Mystery
![Dennis Lehane - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B00LMXVRD8.jpg)
Small Mercies: A Novel
"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.
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.
Editorial Reviews
"Excellent and unflinching . . . . [Small Mercies] has all the hallmarks of Lehane at his best: a propulsive plot, a perfectly drawn cast of working-class Boston Irish characters, razor-sharp wit and a pervasive darkness through which occasional glimmers of hope peek out like snowdrops in early spring . . . . Lehane masterfully conveys how the past shapes the present, lingering even after the players are gone." - J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times Book Review
"[A] ferocious crime novel. . . Land[s] like a fist to the solar plexus. . . Full of booby traps, but the metaphorical kind that blow up futures instead of limbs. . .[As] in the best mysteries, the detective herself is cracked open and remade. . ." - Laura Miller, The New Yorker
"Small Mercies is thought provoking, engaging, enraging, and can't-put-it-down entertainment." - Stephen King
"Small Mercies is a jaw-dropping thriller, set in the fury of Boston's 1974 school-desegregation crisis, and propelled by a hell-bent woman who's impossible to ignore. Thought-provoking and heart-thumping, it's a resonant, unflinching story written by a novelist who is simply one of the best around." - Gillian Flynn
"Without flinching, Dennis Lehane shines a lantern on a dark story, one the reader will not forget." - James Lee Burke
"Dennis Lehane is a supernova and this is a novel that will throw your entire goddamn solar system out of alignment. Lehane has gone from strength to strength but never has he been more truthful, more heartbreaking, more essential. In the midst of our racial nightmare Small Mercies asks some of the only questions that matter: 'What's gonna change? When's it gonna change? Where's it gonna change? How's it gonna change?' This book is impossible to put down and its dark radiances will stay with you a long, long time." - Junot Díaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of This Is How You Lose Her
"Dennis Lehane peels back the layers of his characters like a sculptor finding the face of an angel in a block of stone. By a true master at the top of his game, Small Mercies is vintage Lehane. Beautiful,...
"[A] ferocious crime novel. . . Land[s] like a fist to the solar plexus. . . Full of booby traps, but the metaphorical kind that blow up futures instead of limbs. . .[As] in the best mysteries, the detective herself is cracked open and remade. . ." - Laura Miller, The New Yorker
"Small Mercies is thought provoking, engaging, enraging, and can't-put-it-down entertainment." - Stephen King
"Small Mercies is a jaw-dropping thriller, set in the fury of Boston's 1974 school-desegregation crisis, and propelled by a hell-bent woman who's impossible to ignore. Thought-provoking and heart-thumping, it's a resonant, unflinching story written by a novelist who is simply one of the best around." - Gillian Flynn
"Without flinching, Dennis Lehane shines a lantern on a dark story, one the reader will not forget." - James Lee Burke
"Dennis Lehane is a supernova and this is a novel that will throw your entire goddamn solar system out of alignment. Lehane has gone from strength to strength but never has he been more truthful, more heartbreaking, more essential. In the midst of our racial nightmare Small Mercies asks some of the only questions that matter: 'What's gonna change? When's it gonna change? Where's it gonna change? How's it gonna change?' This book is impossible to put down and its dark radiances will stay with you a long, long time." - Junot Díaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of This Is How You Lose Her
"Dennis Lehane peels back the layers of his characters like a sculptor finding the face of an angel in a block of stone. By a true master at the top of his game, Small Mercies is vintage Lehane. Beautiful,...
Readers Top Reviews
JZHonest Johndasc
I hope the movie is as good as this book, great imagery and concise depictions of how people really act and feel and talk or how they don't. Excellent read, thanks, can't wait to read it again
Writing and story telling at its best. Hard subjects, harder people and a tragedy that takes place during the desegregation of Boston's public schools in the 1970s. Loved every page
Mike N. JZHones
The truth is this reflection on American culture is imbued with tragedy baked by equal measures of violence and love.. Lehane's writing is clear and crisp, building his characters with purpose. They could be any or all of us.
SummerMike N. J
I love Lehane’s singular books. This one was too short for me so I gave it a 4 star rating. The story is about life in the Irish stronghold of South Boston in the 1970s. I would have liked for him to delve further into the dynamics of this close knit area in which everyone knows everyone and what they are doing. A mother goes looking for her 16 year old daughter, who has disappeared, and finds she knows nothing about her daughter’s life outside their apartment. The book is definitely worth the read. I just wish there had been more of it.
Jean Katherine Su
SMALL MERCIES, by Dennis Lehane, will escort you into 1970’s Boston. You will be swept up into the dark world of anti busing demonstrations and the white vs black wars which are going on in the poor neighborhoods. This is the background of this very real novel. A Southie woman, Mary Pat Ferguson, vows to herself to find out what has happened to her daughter Jules who has disappeared. Assisted only by help from a compassionate detective, she delves into the mystery and metes out payback in the only way she knows. It’s shocking but you will come to admire her. Would you do the same for your own child? This book is very harsh and often extremely fierce. You get a terrific feel for the hardscrabble neighborhoods of 70’s Boston. It’s a tough read at times, but if you love Lehane (and I do), completely rewarding.
