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    Mystic River
    Mystic River
    Mystic River
    Audiobook (abridged)5 hours

    Mystic River

    Written by Dennis Lehane

    Narrated by David Strathairn

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The New York Times bestselling novel 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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateDec 9, 2008
    ISBN9780060848583
    Mystic River
    Author

    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.

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    Reviews for Mystic River

    4/5

    1,988 ratings75 reviews

    What did you think?

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    • 5/5
      Excellent writing- makes you feel like you are there facing the gun barrel! The suspense and action of this one is a winner. Must read before you watch the Hollywood attempt of a movie…..
    • 5/5
      A really sad story written by one of the greatest authors of our times.
    • 1/5
      Horrible could come with a trigger warning. Do not read
    • 5/5
      Loved this book. At first I thought there were multiple parallel stories but it comes together in the end. Would recommend
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed the multiple storylines of this book, and the human frailty of the characters.
    • 3/5
      Good storyline and well written to pull the reader in. The ending was disappointing.
    • 5/5
      This was a great read! On edge the entire time
    • 3/5
      Contrived, but well written and perfectly readable.
    • 5/5
      My book club chose this book because two of us had heard an interview with Lehane on NPR, in which he read an excerpt. We just had to read the book that the snippet came from. Well, it wasn't what we were expecting, but WOW was it a great book. We really liked his writing style and the way he sets up his characters, but this is a distressing subject matter. Still, highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      Another great book by Lehane. Love that his books always have a twist that is hard to see coming.
    • 4/5
      Disturbing at times.

      But the author is a master at building interesting characters whose edges connect and clash. Keeps you going to the end.
    • 2/5
      Felt like a long article filled with detective old notes.
    • 4/5
      When they are kids, Dave, Sean, and Jimmy play together in the streets of East Buckingham. One day, Dave gets in a car, Sean and Jimmy do not, and everything changes. Twenty five years later, Jimmy is an ex-con who owns a corner store, Sean is a state police detective, and Dave is a bit of a lost soul who has trouble holding a job. One night, Jimmy's 17 year old daughter is brutally murdered, Dave comes home to his wife covered in blood, and Sean catches the case. Past influences, maybe dictates, the present in this moving novel.
    • 5/5
      You can feel the tension in the writing. The characters dance of back and forth to get to the killers. Well written suspenseful novel.
    • 4/5
      Not bad. Frankly, I prefer more of a Frederick Forsyth-type book. That's just my thing. But for what this is, it's very well done, keeps the reader's attention the whole way through, tells a gripping title and is one of the more successful and enjoyable novels of this type of genre. Recommended.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 2/5
      An inchoate loaf, I dashed through this, a day before viewing the film. Both sucked. I had heard Lehane on NPR and I appreciated his vision. There are some things I should avoid. Consider me sage.
    • 4/5
      While this is clearly a 'crime novel', it is also a look at life in the lower middle class of Boston's South End area. I knew before starting that this would be dark and gritty (not my usual cup of tea) & it was but Lehane managed to draw me into the lives of Jimmy, Dave and Sean so much that even when I knew that I wouldn't like what was coming, I had to know what happened.Lehane also managed to draw the cops (well, state troopers actually) so that they weren't either the good guys or the bad ones. Sean's boss (& temporary partner) Whitey does some questionable things yet he is clearly not corrupt. Pigheaded perhaps but not really dirty.Finally, the dilemma posed by Dave is one that is still niggling at the back of my mind. Overall, even though this wasn't the style of mystery I like best, Lehane is a good enough writer that I will read more of his books.
    • 5/5
      Three friends-by-circumstance grow up and go their separate ways, until they are drawn together again by the murder of one of their children.This book is terrific for the genre. The characters have depth, and no one is entirely good or entirely bad. There are several red herrings. I did guess the outcome but I was not sure I was right. The atmosphere of the neighborhood is portrayed so well I felt I was there.This is a dark book. The murder is brutal. There is a child abduction and molestation, although, fortunately, that is not graphic.There are no winners in this book, just sad and flawed people whose lives were torn apart long before the murder. The mystery and the atmosphere and characterization all blend together to make this a fascinating story.
    • 1/5
      I found this to be a depressing story which I did not finish. I could not get into the characters or care about them. A disappointing book in my opinion.
    • 5/5
      This was a reread for me. It's one of the best mystery novels I've ever read. Lehane's writing is beautiful and the arch of
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      Three boys from different family backgrounds grow up together and share an occurrence which changes and interconnects their future lives. Stand out dialog, characterizations and pacing. And the detailed descriptions of what it was like growing up with poor role models for parents, bad housing, scary and sketchy neighbors, no money, and little opportunity for improvement makes me believe that sadly Lehane has personal experience. Excellent read!
    • 4/5
      Good book. Watched the movie. I was glad I had the extra story info from the book first.
    • 4/5
      Dave, Jimmy and Sean were all friends when they were kids. When they were 11, while playing outside, Dave was kidnapped. He managed to escape a few days later, but the three friends weren't the same. Now, they are grown-up. Sean is a police officer and must investigate the murder of Jimmy's 19-year old daughter, Katie. I really liked this. It took a bit to get into it, with so many characters to get used to. I was listening to the audio, so that made it a bit trickier, still. But, once I started figuring out who was who, I thought it was really good. It is quite dark, though (just as a warning.)
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      Extremely well-written and extremely depressing. A great character study of two very flawed, very damaged human beings.
    • 5/5
      Wow.

      This is a 5 star book, no doubt in my mind. I keep trying to find my own words to describe this book, but am stuck in the descriptions the publisher placed on the cover.

      The lives of each of the three men are tragic. None of them have it all together...but one of them is a little more messed up than the rest.

      The genius of the book is that you get to peer into these character's minds, but you don't get the whole story...until the end. I would recommend this to anyone. A very incredible read.
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      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.