Moonlight Mile

By: Dennis Lehane

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

Acclaimed New York Times best-selling author Dennis Lehane delivers an explosive tale of integrity and vengeance - heralding the long-awaited return of private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro.

Amanda McCready was four years old when she vanished from a Boston neighborhood 12 years ago. Kenzie and Gennaro risked everything to find the young girl - only to orchestrate her return to a neglectful mother and a broken home.

Now Amanda is 16 - and gone again. Haunted by their consciences, Kenzie and Gennaro revisit the case that troubled them the most. Their search leads them into a world of identity thieves, methamphetamine dealers, a mentally unstable crime boss and his equally demented wife, a priceless, thousand-year-old cross, and a happily homicidal Russian gangster. It's a world in which motives and allegiances constantly shift and mistakes are fatal.

In their desperate fight to confront the past and find Amanda McCready, Kenzie and Gennaro will be forced to question if it's possible to do the wrong thing and still be right or to do the right thing and still be wrong. As they face an evil that goes beyond broken families and broken dreams, they discover that the sins of yesterday don't always stay buried, and the crimes of today could end their lives.

©2010 Dennis Lehane (P)2010 HarperCollins Publishers

Smart, asks and answers some tough questions.

What made the experience of listening to Moonlight Mile the most enjoyable?

You've gotten to know and care about the main characters, and Lehane writes about not only what they do but why, and that makes this series so good.

What other book might you compare Moonlight Mile to and why?

The Ian Rankin Rebus series is very different, the culture in particular, but the struggle of a moral person to do the right thing is similar.

Which character – as performed by Jonathan Davis – was your favorite?

Patrick Kenzie

Terrible Boston accent

I just started listening and hope I can get past the narrator's TERRIBLE fake Boston accent. It is totally inconsistent and sounds nothing like a Boston accent (I'm a native). Why make the narrator read in this accent if it's not even close? I'm a big Lehane fan so I hope I can stop cringing at every 'Cah in Hawvahd Yawd'...So annoying.

Another great book...

Just another in a long line of great novels by Lenhane. And another perfect performance by Davis. Just wondering why he suddenly attempted a Boston accent all of a sudden for this one?!. That bothered me a little. But it’s like watching Greg Maddux do something annoying on the mound...it’s still greatness.

Good…but not his best

I’ve read all 6 books in the series and I have to admit, this was very underwhelming. Reviews speak of an accent…it is so different and so unrealistic, it actually took away from the story. Speaking of, this story did not give me the same intense and involved feeling the others did. Maybe because it is set so many years ahead, but it was slow and expected.
The first time I am saying that throughout dozens of hours being caught in the thick of it all! Just not the same umph as the others.
It was still a decent read.

A brilliant book. His best by far.

If you could sum up Moonlight Mile in three words, what would they be?

That's (a) goofy question.
This is about the eighth book I have read by Mr. Lehane, with (I believe) Jonathan Davis narrating all of them, although maybe not. In any case, this book is a powerful demonstration of all of the gifts of both of these men. I will also note that this book is half the length of his standard book, and I think it's no coincidence that it's the best of the lot. The plot covers a lot of distance, but it never gets out of control, even when we are treated to the monstrous Russian gangsters who do truly unspeakable things. Prepare yourself for that. The gore is a little over the top, but I will grant him license (as if he cares about whom I grant what) because both the stories and the characters are all brilliantly written. In addition, Mr. Lehane maintains his extraordinary descriptive ability when it comes to almost all aspects of his beloved Boston. And Mr. Davis is likewise fantastic at reproducing the many Boston accents and sub-dialects, the sounds of the streets, and even of the suburbs, although this last is the least of his concerns. I won't give you the plot, as it is much too complicated, too multi-faceted to describe in such a small space; plus, you deserve to have the pleasure of discovering it yourself. I do wonder about several things, which gives you something of an idea of how these books and their characters have come alive for me. In Moonlight Mile Patrick and Angie have a four-year-old daughter, Gabriella. They are married. And I think it is not spoiling it to reveal that at the end of the book Patrick decides to leave his profession. You have to wonder if Mr. Lehane will develop some other characters, or what. I'll be glad to see. The Drop is also a great book, and it does not belong to the Kenzie-Gennaro series.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I think it is not unfair, this being fiction and all, to merge Patrick and Angie together into one character, which in some great marriages comes very close to that. They are both fully human, warts and all. They both want their version of the American dream, and the both struggle mightily with the obstacles in the way of attaining the dream. The passion between them is a gorgeous thing to listen to: both Mr. Lehane and Mr. Davis are artists of the first order in writing about romance, often an extremely difficult thing. The fun that they have with little Gabby is delightful. It reminds me of when my sons were children. The only real cartoon character is Bubba, and I'll give him that. Like Hawk in Robert Parker's books, there has to be a mysteriously powerful guy who can swoop in and yank the damsel off the railroad tracks.

Have you listened to any of Jonathan Davis’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have only listened to Mr. Davis narrating Lehane's books, about eight of them now. He is great in all of them. I will look for some other author's work with Mr. Davis reading, but he is so perfect in these that it's a little hard imagining him in another world completely. If he can master accents of places other than the Boston area, I would say that he is truly a gifted gentleman.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The end of the book is very moving, but there are quite a number of scenes in which the passion/friendship/partnership that exists between Patrick and Angie comes fully alive. I sure wish I could write like that.

Any additional comments?

If you enjoy mystery/thrillers, this should be a delightful experience for you. Save the twice-as-long novels for later. This one and The Drop are some fine, fine entertainment.

Endurance

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Not particularly

What didn’t you like about Jonathan Davis’s performance?

Contrary to a previous reviewers remarks, I did not like the Boston accent - attempted Boston accent. Another issue, but a big one is that Massachusetts town names are notoriously difficult to pronounce correctly based on spelling alone. Mr Davis falls into the typical pitfalls. What I don;t get about the accent is that he didn;t attempt to do the accent in previous novels. Why now?

Other than the accent I like Davis's performance.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No. Nothing happens - all conversation and narration.

top notch

great story, memorable characters. Narration perfect for the setting. I want to share with friends.

Felt like LeHane was Pressured

At the end of Prayers for Rain, Patrick and Angie are back together, and it's a good end for the series. Moonlight Mile feels like LeHane was pressured, either by fans or his publisher, to crank out another Kenzie and Gennaro to answer the question of what became of Amanda McCready.

I won't spoil the book, but this definitely doesn't feel like a book the author wanted to write.

Decent storyline; distracting narrator

Lehane is one of the best in the genre; this is NOT the best of his works. The plot was a bit contrived and all of the characters except for Patrick and Angela were not fleshed out sufficiently.
The narrator was trying--I think---to produce a Boston accent, but it wasn't consistent and often he sounded British rather than 'Southie'. As a Boston native, I found this distracting.

Don’t let other reviews deter you!

I loved how this book brought the whole series together at the end. I’m not big on mystery or crime books, but genuinely enjoyed the story of Patrick and Angie!