As noted by some of the other reviewers, the first sentence grabs the reader and the good writing holds the reader to the end. In my opinion, this is not Lehane's best work (I think "The Given Day" was better), but it is an interesting look at organized crime during the Prohibition era. Even more, it is an interesting character study in which the protagonist is a "bad guy" but has many redeeming qualities. It is never adequately explained why he chose a life of crime (most sons rebel against their fathers without going to that extreme), but having done it, he certainly became a multi-faceted criminal, and the reader cheers him on in spite of some pretty fundamental character flaws.

A composer of Hollywood music scores, mourning the death of his wife, returns to Yorkshire where he grew up. He moves into an isolated mansion and becomes interested in the former owner who was hanged for the murder of her husband. His curiosity becomes an obsession as he tries to prove her innocence. A good premise for a novel, but it is quite slow-moving, not very realistic, and not all that interesting. The conclusion makes one wonder why one had to spend so much time getting there. Average at best.

I found nothing appealing about this book. The plot development was very slow, the mystery was tepid at best, the characters were not interesting, the writing was lusterless. Touted as a "psychological mystery", it simply portrayed the characters' psyches as self-absorbed and lacking in insight, both as children and as adults.

This book confirms what we learned from Stieg Larsson - Sweden is a dangerous place! Although there is a lot of action, this is primarily a psychological thriller that gets into the minds of the ex-con working with the police on a complex mafia-busting effort, and of the detective investigating a major crime without knowledge of that effort or the ex-con's involvement. Both major characters are complex and interesting, and there are no bright lines between right and wrong.

Two boys, one black and one white, are friends for a brief time in rural Mississippi. A few years later, the white boy is suspected of killing a girl, and although there is not enough evidence to prosecute him, he is marked forever by suspicion. The black boy goes to college and returns to the area as a constable, and the lives of the two boys - now men - intersect again in the investigation of another murder. But as the story unfolds, there are revelations and discoveries that put long-ago events into new light. The past is never really past because it has shaped everything that has happened since. The suspense is mild, the mysteries transparent, the ending too glib, but it's a good story about truth and redemption, with complex and interesting characters.

A female police chief, formerly Amish herself, investigates the murders of seven members of an Amish family. The investigation leads to the discovery of more horrific crimes. While the plot had the possibility of good execution, it is much more grisly than necessary and the writing is immature. Dialogue is stilted and a character who is "thinking" is filling in so many details (that would not be part of one's active thoughts) that it is distracting.

A love story about 19th century Italian aristocrats, both of whom are married to "good matches" who are wrong for them. When the woman goes blind, the man - an amateur scientist - builds a precursor of a typewriter for her so she can send him messages. Lots of lovely flowery language about details of what is seen and/or imagined, but no real depth in the characters or chemistry between them. One senses that the author wants the reader to ache wistfully for the hopeless lovers, but there isn't quite enough to draw one in to this extent.

Vietnam in 1967 is the setting for this story of an American journalist and a Vietnamese photographer who become separated from a military convoy and are captured by three young Viet Cong. A horrendous trek through the jungle ensues. The book explores the contrasts between cultures, the insanity of the American war, the changing role of women in the 1960s, the complexity of human relationships, and the profound experience of being in Vietnam. The author presents vivid descriptions of the sights and sounds and smells of that experience, and shows through characters and events what a tragedy the war was. Winning was not possible, and so much was lost.