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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
I feel so conflicted by the ending and whether I enjoyed the twist or not…
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ (3.5)
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ (3.5)
Not my favorite read. It was okay. I just think his writing is not really my style.
An average mystery/suspense/thriller novel. The movie adaptation is close to the book. Great paperback read.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Every twist in Mystic River peeled back another emotional scar.
1975 – Sean Devine (11), Jimmy Marcus (11), and Dave Boyle (10) spent every Saturday together – until the day an incident shattered their friendship and irrevocably changed the course of their lives.
2000 – When Jimmy’s 19-year-old daughter, Katie, is brutally murdered, the three men are drawn back into each other’s lives. As the investigation unfolds, long-buried resentments, suspicions, and traumas resurface, threatening to destroy what little stability they’ve built since childhood
Mystic River was a slow burn, complex, character driven, morally grey mystery/psychological thriller/police procedural where fate and choice was the central conflict. The mystery unfolded in a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, against a backdrop of class tension, with two of the boys growing up on the wrong side of the tracks – with a lack of positive role models, surrounded by criminals and gangsters – while the third was raised in an affluent neighbourhood high on the hill. All the characters and POV’s were complex, raw, damaged, yet achingly real.
The novel was also a study in emotional repression – particularly when childhood trauma is left unaddressed. Counselling and emotional support in the 1970’s, particularly for boys, was unheard of, meaning they endured their pain silently and alone, internalising their guilt and shame. This led to the adults in this novel forming strained relationships, mistrusting others, and resorting to dangerous, even illegal, behaviour. The story also tackled the aftermath of sudden, violent loss, and the grief, fear, helplessness and rage associated with it.
The only downside was that I solved Katie’s murder very early on, zeroed in on a couple of clues and everything just slotted into place. Even though I went into this novel blind and had managed to avoid spoilers all these years, I have read (and watched) countless mysteries since the release of Mystic River in 2001, several of which had similar motives and reveals, that were probably inspired by this modern classic. Even though it was a bit of a bummer to have guessed correctly it didn’t affect my overall reading experience as Mystic River contained much deeper emotional and psychological themes.
I understand now why Mystic River is considered Dennis Lehane’s best work.
1975 – Sean Devine (11), Jimmy Marcus (11), and Dave Boyle (10) spent every Saturday together – until the day an incident shattered their friendship and irrevocably changed the course of their lives.
2000 – When Jimmy’s 19-year-old daughter, Katie, is brutally murdered, the three men are drawn back into each other’s lives. As the investigation unfolds, long-buried resentments, suspicions, and traumas resurface, threatening to destroy what little stability they’ve built since childhood
Mystic River was a slow burn, complex, character driven, morally grey mystery/psychological thriller/police procedural where fate and choice was the central conflict. The mystery unfolded in a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, against a backdrop of class tension, with two of the boys growing up on the wrong side of the tracks – with a lack of positive role models, surrounded by criminals and gangsters – while the third was raised in an affluent neighbourhood high on the hill. All the characters and POV’s were complex, raw, damaged, yet achingly real.
The novel was also a study in emotional repression – particularly when childhood trauma is left unaddressed. Counselling and emotional support in the 1970’s, particularly for boys, was unheard of, meaning they endured their pain silently and alone, internalising their guilt and shame. This led to the adults in this novel forming strained relationships, mistrusting others, and resorting to dangerous, even illegal, behaviour. The story also tackled the aftermath of sudden, violent loss, and the grief, fear, helplessness and rage associated with it.
The only downside was that I solved Katie’s murder very early on, zeroed in on a couple of clues and everything just slotted into place. Even though I went into this novel blind and had managed to avoid spoilers all these years, I have read (and watched) countless mysteries since the release of Mystic River in 2001, several of which had similar motives and reveals, that were probably inspired by this modern classic. Even though it was a bit of a bummer to have guessed correctly it didn’t affect my overall reading experience as Mystic River contained much deeper emotional and psychological themes.
I understand now why Mystic River is considered Dennis Lehane’s best work.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a tale of karma - but not the one we're used to in stories, where "what goes around comes around" and the bad guy gets his deserved punishment. This is real karma, where life isn't an equation and what you put in doesn't equate to what you get in return. Karma is a loose cannon operated by a rat, unpredictable, unbalanced, and indiscriminate. Mystic River is a suspenseful mystery novel of consequences and morality with a focus on the human condition.
Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus, and Dave Boyle are best friends, growing up and playing together in a small town until one fateful day a car drives up and kidnaps Dave. He eventually escapes but is forever scarred by the experience and the social fallout of it in school also means the friendship between the three fall apart and they move on with their lives. We pick back up on the story 25 years down the line, Sean is a decorated policeman whose wife just left him, Jimmy is an ex-con with a wife and 3 daughters, and Dave was a previous baseball star in a now dying marriage, still haunted by his experiences with the kidnappers.
One day the three are reunited again - Jimmy's daughter is murdered with Sean assigned to the case and Dave seems to be the most suspect, having come home that same night covered in someone else's blood.
From here we follow a tragedy of events as things are revealed and uncovered, relationships are tested and reinforced, and overhanging it all is the gritty dark past of the men's childhood. The women in this story are equally if not more fascinating and complex than our 3 main leads, and Lehane writes an immensely engrossing tale of well-rounded characters engaging in shades of grey.
Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus, and Dave Boyle are best friends, growing up and playing together in a small town until one fateful day a car drives up and kidnaps Dave. He eventually escapes but is forever scarred by the experience and the social fallout of it in school also means the friendship between the three fall apart and they move on with their lives. We pick back up on the story 25 years down the line, Sean is a decorated policeman whose wife just left him, Jimmy is an ex-con with a wife and 3 daughters, and Dave was a previous baseball star in a now dying marriage, still haunted by his experiences with the kidnappers.
One day the three are reunited again - Jimmy's daughter is murdered with Sean assigned to the case and Dave seems to be the most suspect, having come home that same night covered in someone else's blood.
From here we follow a tragedy of events as things are revealed and uncovered, relationships are tested and reinforced, and overhanging it all is the gritty dark past of the men's childhood. The women in this story are equally if not more fascinating and complex than our 3 main leads, and Lehane writes an immensely engrossing tale of well-rounded characters engaging in shades of grey.