A Drink Before War
was Dennis Lehane's first novel, but it doesn't read like an attempt. It's clever and detailed, and honest, even if it's not original. It's your typical Philip Marlowe/Sam Spade detective novel, same format (PI gets hired to find something, and runs into varied, violent mishaps along the way) but written so well that you don't care. The crime genre will always be unoriginal, because crime will always be unoriginal for the most part, it's pretty much all stealing, drugs, or killing, isn't it? There isn't that much to say that has not been said, so we are left with the skill of writing. The telling of the story is what matters.
was Dennis Lehane's first novel, but it doesn't read like an attempt. It's clever and detailed, and honest, even if it's not original. It's your typical Philip Marlowe/Sam Spade detective novel, same format (PI gets hired to find something, and runs into varied, violent mishaps along the way) but written so well that you don't care. The crime genre will always be unoriginal, because crime will always be unoriginal for the most part, it's pretty much all stealing, drugs, or killing, isn't it? There isn't that much to say that has not been said, so we are left with the skill of writing. The telling of the story is what matters.Think Robert Crais, only smart and serious as well as smartass. Lehane's Kenzie isn't that different from Elvis Cole, or Archie Goodwin, for that matter, but he's more real. Cole or Goodwin wouldn't actually say "nigger" for instance. Kenzie isn't a racist, but he has flashes of temper and makes mistakes, like a human. This novel manages to be funny without being "light", it manages to be violent while saying something with the violence. It's simultaneously cute and tough.
, only smart and serious as well as smartass. Lehane's Kenzie isn't that different from Elvis Cole, or Archie Goodwin, for that matter, but he's more real. Cole or Goodwin wouldn't actually say "nigger" for instance. Kenzie isn't a racist, but he has flashes of temper and makes mistakes, like a human. This novel manages to be funny without being "light", it manages to be violent while saying something with the violence. It's simultaneously cute and tough.