For some reason, I just now got around to this absolutely brilliant novel by Dennis Lehane. I guess that being that I enjoyed the film, I wanted enough time to pass so that I could see the novel in it's own light (the way all novels are meant to be interpreted).
While in and of itself the mystery of who killed the teenage girl is good, MYSTIC RIVER is much more than a murder/mystery. It is a dark, affecting moral drama.
The whole Boston/Irish/Catholic backdrop is very real and the characters are both complex and fascinating. This is a novel about loyalty, friendship and family. While the mystery of the novel is solved in the final pages, the ending is messy and complicated, just like real life (much like the ending to THE SOPRANOS).
Lehane is a brilliant novelist and MYSTIC RIVER is full of sharp dialogue, yet never seems contrived. Not for a single page. It is filled with raw emotion: the pain of losing a child, the horror of child abduction, revenge and madness.
Don't read this book if you're just looking for a "beach read" or a typical murder/mystery, this book is just so much more. It's human drama; an unflinching look at the dark side of human nature.
"I got news for you. If it wasn't for the toilet, there would be no books." --- George Costanza.
