Small Mercies: A Novel

Written by Dennis Lehane

Narrated by Robin Miles

Instant New York Times Bestseller

“Small Mercies is thought provoking, engaging, enraging, and can’t-put-it-down entertainment.” — Stephen King

The acclaimed New York Times bestselling writer returns with a masterpiece to rival Mystic River—an all-consuming tale of revenge, family love, festering hate, and insidious power, set against one of the most tumultuous episodes in Boston’s history.

In the summer of 1974 a heatwave blankets Boston and Mary Pat Fennessy is trying to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors. Mary Pat has lived her entire life in the housing projects of “Southie,” the Irish American enclave that stubbornly adheres to old tradition and stands proudly apart.

One night Mary Pat’s teenage daughter Jules stays out late and doesn’t come home. That same evening, a young Black man is found dead, struck by a subway train under mysterious circumstances.

The two events seem unconnected. But Mary Pat, propelled by a desperate search for her missing daughter, begins turning over stones best left untouched—asking questions that bother Marty Butler, chieftain of the Irish mob, and the men who work for him, men who don’t take kindly to any threat to their business.

Set against the hot, tumultuous months when the city’s desegregation of its public schools exploded in violence, Small Mercies is a superb thriller, a brutal depiction of criminality and power, and an unflinching portrait of the dark heart of American racism. It is a mesmerizing and wrenching work that only Dennis Lehane could write.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Apr 25, 2023
• ISBN: 9780062129536

Dennis Lehane

Dennis Lehane is the author of thirteen novels—including the New York Times bestsellers Live by Night; Moonlight Mile; Gone, Baby, Gone; Mystic River; Shutter Island; and The Given Day—as well as Coronado, a collection of short stories and a play. He grew up in Boston, MA and now lives in California with his family.

Reviews for Small Mercies

[mary Shaw · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very enjoyable, dare I say fun read! Mary Pat is a fantastic character, well developed and complex. Hard to set aside!

[89mjq5pxjr · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I liked that the story included real places I can identify with. It is a little James bulgerish. Other than that a well told stories like only lehane can do. Bravo. I hope for some more nonfiction from Mr Lehane.

[Momreadsbooksinbtwn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I probably would not have picked up this novel on my own, but someone had mentioned on a book review podcast and I thought it sounded really interesting. My husband grew up in southern Massachusetts, along the border of Rhode Island, during the 1970s. This book is almost like a New England version of the Sopranos, but with a tough female lead character, Mary Pat Fennessey. There is quite a bit of violence in the book, so I would not recommend it to anyone that is squeamish. Since it takes place in the 70s, one of the historical events the book covers is the desegregation of public schools and racism. I decided to listen to the audio version of this book and I winced several times listening to the narrator read the character’s dialog using the “N” word and other derogatory racial slurs, it was tough to listen to. But the story of Mary Pat and her missing daughter, Jules, really drew me in. I became invested and wanted to see what happened. I also appreciated the relationship that developed between Mary Pat and Detective Bobby, their back-and-forth banter was entertaining. There were quite a few characters, but not too many to keep track of. You do get closure at the end of the book, but I can see where Dennis Lehane might write a follow-up novel with some of these characters. This is my first book by Dennis Lehane, while I have watched the movie Mystic River, I just might have to go back and read it.

[Jeanenne Robinson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Being inside the main character’s head was more than just unpleasant. She is not an anti-hero, but foremost a desperate mother. So much grief has visited her life and readers get to follow her journey as she becomes like a detective, following people and clues to find out what happened to her daughter. Brutal with shades of hope. Warning: extreme racist language and attitudes displayed by individuals and groups.

[Zaiden Gokhool · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great book. Dark and engrossing but with surprising moments of humour. You can’t help liking the protagonist. Tackles a difficult subject, but manages to do it without cultural appropriation. Authentic.

[Daryl Wilkins · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Too much gratuitous vulgarity, especially at the beginning for my taste. I did keep listening and finish it though.

[Louis Androsiglio · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great. Great story, perfect narration. Hard to believe people acted like that, but they did!

[lisa wilson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another great book by my favorite author. The narrator was perfect for the lead character and made the story come alive. This author has written books that never let you forget the characters.

[Kathleen Piggins · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The narration by Robin Miles was phenomenal!?I found myself cheering for the spunky Mary Kay Fennessey, too.

[kathryn eastburn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lehane’s strongest novel yet, read with conviction by Robin Miles. This is the best audiobook I’ve listened to in 2023.

[Constance Sahlmark · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A power-punch to the mind & heart. Sometimes forget how little time it is from the 70's.

[Ginny Doss Pantin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book. I have not read this author before although liking two of the movies made from his work. I hope this gets made into a movie. Main character gives female depth we need. Old Bess surprised me as my favorite character.

[tobinelliott · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I fell in love with Lehane's writing when I picked up Mystic River, and enjoyed the hell out of him through Shutter Island and his Kenzie & Gennaro series. I still believe The Given Day is one of the best novels I've ever read.But then something happened. Lehane kept the Coughlins going through a couple of more books after The Given Day that felt like diminishing returns. And he put out a couple of standalones that also didn't seem to have that same bite and grit of his earlier stuff.Still, every time I see a new Lehane novel—based on my adoration of those first nine novels—I get a thrill of anticipation.And this one? This one did not let me down. I devoured this book.I often complain, in my reviews, of authors who create unlikeable characters, but don't have the skill or ability to get the reader to root for them. I actually quite enjoy unlikeable characters, because the reading experience—when the book is done right by an author with skill—is a more challenging and fun one.And in Mary Pat, we are given someone that, within a couple of pages, you feel her fierceness, but also her racism.And, a side note here...this book is set in south Boston during the very real, and very racially charged period when the schools became integrated in 1974. And I had to laugh, because one reader noted her DNF of the book, because the author dared used the word "n*gg*r"...because, you know, back in south Boston in 74, during all this racial strife, NOT ONE PERSON would have ever used that vile word.Some readers...JFC.Anyway, so, here we are, with Mary Pat facing the prospect of her daughter going to school with black kids for the first time. In 1974. And I've gotta say, it's seriously been less than 50 years since this has been a thing? Unbelievable. But now, here's the thing with Lehane. He's a writer's writer. He's an absolute master of dialogue. I'd go so far as to say that, if anyone can lay claim to Elmore Leonard's crown as King of Dialogue, it's Lehane. He gets more across by having a character not say the answer than most do through three pages of characters telling the reader exactly what they need to know. His dialogue is simply gorgeous.Add to that his characters. I've read other reviews where they complain all the characters are "stock" characters. But are they, though? Did we read the same book? Because, yes, Lehane may start with a stock character, but he always subverts the readers' expectations by throwing a curve ball in there. He certainly did that here, but I won't get into spoiler territory to explain. But I will say that Mary Pat's ongoing parental suffering was a horrible, well-written, ungodly-awful thing to experience. Then take a look at Lehane's plot. It may be safe to say Lehane has a bit of a formula where he sets up a situation, then gives it a twist, then one more twist, then brings it to a rather violent end, but he does it well, and those twists are beautiful things to behold. Even when I knew what was going to happen, still, as Lehane laid it out, it was always breathtaking. And heartbreaking. And finally, Lehane has this way of dropping real-life realizations or observations into his characters' minds that are visceral truths about the human condition. There's very few other authors I've read that can do this, and even less that do it well. This is a gorgeous, painful novel to read. And I adored every single second of it. And now there are ten books of Lehane's that I think are fantastic.

[diana.hauser · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane is his latest ‘smack you in the face and rip out your heart’ novel.I was a bit reluctant to begin reading because I knew, I just knew, I would finish the book seething with anger and frustration and not be able to concentrate on anything except life’s injustices for weeks afterward.The year is 1974 and school desegregation (achieved by integrating young students attending public schools through ‘busing’) is about to begin in Boston. For white neighborhoods, especially Southie, it was like a call to arms.For our main character, Mary Pat Fennessy, the busing situation just adds fuel to the fire of her spiraling rage, hatred and anguish. She is alone, having ‘lost’ 2 husbands, a son to drugs and now her daughter is missing.The book is quite upsetting (for me). Boston’s legacy of intolerance and racism is very well-known and Dennis Lehane shows no mercy in describing the hatred and attitudes of many of Boston’s communities and citizens.I particularly liked the historical tidbits that were included in the book. I had no idea that (then) Senator Ted Kennedy was booed and pelted with eggs and tomatoes as he tried to speak at an anti-busing rally.I liked the detective Bobby Coyne who tried to reason with Mary Pat and slow down her vengeance.I liked the courage of Calliope Williamson as she spoke with Mary Pat after the funeral of her son.A very good read *****

[froxgirl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you lived in Boston during the busing crisis of the mid 1970's, this will be a familiar story to you, and you'll understand why Dennis Lehane of Dorchester said it was a necessity for him to write it, finally. Even after all this time, even after all the misery, even after Whitey Bulger was caught and killed in prison, even if thousands of school children were cheated out of their educations, even if you remember ROAR and Pixie Palladino and Louise Day Hicks and Dapper O'Neill, and even if working class and poor white and Black families are now being forced from their former segregated neighborhoods by wealthy renovators, you'll need to read this. If you come from anywhere else and weren't even born yet, you'll be stunned by Mary Pat Fennessy, 42, of the Southie projects, raised in hatred and violence, brought up in the code of omerta, that snitches get stitches, who loves fighting with her fists more than relaxing with a cup of coffee and a cigarette, whose breaking point is when her teenage daughter disappears and no one saw anything and no one knows anything, this after losing her son to an overdose, and after two divorces. And Mary Pat will meet Bobby Coyne, BPD detective, Dorchester native, who runs up against her when he finds out that her missing daughter Jules may have been involved in the murder of a young Black man at an MBTA station. This novel brings back all the ugliness, but the pain of the reader dims before the authority and command of Lehane’s writing.

[twink_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Dennis Lehane takes us back to Boston in his latest book Small Mercies.It's 1974 and the schools are being desegregated - and the neighborhood of Southie is determined that's not to happen. The Irish American neighborhood crime gang is the one who make the rules in Southie - not the cops. Alongside this, a dead black teenager is found at the train station - and a white teen is missing. Small Mercies is told through Mary Pat Fennessy's eyes. She's lived her whole life in the Southie housing projects. She's tough and has suffered much over the years - losing her husband, son and now her daughter is missing. This conflux of events sparks something in Mary Pat. She's had enough, lost enough and isn't going to back down this time. I loved Mary Pat - she does bad things for the right reason. She made me cry for her and her losses, for a hard life, for the limits life handed out to her. But she's trying to see things from another perspective. The other character I really was Bobby - a cop in the neighborhood. He thinks before he does, he's calm and sees the big picture.Racism is a large part of Small Mercies - and it's darn hard to read. This is 49 years ago, and truly, what has changed? (More tears from this reader.)Lehane is a fantastic writer. Small Mercies is hard to read, but impossible to put down. You'll be thinking about it long after the last page is turned. See for yourself - read an excerpt of Small Mercies.Gentle readers - there are triggers in Small Mercies with violence leading the pack.

[maryreinert · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Set in Boston during the time of forced integration, this is a dark and brutal story of a single mother seeking the truth about the disappearance of her teenage daughter. All the grit of poverty, race, and crime come together in his story. Mary Pat has already lost a son to drugs and now her daughter doesn't come home after a night out with friends, one being a well-known drug pusher. At the same time, a young black man is found dead on the subway tracks and witnesses tell of four teenagers taunting him. The leader of the Irish Mob, Marty Butler, has control overmuch of this area and Mary Pat's unrelenting probes into what has happened causes all kinds of chaos.I wasn't actually convinced of the Mary Pat character; she seems a bit too brave and too "super-womanish" but it is a good read in spite of brutal scenes.

[nivramkoorb · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Dennis Lehane is one of my favorite writers and I have read many of his books. I have heard that this may be his last as he devotes his time to screen writing etc. I hope not but if this is it then this is a good one. Set in familiar Lehane territory(Boston etc) during the beginning of school busing in the late summer of 1974, it deals with the embedded racism of South Boston and how strong was the anti busing sentiment of that time. The main character Mary Pat is 42 year old white woman with I dead son from drugs and a wild 17 year old daughter. She is divorced from her 2nd husband and her back story and those of her friends and family are of crime, violence, family, loyalty, and extreme tribalism. The main focus of the story surrounds the disappearance of her daughter Jules on the same night as a black co-worker's son is found dead in a neighborhood train station. The story goes from there with her pursuit to find her daughter. Lehane introduces his usual cast of cops, criminals and everyone in between. The book moves quickly and gets into Mary Pat's changing attitudes as she examines everything within her and around her to try and understand the extreme racial hostility from her white tribe. Lehane gives a great feel for the times and of course we can all see the connection 50 years later to what still exists. If you like crime fiction, then I strongly recommend this book. Lehane has written books that have turned into movies and he is very capable handling different types of stories besides crime fiction.