Reading Journal 2024: Small Mercies

Reading Journal 2024: Small Mercies
Author: Dennis Lehane

I’m typically not a mystery-thriller guy. I find them difficult to get into and usually not very interesting. This is especially true when they have a murder mystery element. There are, however, a couple of authors that are must reads, and even must buys for me from this genre. Dennis Lehane is one of them, having penned one of my all time favorite reads (Mystic River). Once again he has written a winner in Small Mercies, which, while deviating ever so slightly from the more complex narratives of his earlier works, retains his ability to breathe genuine character development and important thematic focus into his genre based stories.

Here he is utilizing a familiar motif and genre construct to explore the real world setting of Boston in the summer of 1974. I could feel the period piece dripping off the page with some wonderful and subtle uses of descriptive. I also felt the palpable energy and urgency of the racial tensions plaguing Boston at this time, revolving around the infamous implementation of a busing plan as a way of tackling the segregation problem, which had led to the rift between inner city and suburb. Whatever tropes might be in play here, they feel new and fresh and vibrant.

The context also feeds into one of Lehane’s great strengths, which is establishing the moral complexity of the themes he is exploring. Much of this centers on the book’s main character, a single mother who’s daughter has gone missing during an especially fraught and dangerous time. The moral questions reach from segregation and racism to the different internal and spiritual crisis that she faces over the course of the book. Most of the book is told from her perspective, so we spend a good deal of time with her specific arc, one that is then accented by the handful of characters that surround her, including the detective. It is defintiely a propulsive read to this end, having a really strong sense of the slow build, but one which unfolds with a fervent pacing from chapter to chapter.

Love when I find authors who are so reliable for me personally. The thrill of waiting for the next one, picking it up upon release, and ultimately diving in. Only to start the process all over again.