Mystic River

By Dennis Lehane

This New York Times bestseller from Dennis Lehane is a gripping, unnerving psychological thriller about the effects of a savage killing on three former friends in a tightly knit, blue-collar Boston neighborhood.

When they were children, Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus, and Dave Boyle were friends. But then a strange car pulled up to their street. One boy got into the car, two did not, and something terrible happened—something that ended their friendship and changed all three boys forever.

Twenty-five years later, Sean is a homicide detective. Jimmy is an ex-con who owns a corner store. And Dave is trying to hold his marriage together and keep his demons at bay —demons that urge him to do terrible things. When Jimmy’s daughter is found murdered, Sean is assigned to the case. His investigation brings him into conflict with Jimmy, who finds his old criminal impulses tempt him to solve the crime with brutal justice. And then there is Dave, who came home the night Jimmy’s daughter died covered in someone else’s blood.

A tense and unnerving psychological thriller, Mystic River is also an epic novel of love and loyalty, faith and family, in which people irrevocably marked by the past find themselves on a collision course with the darkest truths of their own hidden selves.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Oct 13, 2009
• ISBN: 9780061827426

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 Mystic River

[joe73-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I wish I would have read this before the film came out, maybe I would have liked it more. Because with a film like this you can't help but be exposed to it unless you live under a rock. With that being said the book and movie are almost word for word carbon copies. Very few things are different or swapped around. The characters are very well fleshed out, all of them are unique and personable. I recommend this book to anyone. The pacing is quick and there is no filler. The author does not go into detail about the abduction and leaves it to the readers imagination. And that really plays on your emotions. You know something happened to Dave and you know it was bad but it is left at that. The frustration Jimmy goes through with his situation and the aftermath of how he dealt with it and his realization that he is going to have to live with something dreadful. He is a prime example of a man who is good, as we all are, but knows the darkness of being bad and regret. Sean is frustrating. Here we have a man who is torn between his childhood friends, the stress of a strained marriage, and having to function in the capacity his job requires.

[porchsitter55 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A classic....awesome.....one of the best books ever!

[joycepa_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In 1975, three 11-year-old boys--Dave Boyle, Sean Devine, and Jimmy Marcus-- from a working class suburb of Boston were playmates. One day, a car came along, and two men who claimed to be police officers threatened the boys for fighting and demanded that they enter the car to be taken to the police station. Instinctively, Jimmy and Sean refused; Dave, far more timid and uncertain, got in. Four days later, he returned to the neighborhood, after escaping from the men who turned out to be pedophiles.That incident changed all three of their lives.25 years later, Sean is a homicide detective with the Massachusetts State Police; he is married but his wife Lauren has left him. Jimmy, after having served 2 years in the penitentiary for robbery, now owns a grocery store. He is married to Annabeth, with 3 daughters; one of them Katie, is from his first marriage. Jimmy's wife and Katie's mother, Marita, died from cancer while Jimmy was in prison, and he clings to Katie as his only certainty after he was released from prison. Dqve, too, is married to Celeste with a boy, Michael. All live in East Buckingham, the neighborhood in which they grew up.Then, one Saturday night, Katie goes out partying with her two best friends. She is planning to elope to Las Vegas the next day with Brendan Harris, a young man from the neighborhood for whom her father has no love and whom he has expressly forbidden her to date--never mind marry. So this is a going-away, bachelorette party, and the three young women get thoroughly drunk. They wind up at a sleazy bar, where Katie dances on the bar. Dave is there, along with others from the neighborhood, and Katie is warned to go home by a local Irish Mafia type. The three young women leave; Katie drops Eve and Diane off at Eve's place, and starts home.She never makes it. Dave Boyle returns home at 3 am, covered in blood, the result, he says, of a mugging where he totally lost control and did serious damage to the would-be mugger. He himself is sporting a knife cut on his abdomen. Although the story somehow doesn't fit together, Celeste assists him by washing his clothes of the blood and arranging to have them disposed.The next day, Jimmy and Annabeth are getting ready for the First Communion of their daughter Nadine. Katie who was supposed to work an early shift at the store, never shows; Jimmy arranges for a cover. Annoyed far more than worried, he and Annabeth head for the church. Still no Katie--not early or late.Meantime, the State Police have received a call that something serious may have occurred in Penitentiary Park--Pen park--an enclave within the city of Boston, but really under state jurisdiction. Sean and his new partner, Sgt. Whitey Powers, catch the call and go to the park. There they find a car with blood in it, but the victim appears to have escaped. Calling in extra search power, they track the victim deep into the park. There, beneath an old drive-in movie screen, they find Katy Marcus--brutally murdered.Lehane spends one-fifth of the book setting up the tragedy and laying the groundwork for at pitiless looks at working class life as a character in this murder plot. The way he does it is to examine a neighborhood and the relationships within it--ties of both friendship and marriage that carry with them certain responsibilities and an unquestioning attitude towards life, which together constitutes an entire way of life. That way of life determines the destinies of the three boyhood friends and their families regardless of the different ways in which they have evolved and the differing positions they hold in life. Jimmy is clearly a leader, Sean a slight outsider because of class divisions within the neighborhood--he comes from a slightly better off background and has attended college--Dave because of what happened one Saturday 25 years before. It's almost a documentary.Lehane's writing is superb, as is his "plotting". You never really feel you're reading a thriller, even though the tension climbs so high that it is almost impossible to put the book down. His climax is unnerving, and conclusion, in the form of a sort of epilogue, is chilling. In a certain sense, there is no resolution to the book; it is morally ambiguous. it is very unsettling.Absolutely outstanding. Highly recommended.

[sparemethecensor · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Good lord, Mystic River is phenomenal. I can't remember the last time I read a book that made me swing so much emotionally -- over the course of this book, I was delighted, intrigued, furious, anxious, nauseated, claustrophobic, relieved, terrified, entertained... This sounds like a lame crime novel from the synopsis, but it is brilliant. Really brilliant. The writing is compelling, the characterization superb. I like stories that take place in the rural Rust Belt, and here, the post-manufacturing suburbs of Boston are nearly a character themselves. It's all so beautifully done. Dark, disturbing, yes. Meaningful assessment of class, yes. Plot-wise, it isn't necessarily groundbreaking, but really, it's written like a modern classic. Dennis Lehane, you can write a novel, sir.

[br77rino · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic story of three Boston men who have all gone their separate ways: one to crime, one to justice, and one to madness.

[bkmeredith · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book. It kept me off balance the whole way through. One minute you think you have it worked out but there's always this lingering doubt. And that's why I love this book, you're forever in doubt just like the characters in the book are. You're never sure, always wondering. My opinion on all the characters flipped so many times that I'm not really sure who's the bad guy. I got towards the end of the book and I couldn't sleep thinking about it. So I had to sit up reading it. The tension in parts of the book are awesome, I was unbelievably anxious for certain parts. Brilliant, think I may have found a new author.

[bibliophile26 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A little too gangster for me. Also, several of the characters seemed to be stereotypes, not real people. The books was definitely better than the movie though, which watered down both the characters and the plot.

[kpw_6 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A really good book (and movie)

[rosalita_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's funny. I thought I had read this already, but now I realize that what I mistook for a previous, hazily remembered reading was in fact a pickup of the general plot line from watching bits and pieces of the movie starring Sean Penn, which was based on this book. I'm glad I've actually read it now, as it was an engrossing and heartbreaking tale of three boys, friends as children until something happens to them as 11-year-olds whose reverberations don't finish playing out until long after they are grownups.Of the three boys we are introduced to at the beginning, Sean Devine seems the most likely to succeed. None of the boys come from money, but Sean's family lives The Point, a slightly more affluent working-class neighborhood, and his parents place a premium on education and making sure that Sean has choices that they didn't have. Jimmy Marcus and Dave Boyle are from the other side of the tracks, a lower-rent district called The Flats. Jimmy is a reckless, fearless kid who thrives on breaking the rules. Dave is that kid who is nobody's friend and nobody's enemy. He tags along after Jimmy wherever he goes, and Jimmy tolerates him without actually seeking out his company. Then Dave is abducted, and when he returns four days later nothing is the same.When we meet the boys again as grownups, their lives have not gone as we might have predicted. Sean has become a cop, and a good one, but his marriage is a shambles and he's just coming off a suspension. Jimmy has moved past an earlier life of crime and now is a law-abiding owner of a small convenience store with three daughters. Dave continues to drift through life, where even a wife and a son can't anchor him to reality and his childhood horror keeps bubbling to the surface in ways he can't predict or control. It all comes to a head when Jimmy's teenage daughter is murdered, Sean is assigned to investigate, and Dave quickly becomes a suspect. Lehane layers revelation upon revelation, slowly building the story to a climax that dispenses a rough sort of justice that ultimately nobody can take satisfaction in.I knew Lehane was a fine writer well-versed in grim and twisty subjects. His Kenzie-Gennaro series is a masterful display of dark humor and gruesome tragedy. With Mystic River, he's created another pitch-perfect examination of the ways in which past and future combine to create an uncomfortable present. This book could be the textbook for a master class in how to convey a sense of place and character strictly through dialogue, which carries all the flavor of working-class Boston in every line. Even if you've seen the movie and you think you already know how it ends, you'll enjoy the scenery along the way.

[jim53_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I wasn't sure what to expect in my first Lehane non-Kenzie novel, after really liking the five in the Kenzie-Gennaro series. Mystic River lived up to my expectations and more. The story revolves around three men, who were friends as boys until one was briefly abducted by two pedophiles. The three go their separate ways and are reunited after a fashion when the daughter of one of the other men is murdered. The murder investigation is essentially a canvas on which Lehane draws his pictures of the three men's marriages, families, and lives. Each family is different but dealing with similar issues. The wives are well detailed and contribute both to the plot and to the characterization. Their reactions to ther husbands' actions and lives are well drawn.The story moves at a good pace. Lehane has chosen carefully when to reveal different facts and experiences. He does a nice job of hinting at some things until the time comes to reveal them. The story is well constructed and the style supports it. Lehane slips into hyperbolic "tough streets" type descriptions of minor characters, but these sins are minor.The ending of the story is particularly effective. We see hints of what will happen to the characters, including conflict, but no certainty. Overall, the best book I've read so far this year.

[cequillo · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was one of those rare times where I actually liked the movie better than the book. I'm not sure why the book left me dissatisfied, but I recall having to push myself to finish it. That said, it's Lehane, and therefore it redeems itself on his skill as a writer. It's not one of his I'd highly recommend, and would even go so far as to say, "see the movie" instead.

[louise_waugh_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked this a lot, which surprised me - I generally don't enjoy thrillers as much. Captures the passed-by white working class in older cities, and Boston always feels a little like home to me.

[billpilgrim_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a detective story. Sean Devine is a Massachusetts State Police homicide Detective. Jimmy Marcus is a former thief, who gave up crime after getting out of prison after serving two years in state prison, during which time his wife died of cancer and he was left with their five year old daughter. As a boy they both in the East Buckingham neighborhood of Boston. Sean lived in The Point, the more well-to-do section not far from The Flatts, where Jimmy and Dave Boyle lived. Sean's and Jimmy's fathers both worked in a candy factory; Sean's father was a foreman. Through their father's association Jimmy and Sean became friends for a brief time when they were eleven years old. Dave was a hanger on. One day on the street, a car approaches them and two men get out who pretend to be police, and they end up taking Dave away. He was held by the men for four days, and was sexually molested during that time before he escaped. Fast-forward 25 years, and Jimmy's daughter is killed in a neighborhood park. Sean is assigned to the investigation and Dave is a suspect.I saw the movie adaptation when it was first released, but I had trouble remembering all the details of the plot, although they started coming back to me as I got further in the book. I enjoyed the book a lot, reading it quickly over just a few days. The story is engrossing, fast paced and hard to put down. The fact that I wanted to finish reading before my book club meeting later this week was also an incentive to my speed. All of the parts of the story are well though out and are internally consistent and logical. The characters are mostly likable throughout the book. I remember Jimmy (Sean Penn's character) being less so in the movie.

[silenceiseverything · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I've read two previous Dennis Lehane books, A Drink Before the War and Darkness, Take My Hand, and I really liked them. Like close to love kind of like. So, I automatically assumed that I would love Mystic River. Unfortunately, that didn't really happen. I did like it, but I didn't really love it. Through the first 100 pages of Mystic River, I debated putting it down. It just wasn't catching my interest and it was taking way too long to get to the meat of the story. I usually like my mysteries to be pageturners right from the get-go. In fact, if I hadn't previously read Lehane and know that I enjoy his stories, I think I would've ultimately put down Mystic River. But after the initial 100 pages, it really started to pick up steam and became one hell of a pageturner (just the way I like them). But then I encountered another problem. So, by page 100, Mystic River picked up steam. By page 120, I was 100 percent sure who the murderer was. That kind of sucked some of the enjoyment out of the book for me. Sure, trying to guess the whodunit is part of the fun of mystery books, but guessing is one thing. Being completely certain of the identity is another thing completely. Of course, then I started getting annoyed with the lead detectives/troopers on the case thinking "It's staring at you right in the face! How can you possibly not know or at the very least suspect?!" Sigh. Besides all that, I did enjoy Mystic River. Dennis Lehane always brings the gritty to his novels and this one was no exception. It was dark, depressing, and very bleak. One thing that I can say about Lehane is that he knows how to create an atmosphere. Oh yeah, and he's a superb writer. Seriously, I'm in awe of him. Ultimately, I didn't love Mystic River. I did like it, but I didn't feel that sense of adoration that I usually feel with his Kenzie and Gennaro books. Either way, I think he is slowly becoming one of my favorite writers.

[marthahuntley · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a haunting, powerful book. There is action aplenty (two major crimes and many imagined ones), but basically it is the story of the things that shape us for better or for worse -- neighborhood, friends, family, love, memory, work (everything as in real life but faith). Three friends forever changed by something that happens when they are 11 years old. What is going on in the characters' heads and hearts is the main story; watching the movie, makes you realize it is Lehane's depiciton of the inner workings of the characters that make the novel so powerful. The action grows out of that. This book stays with you.

[clackermuffin · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Contrived, but well written and perfectly readable.

[deldevries · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Disturbing at times.

But the author is a master at building interesting characters whose edges connect and clash. Keeps you going to the end.

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Extremely well-written and extremely depressing. A great character study of two very flawed, very damaged human beings.

[kencrowe · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

After seeing the film, I read the book—and couldn’t put it down. I tried reading a Lehane detective novel before picking up Mystic River and I thought it was awful. This was an instance of the film improving the reading of the book since I could see each character from the movie as I read. This was a well-written novel of family, betrayal, planned violence, misassumptions (life is so filled with them), random violence, and the vagaries of life.

[nancy7mosholder · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent read with surprise ending.

[sarradee_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I like to read the book before I see the movie. I still haven't seen the movie.The first portion of this book talks about what would happen if two friends allowed a third to get into a car with strangers. Ultimately, even though the boy returns he is changed, and their friendship, never really close knit before is over.Some years later, the three are brought together again. This time, however, the bonds of childhood friendship are strained even further as two are convinced the third is guilty of murder.Lehane's excellent word imagery really captures the sense of suspense, hurt, despair, grief and anger that pervades the atmosphere of the loss of a loved one in a violent crime.I finally figured out whodunnit, but was lost about whytheydunnit. Recommend.

[readingrat_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While it's not hard to guess the real killer pretty early on, this thriller keeps the heat turned up when rumors start getting back to the dead girl's dad and he starts looking to avenge his daughter's death.

[donnaeverhart · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read this book years ago and decided to give it a re-read for many reasons, primarily b/c of my latest WIP.

Suffice it to say, Dennis Lehane is a master at establishing the psyche of his characters, showing the progression of their mental state as the story goes along. He has a unique way of describing emotions and feelings, which enhance the reader's view of what is going on in his character's head, and he nails it time and again. His descriptions of the neighborhoods his characters reside make you feel like you are standing there, on the streets with them.

I did wish for more resolution at the end, but it seemed as if he'd left the door open for a sequel, and from what I've read in regards to interviews with him, we are all still waiting anxiously for that.

[jepeters333 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Three friends (Jimmy, Sean, Dave), an abduction (Dave), murdered daughter (Jimmy's)

[chrisnorbury · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lehane picks you up by the scruff of your neck and drops you into the middle of working-class Boston where loyalty is the only thing that counts, and those who break the unwritten rules pay the ultimate price.

I can't praise his dark, gritty prose enough. Lehane takes you deep inside the minds and hearts of his protagonists and shows us that despite all their mistakes, struggles and bad decisions, they all want what everyone wants: a decent life, free from stress, and to love and be loved.

The plot hums along solidly, with twists and turns, and just enough reveal to keep the reader guessing, and then second-guessing, whodunit. But the bigger question is why. A great read for any mystery fan.

[exfed_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A great American mystery novel taking place in a scruffy neighborhood of Irish emigrants outside of Boston, where a defining event for three young boys carries forward into their adult lives. A roller coaster ride of emotions, looking at the questions of love and identity: for your children, for your spouse, for your friends, and even your neighborhood. Are we guided by reality, or are we guided by what we want life to be? No wonder it came to Clint Eastwood's attention as a movie director. Enjoy!

[joanies_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A great book. It was my intro to Dennis LeHane and I was not disappointed. He really drew you in with his characters and the Boston setting-made you feel as though you were right there. I found it hard to put down.

[romonko · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

For some reason I have never read this classic up to now, but I am glad that I rectified that oversight. This book is a classic at all levels. Lehane is a marvelous author, great character creator, tight plot developer and he uses lots of tension and makes us as readers look at things from a number of different angles as we read his story. He involves the reader in a way that is not that common, especially with thriller writers. This book set in and around the mythical Mystic River is more than a thriller. There is human compassion, tenderness, familial loyalties and a whole host of other emotions depicted in the book. The book is about three boys who grew up together on the "wrong side of the tracks", and then something horrible happens to one of them, but the incident forever changes and shapes the lives of all three boys, not just the small eleven year old victim. We advance 25 years to when all three boys have grown up and have families and have made lives for themselves. And then another horrible event happens to one of them. It forces all three to run the whole gamit of emotions as they each try to deal with this new tragedy. Lehane depicts in a compelling way, how we never get over or forget our past. The past will continue to come up to haunt us as we move through life. He also shows us in an unforgetable way how the sins of fathers (and mothers) affect their children and the effect they have as the children grow into adulthood. A sad, poignant and unforgetable story about life, love, loss, sin and all the consequences from human foibles.

[wdwilson3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I’m not a big fan of inner city police procedurals. Sometimes gritty realism just gets me down. And brutal murders and child molestation are not themes I enjoy. But Dennis Lehane is one hell of a writer, and this work transcends the genre so much that I’ll make sure I read more of his work. All his characters have real depth, and real flaws, and Lehane’s descriptions of their inner turmoil are often so eloquent that I frequently found myself reading paragraphs two or three times -- not for comprehension, but because they were so well written. The mystery itself was not that spectacular. I pretty well knew who did what and how things would end. Lehane’s quality writing made it worthwhile to read on until the tragedy reached its inevitable conclusion. There are flickers of redemption at the end of the book, at least for a couple of the characters. Whether they are deserved is left up to the reader.

[sturlington_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lehane is a writer who can conjure up powerful, evocative, unusual images in a very succinct way. This gift makes his characters, settings and story ring very true, and that – plus an underlying theme of hopelessness and the bitter taste of life – imbue this novel with power.The story begins when three boyhood friends – Sean, Jimmy and Dave – are fighting in the street. They are interrupted by a car driving up, and a man who pretends to be a police officer persuades Dave to get into the car. The boy who comes back four days later is no longer Dave but a damaged soul. Fast-forward 25 years, when Jimmy’s daughter is brutally murdered. Sean is the police officer investigating the case, and Dave, for reasons connected to that fateful day when he got in that car, is the prime suspect.Everything is connected, this book says. The future events of your life completely depend on whether you did or did not get into a car when you were eleven years old. That’s why this story seems so bleak – none of these characters can escape their fates, and eventually Jimmy and Dave stop trying. Only Sean holds out some hope by trying to overcome the cynicism that his job has engendered in him and reunite with his family.