Dennis Lehane's Kenzie-Gennaro Series

The list author says:
	"The start of the Kenzie-Gennaro series and one of the best debuts in the mystery genre. The prose in A DRINK BEFORE THE WAR was rapid-fire, clever, very descriptive, with characters so unbelievably fleshed-out I thought they’d jump off the page. Overall, an excellent introduction to a man who could’ve been (and may still prove to be) one of the best crime writers around."

The list author says:
	"DARKNESS, TAKE MY HAND is the more action-packed version of MYSTIC RIVER. This book has everything MYSTIC has and then some: Memorable characters, crisp dialogue, excellent visuals, humor, the mafia, a serial killer, an explosive finalé, and best of all, a huge, epic story. The suspense is thick, the action is whiplash, and the emotion is real and poignant."

The list author says:
	"SACRED is without a doubt the weakest story in the Kenzie-Gennaro quintology. The plot is uninspired and uninteresting; I finished the book only because it was Lehane, one of my fave writers. I got the impression he didn’t knock himself out on this one, choosing instead to coast on the success of DARKNESS, TAKE MY HAND until he could publish the best book in the series, GONE, BABY, GONE."

The list author says:

"What Lehane excelled at in DARKNESS, TAKE MY HAND, he perfected in GONE, BABY, GONE: Superb dialogue, characters so deep and real I thought I’d bump into them on the street, fascinating storyline, and a taut, twisty mystery that kept me guessing, capped off with a shocking conclusion. After fiddling around with a lesser story in SACRED, Lehane finally got back to the good stuff indeed with GONE."

The list author says:

"PRAYERS FOR RAIN isn’t on the same epic scale as DARKNESS, TAKE MY HAND or GONE, BABY, GONE. But what Lehane did manage to do was carry over the fresh prose, the stark imagery, the cutting dialogue, and the engaging mystery of GONE with the small set structure of SACRED, fusing the best of both worlds in the process. Lehane himself called this book a "taut little thriller," and he wasn’t joking."