen had slowly descended into a quagmire of drugs and prostitution before committing suicide. They discover that her fiancé might have been deliberately killed in what had apparently purely an accident while crossing the street.. Karen's family is uncooperative and clearly hiding something. The family secrets begin to unravel.
Despite some of its rather fantastical aspects — how convenient that Angie's grandfather is a mob boss with the power to call off the mob fangs at one point, and the level of evil strains credulity — this book reminds me a lot of some of Ross MacDonald’s better work, a peeling off of layers of ostensible respectability to reveal putrid corruption and evil permeating family relationships.