Gone, Baby, Gone: A Novel (Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro Series, 4)

This book was stated to be in “good” condition. It’s in terrible, filthy, stained condition. I immediately tossed it into the trash.

Gone, Baby, Gone is one of Lehane's best Kenzie/Gennaro books, even though its subject matter, the kidnapping and abuse of children, isn't particularly sunny. Patrick and Angela are called on to investigate the disappearance of four-year-old Amanda McCready, who lives with an awful, distracted, zero of a mother. Her inattention to her daughter and her needs is painted so vividly that it is easy to hope that, wherever she is, Amanda's life is somehow better. This disappearance leads the detectives into a morass of drug dealers and pedophiles and crooked police. Ultimately, it all leads to a gripping, heart-breaking climax that is pretty much a no-win situation for all involved. Sure, there are some contrivances in the plot that bring us to this point--as other reviewers have pointed out--but this is still one heck of a powerful book, with vivid characters and a real sense of setting and community. We can see how the neighborhood gives birth to monsters like Cheese Olamon and Angie's and Patrick's "friend" Bubba, while others choose another route for their lives. This is a step up from the previous book, Sacred, and shows Lehane getting ready for the powerhouse book to come, Mystic River.

Reading about the scum of humanity that Lehane's Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro come up against is like watching a David Fincher movie. It's all grit staring you right in the face with unflinching honesty.The fourth book in the detective series has the duo searching for a missing child. In true Lehane fashion, there are more twists than a crazy straw, and the plot gets deeper and deeper and more horrifying as the truth comes out. Luckily there's the character of Bubba to add some needed comic relief to the story. A story that's hard to put down, and harder to shake when you finish it.

When Beatrice McCready and her husband ask Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro to help find a missing niece, the detective partners immediately realize that they do not want this case. At the end of three days, police have failed to turn up even a minor lead to the missing Amanda. Helene, Amanda's mother, is a drug addict and alcoholic who has raised the four-year-old child in near total neglect. This was a case with few possible good endings.Kenzie and Gennaro are unable to resist Beatrice's pleas, though, and thus begins the harrowing tale of "Gone, Baby, Gone." As they dig away at a trail that leads to dead-end bars, drug dealers in prison and hints of child abuse the two detectives tease away at the mystery. When a shoot-out in a quarry nearly kills the detective team, the two realize that they are up against an evil that will stop at nothing to keep Amanda's fate a secret. An evil that corrupts everything it touches."Gone, Baby, Gone" is the grimmest of the Kenzie and Gennaro series. While not the most violent or horrific of the series, it eats away at you steadily as the detectives untangle Amanda's story. The fine narrative style and sparkling dialogue that marks a Lehane story draw you in and mesmerize you, but the little voice in your head never forgets that at the heart of this crime is a young child. You share in the anguish as betrayal destroys friendship, as right becomes wrong and relationships are strained to the breaking point.Lehane has once again written the perfect balance between psychological thriller and devastating action story. "Gone, Baby, Gone" is not for the fainthearted. Long time Lehane fans will know what to expect, but newcomers might want to read some earlier novels in the series. This is intense noir fiction at it's best.

This fourth book in this great series is Lehane's best one yet. The ending is very thought provoking and will stay with you for awhile. One very important piece of information is NOT to read this book if you haven't read the previous three. Information is disclosed that gives away the endings of some of the previous novels so they work best when read in order. Believe me when I say you'll want to read all of them.

After reading my first Dennis Lehane book -- Gone, Baby, Gone -- all I can say is I'm hooked! Great plot, very well- developed and real characters and a writing style that makes you want to finish the book in one sitting. I've just gone out and bought two others in the series --Sacred and Prayers For Rain -- and am looking for the others. If you like good,exciting mysteries, especially ones that depict real life situations (i,e, every outcome does not always have a happy ending), than add Lehane to your list of must-read authors!