Small Mercies
A Detective Mystery
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4.5 • 24 Ratings
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- $18.99
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
Instant New York Times Bestseller
“Small Mercies is thought provoking, engaging, enraging, and can’t-put-it-down entertainment.” — Stephen King
The acclaimed New York Times bestselling writer 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 Boston’s history.
In the summer of 1974 a heatwave blankets Boston and Mary Pat Fennessy 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 Pat’s teenage daughter Jules stays out late and doesn’t 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 don’t take kindly to any threat to their business.
Set against the hot, tumultuous months when the city’s 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. It is a mesmerizing and wrenching work that only Dennis Lehane could write.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This street-level slice of historical fiction from Dennis Lehane is packed with tension and emotion. The backdrop is the scorching summer of 1974 in South Boston, with the school busing program underway and racial tensions running high. Blue-collar mom Mary Pat Fennessy’s teenage daughter, Jules, goes missing the same night that Auggie Williamson, a 20-year-old Black man, is killed. When no one else will step up, scrappy Mary Pat investigates on her own and risks falling afoul of the local Irish mob as she discovers a connection between Auggie and Jules. Boston native Lehane, the author of hits like Mystic River and Shutter Island, sets a vibrant scene, giving the rough-edged Southie dialogue a note-perfect feel. The complex relationships that he builds between his characters are fascinating, with loving warmth and unapologetic racism existing side by side—or even simultaneously. Small Mercies is a banger of a crime drama loaded with danger, intensity, and resonant social themes.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set during the summer of 1974, this superior crime drama from bestseller Lehane (Since We Fell) explores deep-rooted racism in South Boston. While the community primes for a series of rallies organized by mob boss Marty Butler against school desegregation, 42-year-old single mother Mary Pat Fennessy is preoccupied with the disappearance of her rebellious, 17-year-old daughter, Jules. Though Jules's friends claim she started walking home around midnight, mistrust and animosity toward Jules's doltish boyfriend and a drug dealer Mary Pat holds responsible for her late son's overdose bring out a mother's frustration and rage. Her ensuing acts attract the interest of two detectives who are investigating the mysterious death of a Black man at a nearby subway station. The unwanted attention Mary Pat draws to the neighborhood threatens Butler's business dealings, making him and his close-knit crew keen to put an end to her search. That Mary Pat is good with a pistol and capable of beating up young guys may stretch credulity, especially as there's no mention of guns and fighting in her past, but the action builds to a gloriously tense and discomforting finale. Readers will be left feeling battered and scarred.
