Small Mercies

Youll be lucky if you read a more engaging novel this yearThe Times Thriller of the Month

Small Mercies is thought-provoking, engaging, enraging, and cant-put-it-down entertainment Stephen King

A jaw-dropping thriller... a resonant, unflinching story written by a novelist who is simply one of the best around Gillian Flynn

New York Times bestselling author Dennis Lehane returns with a masterpiece to rival Mystic River: an all-consuming tale of revenge, family love, festering hate, and insidious power, set against one of the most tumultuous episodes in Bostons history.

In the summer of 1974 a heatwave blankets Boston and Mary Pat Fennessey is trying to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors. Mary Pat has lived her entire life in the housing projects of Southie, the Irish American enclave that stubbornly adheres to old tradition and stands proudly apart.

One night Mary Pats teenage daughter Jules stays out late and doesnt come home. That same evening, a young Black man is found dead, struck by a subway train under mysterious circumstances.

The two events seem unconnected. But Mary Pat, propelled by a desperate search for her missing daughter, begins turning over stones best left untouched - asking questions that bother Marty Butler, chieftain of the Irish mob, and the men who work for him, men who dont take kindly to any threat to their business.

Set against the hot, tumultuous months when the citys desegregation of its public schools exploded in violence, Small Mercies is a superb thriller, a brutal depiction of criminality and power, and an unflinching portrait of the dark heart of American racism.