Moonlight Mile
Dennis Lehane, 2010
HarperCollins
324 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780061836923
Summary
Amanda McCready was four years old when she vanished from a Boston apartment in 1997. (See Gone, Baby, Gone.) Desperate pleas for help from the child's aunt led savvy, tough-nosed investigators Kenzie and Gennaro to take on the case. The pair risked everything to find the young girl—only to have Patrick orchestrate her return to a neglectful mother and a broken home.
Now Amanda is sixteen—and gone again. A stellar student, brilliant but aloof, she seemed destined to escape her upbringing. Yet Amanda's aunt is once more knocking at Patrick Kenzie's door, fearing the worst for the little girl who has blossomed into a striking, bright young woman who hasn't been seen in two weeks.
Haunted by the past, Kenzie and Gennaro revisit the case that troubled them the most, following a twelve-year trail of secrets and lies down the darkest alleys of Boston's gritty, blue-collar streets. Assuring themselves that this time will be different, they vow to make good on their promise to find Amanda and see that she is safe. But their determination to do the right thing holds dark implications Kenzie and Gennaro aren't prepared for consequences that could cost them not only Amanda's life, but their own. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—August 4, 1965
• Where—Dorchester, Massachusetts, USA
• Education—B.A., Eckerd College; M.F.A., Florida International University
• Awards—Shamus Award, Best First Novel; Anthony Award; Dilys Award
• Currently—lives in Boston, Massachusetts
Dennis Lehane is an American author. He has written several award-winning novels, including A Drink Before the War and the New York Times bestseller Mystic River, which was later made into an Academy Award-winning film.
Another novel, Gone, Baby, Gone, was also adapted into an Academy Award-nominated film. His novel Shutter Island was adapted into a film by Martin Scorsese in 2010. Lehane is a graduate of Florida International University in Miami, Florida.
Personal Life
Lehane was born and reared in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, and continues to live in the Boston area, which provides the setting for most of his books. He spent summers on Fieldston Beach in Marshfield. Lehane is the youngest of five children. His father was a foreman for Sears & Roebuck, and his mother worked in a Boston public school cafeteria. Both of his parents emigrated from Ireland. His brother, Gerry Lehane, who is two and a half years older than Dennis, is a veteran actor who trained at the Trinity Repertory Company in Providence before heading to New York in 1990. Gerry is currently a member of the Invisible City Theatre Company.
He was previously married to Sheila Lawn, formerly an advocate for the elderly for the city of Boston but now working with the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office as an Assistant District Attorney. Currently, he is married to Dr. Angela Bernardo, with whom he has one daughter.
He is a graduate of Boston College High School (a Boston Jesuit prep school), Eckerd College (where he found his passion for writing), and the graduate program in creative writing at Florida International University in Miami, Florida. He occasionally makes guest appearances as himself in the ABC comedy/drama TV series Castle.
Literary Career
His first book, A Drink Before the War, which introduced the recurring characters Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, won the 1995 Shamus Award for Best First P.I. Novel. The fourth book in the series, Gone, Baby, Gone, was adapted to a film of the same title in 2007; it was directed by Ben Affleck and starred Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan as Kenzie and Gennaro. Reportedly, Lehane "has never wanted to write the screenplays for the films [based on his own books], because he says he has 'no desire to operate on my own child.'"
Lehane's Mystic River was made into a film in 2003; directed by Clint Eastwood, it starred Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Kevin Bacon. The novel itself was a finalist for the PEN/Winship Award and won the Anthony Award and the Barry Award for Best Novel, the Massachusetts Book Award in Fiction, and France's Prix Mystère de la Critique.
Lehane's first play, Coronado, debuted in New York in December 2005. Coronado is based on his acclaimed short story "Until Gwen," which was originally published in The Atlantic Monthly and was selected for both The Best American Short Stories and The Best Mystery Short Stories of 2005.
Lehane described working on his historical novel, The Given Day, as "a five- or six-year project" with the novel beginning in 1918 and encompassing the 1919 Boston Police Strike and its aftermath. The novel was published in October, 2008.
On October 22, 2007 Paramount Pictures announced that they had optioned Shutter Island with Martin Scorsese attached as director. The Laeta Kalogridis-scripted adaptation has Leonardo DiCaprio playing U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels, "who is investigating the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane and is presumed to be hiding on the remote Shutter Island." Mark Ruffalo played opposite DiCaprio as U.S. Marshal Chuck Aule. Shutter Island was released on February 19, 2010.
Teaching Career
Since becoming a literary success after the broad appeal of his Kenzie and Gennaro novels, as well as the success of Mystic River, Lehane has taught at several colleges. He taught fiction writing and serves as a member of the board of directors for a low-residency MFA program sponsored by Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. He has also been involved with the Solstice Summer Writers' Conference at Boston's Pine Manor College and taught advanced fiction writing at Harvard University, where his classes quickly filled up.
In May 2005, Lehane was presented with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Eckerd College and was appointed to Eckerd's Board of Trustees later that year. In Spring 2009, Lehane became a Joseph E. Connor Award recipient and honorary brother of Phi Alpha Tau professional fraternity at Emerson College in Boston, MA. Other brothers and Connor Award recipients include Robert Frost, Elia Kazan, Jack Lemmon, Red Skelton, Edward R. Murrow, Yul Brynner, and Walter Cronkite. Also in Spring 2009, Lehane presented the commencement speech at Emmanuel College in Boston, Massachusetts, and was awarded an honorary degree.
Film Career
Lehane wrote and directed an independent film called Neighborhoods in the mid 1990s. He joined the writing staff of the HBO drama series The Wire in 2004. Lehane returned as a writer for the fourth season in 2006 Lehane and the writing staff won the Writers Guild of America (WGA) Award for Best Dramatic Series at the February 2008 ceremony and the 2007 Edgar Award for Best Television Feature/Mini-Series Teleplay for their work on the fourth season. Lehane remained a writer for the fifth and final season in 2008. Lehane and the writing staff were nominated for the WGA Award award for Best Dramatic Series again at the February 2009 ceremony.He served as an executive producer for Shutter Island. (Adapted from Wikipedia.)
Bibliography
The Kenzie-Gennaro Novels
1994 - A Drink Before the War
1996 - Darkness, Take My Hand
1997 - Sacred
1998 - Gone, Baby, Gone
1999 - Prayers for Rain
2010 - Moonlight Mile
Joe Coughlin Novels
2008 - The Given Day
2012 - Live by Night
2015 - World Gone By
Stand-alones
2001 - Mystic River
2003 - Shutter Island
2006 - Coronado
Book Reviews
What...keep[s] Moonlight Mile from heading down an overly well-trodden path...[is] the conviction with which Mr. Lehane breathes life into these characters. Unlike the usual sequel writer who simply puts old creations through new paces, Mr. Lehane registers a deep affection for the Kenzie-Gennaro team and a passionate involvement in their problems. And he treats each book in this series as an occasion for wondering what kind of world can produce the depravity that each new plotline describes.
Janet Maslin - New York Times
An old case takes on new dimensions in Lehane's sixth crime novel to feature Boston PIs Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro, last seen in 1999's Prayers for Rain. Twelve years earlier, in 1998's Gone, Baby, Gone, Patrick and Angie investigated the kidnapping of four-year-old Amanda McCready. The case drove a temporary wedge between the pair after Patrick returned Amanda to her mother's neglectful care. Now Patrick and Angie are married, the parents of four-year-old Gabriella, and barely making ends meet with Patrick's PI gigs while Angie finishes graduate school. But when Amanda's aunt comes to Patrick and tells him that Amanda, now a 16-year-old honor student, is once again missing, he vows to find the girl, even if it means confronting the consequences of choices he made that have haunted him for years. While Lehane addresses much of the moral ambiguity from Gone, this entry lacks some of the gritty rawness of the early Kenzie and Gennaro books.
Publishers Weekly
In 1998's Gone, Baby, Gone, Boston PI Patrick Kenzie rescued a four-year-old kidnapping victim and returned the child to her neglectful mother over partner and lover Angela Gennaro's objections. That decision ended the couple's professional and romantic relationship, although they briefly reunited in Prayers for Rain. In the 12 succeeding years, Lehane wrote several acclaimed stand-alone titles (e.g., Shutter Island; Mystic River) and his first historical novel, The Given Day. Yet the haunting conclusion of Gone, Baby, Gone obviously resonated with the author, as the result is this satisfying sequel. Now a freelance investigator for a white-shoe law firm, Patrick knows he was legally right but morally wrong in his actions years ago, but he and Angie, now married and raising a young daughter, don't discuss the Amanda McCready case. That is, until Amanda's aunt asks for Patrick's help in finding her missing (again) niece, who has grown into a brilliant but aloof 16-year-old. This time, he and Angie are determined to do the right thing by Amanda. Verdict: Longtime readers will appreciate how Lehane's protagonists have believably aged. Fatherhood has mellowed Patrick, but he's not above inflicting a little pain with the help of sidekick Bubba. Temporarily a stay-at-home mom, Angie misses the hard-edged excitement of her old life. A few false notes involve some cartoonish Russian villains, but the resolution, while sad to series fans, makes perfect sense. —Wilda Williams
Library Journal
Discussion Questions
1. Talk about Angie and Patrick. What are they like? How do their personalities work together? How have they changed over the years? How has becoming parents altered their lives and their outlook? How do they sustain each other and their marriage?
2. At the beginning of the novel, Patrick admits that he feels like a sell out. "What I was selling out was less clear to me, but I felt it all the same." Why does he feel this way? Does he have a better understanding by the novel's end? How do the events that unfold help him find clarity? Do you share his opinion of himself? What about his choices at the novel's end?
3. To support his family, Patrick freelances at a private security and investigation firm where he hopes to be officially hired. But his supervisor at the firm tells him that they won't make him a permanent employee because, "you think you're wearing that nice suit but all I see you wearing is class rage." What does he mean by this? Does Patrick "wear class rage"? Why? Is he right to do so?
4. Think about the cases Patrick has handled for this private security and investigation firm. How far should we—must we—compromise our beliefs for the sake of security—employment and health insurance? How does compromising our values affect us? Would you compromise your values for a job?
5. Would you say Patrick has integrity? How does this affect the man he is and the choices he makes? How does this quality elevate him, and how does it get him into trouble?
6. When Beatrice McCready calls Patrick she tells him, "You owe me." What, exactly, does he owe her? Should Patrick feel guilty for returning Amanda to her birth mother all those years ago?
7. After talking to Bea, Patrick thinks about the past and his role in shaping the circumstances of Amanda's life. "Twelve years ago, I'd been wrong. Every day that had passed since, roughly 4,440 of them, I was sure of that. But twelve years ago, I'd been right. Leaving Amanda with kidnappers, no matter how vested they were in her welfare, was leaving her with kidnappers. In the 4,400 days since I'd taken her back, I was sure this was true. So where did it leave me?" How would you answer him? Was his choice correct back then or was it wrong? Develop arguments to support both viewpoints.
8. As Patrick discovered all those years ago, doing what is legal isn't always doing what is right. How do we reconcile the occasional divergence between "situational ethics" and "societal ethics"?
9. Imagine if the law could be revised so that mothers like Helene wouldn't be allowed to raise their children. How do we ultimately write such a law and who gets to decide who is a good parent and who is not?
10. By agreeing to search for the teenage Amanda, is Patrick attempting to atone for the sins of the past? "I don't believe in redemption," he tells Angie. Is this true? Can we make up for our mistakes? By the novel's end, do you think Patrick is redeemed?
11. Angie argues that by trying to help Amanda McCready, Patrick would be doing good. What entails "doing good?" Do you think people want to do good? What other characters do good in the story? Why do so many people refrain from doing good when the opportunity arises?
12. Angie also uses their daughter to challenge Patrick. "When your daughter asks what you stand for, don't you want to be able to answer her?" What does Patrick stand for? What do you stand for? What might it be like if there were more people like Patrick and Angie in our society?
13. In Moonlight Mile, Dennis Lehane uses Patrick's character to comment on contemporary American society. Choose a few of Patrick's observations and discuss on them.
14. Parenting and its impact on a child's life are undercurrents that run through the novel. Compare and contrast the novel's various parental figures—from Patrick to the Russian mobster Kirill Borzkov to Helene and even Amanda. Just because someone can have a baby should he/she?
15. Amanda's social worker, Dre, and Patrick have a charged discussion about Dre's choice to sell babies. "You think the state knows any better about placing kids? You think anyone does?" Dre challenges Patrick. "We don't know shit. And by we, I mean all of us. We all showed up at the same semi-formal and we hope that somehow everyone will buy that we are what we dressed up as. A few decades of this, and what happens? Nothing happens. We learn nothing, we don't change, and then we die. And the next generation of fakers takes our place." Do you share Dre's bleak assessment? Can we, as a society, change? Have we over the years?
16. What are your impressions of Amanda? Do you agree with her choices? What kind of life do you think she will have?
17. By the novel's end, do you think Patrick would make the same choices about Amanda if he were able to undo time?
18. If you've read the previous books in the series, how does Moonlight Mile compare? What about the author's other works, including Mystic River, Shutter Island, and The Given Day? How does this book differ from those? Are there themes they share that offer insight into the author's values?
(Questions issued by publisher.)