Book Review: Mystic River

Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A devastating novel about men, their wives, their children, their friends, and their sins. It is better than Shutter Island. What I love about Lehane is he makes you feel the history of a character. Where they have been, what they have been doing, what they love, what they hate, and what they are thinking. Sin and the results cling to his characters like clothing. His locations are just as real. You feel like you are sitting in the living room or at the party or in the car. He is a wonderful writer, but dark. One theme of the novel is that you really can't escape your past. Jimmy ends up where he began the story and so does Dave. But for a Christian the past can be escaped or redeemed however one wants to look it. Books like these are good reminders of how the world is seen when Christ is taken away. Without Him there is no hope. Lehane shows you that world. But it is not one I would want to be in for too long.

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