A review by jhbandcats
Gone, Baby, Gone by Dennis Lehane

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really, really liked this and wanted to like it even more. The story is riveting - a kidnapped child, local pedophiles just out of sight but somewhere in the neighborhood, the tension of trying to be sympathetic to a zoned-out sleazy drunk who’s just lost her daughter. The two cops who work with Patrick and Angie are likable professionals, doing their best while exposed to killers and perverts who do horrible things to children. 

This is the fourth in the series so I was unclear about relationships that were based on incidents in the past, especially Patrick’s friendship with Bubba, a truly dangerous man. I am now going to start at the beginning of the series to see if I can then get more out of this book. 

My major complaint is a complete personality change in one of the characters. It seemed to happen within the course of a few pages, and, given the confines of the story, it didn’t seem at all realistic. 

Lehane’s writing is gripping, compelling, and vivid. This is the kind of book where you keep saying, “Okay, just one more chapter and then I’ll go to bed….”
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