Most of the readers might be more familiar with the movies based on Lehane's books rather than his work itself. He is the author of mind bending mysteries like "Shutter Island", " Gone, Baby, Gone" and " Mystic River" all of which were made into critically acclaimed and commercially successful films.
Patrick Kenize and Angie Gennaro form the team of private detectives who solve puzzles which seem straightforward at first but then slowly reveal themselves to be the proverbial Chinese box. The reader is often led through a labyrinth before he, along with the characters, arrives at the denouement.
Some months have passed since the traumatic events of "Darkness, Take My Hand" which left their inedible mark on Angie's life. The detectives have "dropped out" of the game and have stopped taking any more cases.
They are kidnapped by a billionaire Trevor Stone who is dying of cancer. His wife has been killed recently in a car jacking gone horribly wrong. His daughter, Desiree, has recently gone missing along with another private investigator who was hired to find him. Stone wants Patrick and Angie to go all out and find his daughter in a New York Minute because he has only five months left to live.
Almost all the mysteries I have read make a promise on their cover that nothing is what it seems. I, hence approach them with an intention of using my grey cell. However, more often then not, the leap between the clues and the result seems rather far fetched.
But with Lehane, the reader is content to leave himself in the hands of the author because Lehane always takes the readers to the darkest corners but never leaves them there. Slowly, with gentle nudges, he pushes them towards the solution and lets them see the light.
This is an excellent book for the fans of the author's previous works. For those who are new, I would recommend them to read the earlier "A Drink Before the War" and " Darkness, Take my Hand" before getting their mittens on Sacred. Until you read Lehane, you can't understand what you have been missing. He is one of the modern masters of the mystery novel and this is among his better books.
No comments:
Post a Comment