Reviews

Gone, Baby, Gone by Dennis Lehane

ljjohnson8's review against another edition

4.0

A rare instance where I've read the book after I've seen the movie, but it didn't matter that I knew how things turn out. Lehane is such a superior writer and he is equally gifted with language, plot, and characterization. Like the Patrick and Angie stories before this one, this was a very dark and brutal and sad story - this time about the abduction of a 4 year old girl. Lehane has much to say about family and judgment and ends-justifying-means, and none of it is easy to read about. I love how he always challenges his reader. And I love these characters and won't ever want to stop reading stories about them.

northwestbooksies's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

mattnixon's review against another edition

3.0

surprised how much I enjoyed this with it's pro-vigilante, 1970's Death Wish/Dirty Harry worldview, but here we are...

cnorbury's review against another edition

5.0

Wow. Lehane is a true master of the modern noir-ish detective mystery. He can make you laugh, cry, roar with anger, ache with empathy, and truly fall in love with his beautifully flawed main characters. Gone, Baby, Gone takes you on an emotional roller coaster ride with Kenzie and Gennaro, never lets you think you've figured out what happened, and even when you do start to think you've solved the mystery, throws a curve ball at you from left field that you never see coming.

I can't praise Lehane's dialogue enough. He's as good as Elmore Leonard. And for such a gritty setting and a depressing topic as big city crime and the lives of those who deal with it daily, he can write incredibly poetic scenes and descriptions.

I couldn't put the book down and finished in three intense reading sessions. This is one of his best.

akshata28's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

5.0

mundpund's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

3.75

jean_4's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

elisabeth1st's review against another edition

4.0

I like this series and these characters. Like a bag of chips, once started you can't stop until the end. Very entertaining!

amygeek's review against another edition

4.0

This is a very well written book. The subject matter was difficult to me - it's from the perspective of a private detective brought in to try to find a missing child. It's dark and he's involved in a lot of dicey, violent situations. I don't typically read this kind of book but I did think it was a good book. If you like this type of scenario, it's probably a great book.

alienor's review against another edition

4.0

“In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself within a dark woods where the straight way was lost.” - Inferno, Dante

These books crawl under my skin. I always feel brave and strong while reading them because I seem to stomach everything but oh, look at how dumb you are, Anna.

They linger in me. My nightmares say it all. More than the what or the who or the how, the emotion flourishes deeper, digging into me and breaking my defenses.

These books haunt me - I can't find another word really. They haunt me with their sharp and hard take on the world. They feed my pessimism until I stop yelling NO MORE! NO MORE! They turn my stomach inside out. They move me. Scar me.

"Well, fine, my life's okay, but the world's still a pile of shit for most people. Even if my world is okay, the world is still a pile of evil shit.' You know?"

Their strength lies in the power they hold against my thoughts when I'm not reading.

[b:Gone, Baby, Gone|425123|Gone, Baby, Gone (Kenzie & Gennaro, #4)|Dennis Lehane|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388234938s/425123.jpg|1234238] deals with child abuse. Start with caution, please. Be warned. As usual, [a:Dennis Lehane|10289|Dennis Lehane|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1227580381p2/10289.jpg] will take your heart and squeeze, hard, until the darkness covers every tiny hope you were nurturing.

Who has the right to judge? Society? Individuals? As far as I have my answers - and yes, I quite agree with Patrick on this (not always, though), how flawed our reasoning can be - I know that there's no such thing as a right answer here. There's no such thing as a right choice, but shitty choices all the way. This complexity, always present in [a:Dennis Lehane|10289|Dennis Lehane|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1227580381p2/10289.jpg]'s book, is what make them so special in my heart. The world is not as Manichean as some people want us to think, even though it would be easier to deal with it if it was. Humans are selfish animals.

"Those who did remember probably shrugged off the chill of her memory, turned their heads down to the sports page or up toward the approaching bus. The world is a terrible place, they thought. Bad things happen every day. My bus is late."

Is the ability to forget inherent to the human being? Are we all trying to protect ourselves and those we love on an everyday basis? Maybe. Frankly, I'm not skilled enough to judge the world (who is?), and neither is [a:Dennis Lehane|10289|Dennis Lehane|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1227580381p2/10289.jpg] : what he offers us here is a portray of the kaleidoscope that is life, and it's brilliant.

Favorite, then? Well, this is awkward. This book is probably the favorite of many readers, and I expected that it would be the same for me. However, as you can infer from my 4 stars rating, [b:Gone, Baby, Gone|425123|Gone, Baby, Gone (Kenzie & Gennaro, #4)|Dennis Lehane|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388234938s/425123.jpg|1234238] lost the opportunity to uncrown [b:Darkness, Take My Hand|21681|Darkness, Take My Hand (Kenzie & Gennaro, #2)|Dennis Lehane|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392049150s/21681.jpg|1356228].

What makes this series so different for me? Definitely Patrick and Angie, the heart of the series, with their sarcastic and badass moves (also, Bubba). In the first half of [b:Gone, Baby, Gone|425123|Gone, Baby, Gone (Kenzie & Gennaro, #4)|Dennis Lehane|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388234938s/425123.jpg|1234238], it seemed to me that Patrick and Angie were only the shells of themselves.

As a standalone, I can't deny that it was an incredible book through and through, even though I found the first half quite slow. Yet it is not a standalone, but part of a series I LOVE, and during the first 50% I missed Patrick's quick mind and wit. I missed Angie's clever retorts. I've read the first three books in the span of 10 days, and I'm pretty sure I've got their spirit well in mind. They weren't quite there at first in my opinion. Except for Bubba. His parts were my little sunshine (I know, I'm such a psycho).

This being said, after passing the 60% mark, the characters finally gave me the usual feels and ... I love them. So much. It was painful. It was raw. Again, everything is more complex than it appears at first glance : it's almost ridiculous to see how many times [a:Dennis Lehane|10289|Dennis Lehane|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1227580381p2/10289.jpg] can surprise me. Damn. If I wasn't so engrossed in his stories, I'd be mad.

But now? I'm pretty sure I'm broken.

Ps. I said earlier that I would wait before starting the fifth book and as it is... I can't. I need more Bubba, more Patrick, and more Angie. Now even more.

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