Book Club: “Small Mercies”

I hate mystery books. Dennis LeHane’s “Small Mercies” is an exception. Usually I hate mysteries because they are the B side of Chick Lit. The heroes are tall men with big chests and overwhelming sexual appetites. They move from clue to clue and woman to woman with a dexterity that becomes unbelievable, predictable  (the sex anyway) and even anti-climactic (pun intended). 

“Small Mysteries” is better than the cliches. It’s about the disappearance of an Irish woman’s daughter in Boston’s Southie district during the mass protests against school busing. Southie is basically a hellhole of poverty, hopelessness and underworld crime, but Southies are loyal to their district and to each other. When Mary Pat’s daughter disappears after the possible murder of a young black man, her ideas and prejudices shift slightly, but not unrealistically. Her major preoccupation is survival and finding her daughter, and she’s capable of breaking a few noses to do it.  

The story is noir and humorous both. The characterizations are excellent. The writing about Southie and the integration era is also excellent. This is a book the reader can learn from, even if he was there. 

The chief detective, Bobby, is not a sexual athlete; the love of his life is his 9-year-old son. That’s refreshing right there. Mary Pat is a single mother who lost her son to a drug overdose and feels like an “atom bomb has blown up” inside her when she realizes that her daughter may also be dead. 

LeHane’s writing alone is worth the read.  – J.D. Anderson