Wednesday, November 14, 2012

A Drink Before the War




A Drink Before the War (Kenzie & Gennaro, #1)Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro are private detectives hired to find missing documents for a Senator. The case seems pretty clear cut and an easy payday for the team but once they find the missing cleaning lady, Jenna Angeline, all hell breaks loose and the case doesn’t seem clear cut anymore.

Friends since childhood, Patrick and Angie are most definitely battling feelings for each other but tough as nails Angie is married to an abusive man that some part of her still loves.

I decided to give Lehane’s detective series a try after falling all over the place about The Given Day. Before I finished A Drink Before the War, I was rushing to the bookstore to grab up the second book in the series. I should have grabbed the third too because it’s not going to last long.

It’s hard not to love Patrick and Angie. Both are flawed and suffer both physical and mental scars from their past. They are both bad ass, dedicated to their jobs and have a mutual dislike for bad guys.

The case seems to be going in pretty straight forward and Patrick and Angie have little trouble finding Jenna, but once they do, they discover this case is deeper than either of them imagined and their sense of justice, of righteousness, is put to the test.

The plot develops the characters of Patrick and Angie and they battle demons of their past and present. They are humanized and both of their feelings are always bubbling at the surface.  I loved the dialogue and the chemistry between the two. Their chemistry adds not only to the plot but to the sexual tension bubbling between them.

The story was fast-paced and filled with the right amount of twists and turns to keep the story interesting. In addition to Patrick and Angie, there is Bubba, their sociopathic, heavily armed friend; and the city of Boston, portrayed in a dark and gritty light, becomes a character in itself.

Lehane’s writing is sharp, filled with dark humor and old time noir. I loved this book and I’m looking forward to reading more by Lehane in the future.

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