Lehane Brings Gritty And Cynical To Another Level In “Darkness, Take My Hand”

"No matter how therapeutic, there's something pitiless about wrapping up the past and tying a ribbon to it."

Not that any of Dennis Lehane’s books ever offer a puffy-clouds and pretty-dandelions feel to them, but “Darkness, Take My Hand” is arguably the darkest and grittiest of his tomes to date. The violence is a bit over the top, while the level of cynicism borders on the disturbing and existential musings ("'But we all dream of other lives, I suppose. We all want to live a thousand different existences during our time here. But we can't, can we?'") permeate the prose. There’s a depressing feel to it, with a negative outlook of community-level government ("Politics was the last great tree house, and if you got in with the best kids in the block, you could roll the ladder up on the fools below.") and all else couched amidst the brutal violence that assaults the eyes as you read.

Written in 1996, this was just Lehane’s second novel, coming on the heels of his breakthrough “A Drink Before the War.” It also represents the second in the Patrick Kenzie-Angie Genarro series, following the duo as they investigate (pro bono) murders in the old ‘hood. The deeper they dig into a pattern of violence against children that goes back decades, the more they don’t want to find the answer that is eventually revealed.

In the middle of all that, Lehane manages to drop a few insightful comments about bartending ("He had our drinks in front of us before Oscar finished his nod, and he was back at the other end of the bar before we even realized he'd been by. The definition of a good bartender.") and the confusing nature of relationships ("'But we can love more than one thing simultaneously. We're human, so we're messy.'"). Yet he veers off course at the end, with a pseudo-happy ending involving Patrick and Angie that has the feel of something he didn’t necessarily intend and will have to (and did) correct in later books in this series.

Of course, as always, Lehane manages to weave a highly readable and intense tale … making it a perfect choice for lazy late mornings on the northern coast of Jamaica, with a Red Stripe on one side, a White Russian on the other, the warm sea straight ahead and a gentle breeze at your back.