By Dennis Lehane
⭐⭐⭐⭐ ½ (Goodreads: 4.31)
GENRE: Mystery/Thriller
PART OF A SERIES? No
WORTH READING? Yes
SUMMARY:
The setting is Boston, 1974. A heatwave smothers everyone and Mary Pat Fennessey is living hand to mouth. She and her daughter, Jules, have spent their entire lives in the housing projects of ‘Southie’, and old Irish-American area.
One night, Jules doesn’t come home. That same night, a young black man is found dead under mysterious circumstances.
At first glance, these two events seem unrelated. But Mary Pat is desperate to find her daughter and stirs a pot that would be better left unstirred – asking questions and threatening the business of the Irish mob.
Simmering underneath all this, is a district court judge’s decision to bus students between predominantly white and predominantly black neighbourhoods to desegregate the city’s public high schools.
Opening line: 'The power goes out sometime before dawn, and everyone at Commonwealth wakes to swelter.'
In Small Mercies, Lehane covers many strong themes, such as racism, revenge, hate, love and power. He paints a vivid picture of that time and place in a story that is paced brilliantly: I stayed up too late many a night just to find out what was going to happen.
Sometimes I found it difficult reading about the attitudes and the violence. But somehow it works - and I found myself barracking for the main character, despite her flaws. Surprisingly, Lehane even manages to slip in humour here and there, such as the banter between the two cops and several of the (shall-we-say) intelligence-challenged characters.
I like that the ending wasn’t all rosy. I appreciate that Lehane followed the nature of the story throughout and didn’t change it just for the ending.
I appreciate a book that educates me on things of which I had no knowledge before, such as:
-the conflict between African-Americans and poorer whites (many descended from Ireland) in the U.S.
- the busing project.
I’d highly recommend Small Mercies. Such a powerful and gripping read!
N.B. Lehane’s book (and movie) Mystic River was also a ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ½ read for me.
Click here to purchase the paperback of Small Mercies on Amazon
If you'd like to check out this other fabulous Lehane book:
Click here to purchase the paperback of Mystic River on Amazon
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