Book Three: Mystic River by Dennis Lehane

I really enjoyed this book, both as a mystery (I never had a clue to the killer) as a an example of good writing (the description of Mrs. Harris by her clothing and smoking habits was masterful.) The neighborhoods of the Point and the Flats were so vividly drawn that they were characters in their own right.

Now I have to check out the film (I avoided it because of the grim storylines of sexual abuse of a child and murder of a teenager and despite of its cast of Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, Laura Linney, and Tim Robbins.)

One reason I wanted to read this book was that Desmond Hall used it as an example in his CrimeCONN seminar. (He also used his book Your Corner Dark and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.) We discussed ways to develop characters by exploring their internal and external goals and obstacles. Lehane's layered, complex characters will make a good study.