Live by Night: A Novel Author: Visit Amazon's Dennis Lehane Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0062197754 | Format: EPUB
Live by Night: A Novel Description
Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best Books of the Month, October 2012: The story might sound a bit familiar: A cop’s son falls in with bad guys and becomes one. But in Lehane’s hands, the Prohibition-era tale of Joe Coughlin’s rise to criminal power is both fresh and nuanced, packed with guns, booze, and babes as it roars from Boston to Tampa to Cuba. As Coughlin crosses deeper into the dark side--among those who “live by night and dance fast”--he provokes the question that sustains this propulsive narrative: Can a man be a good mobster and a good person at the same time? Incredibly, Lehane, who becomes more masterful with each book, has us rooting for Coughlin even as he slowly becomes the kind of monster mobster he once reviled and rebelled against. --
Neal Thompson --This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Review
“LIVE BY NIGHT is Crime Noir 101, as taught by the best of its current practitioners. . . . A sentence-by-sentence pleasure. You are in the hands of an expert. And you’ll know it.” (Janet Maslin, New York Times)
“LIVE BY NIGHT transcends the familiar and assumes an unimpeachable reality of its own. . . . [A] meticulously crafted portrait of our violent national past.” (Washington Post Book World)
“Lehane’s novel carves its own unique place in the Prohibition landscape. . . . This is an utterly magnetic novel on every level, a reimagining of the great themes of popular fiction—crime, family, passion, betrayal—set against an exquisitely rendered historical backdrop.” (Booklist (starred review))
“Masterful. . . . Lehane has created a mature, quintessentially American story that will appeal to readers of literary and crime fiction alike.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review))
See all Editorial Reviews
- Paperback: 416 pages
- Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (May 14, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0062197754
- ISBN-13: 978-0062197757
- Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Lehane has written a taut, exciting story about a Prohibition Era criminal that delivers on many levels. Live by Night starts quickly and moves at fevered speed through the Boston underworld, Charlestown prison and the Tampa waterfront. The characters, especially Joe Coughlin, are immediately accessible and many layered. The plot is almost unbearably tense at times but the novel also contains a believable love story and historical color.
At its best, Live by Night carries subtle echoes of the Godfather movies and the books of Raymond Chandler. The dialogue sparkles as when Coughlin explains why he does not want to be a noble person: "I've got nothing against noble people. I've just noticed they rarely live past forty." The woman answers, "Neither do gangsters;" to which Coughlin cracks in Marlowe-like fashion: "True, but we eat in better restaurants."
The exploration of Coughlin's descent deeper into the rules of the night is the backbone of the novel. He initially insists that he is an outlaw rather than a gangster but begins to accept the latter label after he has killed a man. He improves the working condition of prostitutes in his employ and can respect an honest policeman but is capable of whatever level of ruthlessness his job requires. He explains: "This was why they became outlaws. To live moments the insurance salesmen of the world, the truck drivers, and lawyers and bank tellers and carpenters and Realtors would never know. Moments in a world without nets - none to catch you and none to envelop you."
And Lehane makes all of this believable as the reader is forced to view the almost unacceptably harrowing experiences of Coughlin in prison.
In the opening paragraph of this new novel by Dennis Lehane, the hero of our story Joe Coughlin finds himself with his feet in cement and about to tossed overboard into the water off Tampa Florida. The novel then flashes back to telling Joe's story beginning in 1926.
"Live by Night" is the second in a planned trilogy of stories exploring the early part of the 20th century. The first book, "The Given Day" was an utterly brilliant story examining the country in the period just following World War 1 and featured Danny Coughlin, Joe's older brother.
This book stands on its own but I do recommend that readers pick up the first book when they can.
"Live by Night" will be compared by many to the "Godfather" story as it is not a mystery like Lehane usually writes. It is a sprawling saga about a petty criminal who happens to be the son of the Assistant Chief Superintendent of the Boston police department. Joe Coughlin has chosen a path unlike his father Thomas or his brother Danny who also was a member of the police department. Though his family are not major characters, nevertheless their mark is left on Joe for his entire life.
He works for one of the crime bosses in the era of Prohibition and finds himself dealing with various crime syndicate characters as he tries to work himself up the ladder of success by various illegal dealings.
Joe is a fascinating lead because the path he has chosen for himself is often at odds with his beliefs however as the story evolves, he becomes more infamous and conflicted living in a world of violence.
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