Instant New York Times Bestseller

"Small Mercies is thought provoking, engaging, enraging, and can't-put-it-down entertainment." -- Stephen King

The acclaimed New York Times bestselling writer returns with a masterpiece to rival Mystic River--an all-consuming tale of revenge, family love, festering hate, and insidious power, set against one of the most tumultuous episodes in Boston's history.

In the summer of 1974 a heatwave blankets Boston and Mary Pat Fennessy is trying to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors. Mary Pat has lived her entire life in the housing projects of "Southie," the Irish American enclave that stubbornly adheres to old tradition and stands proudly apart.

One night Mary Pat's teenage daughter Jules stays out late and doesn't come home. That same evening, a young Black man is found dead, struck by a subway train under mysterious circumstances.

The two events seem unconnected. But Mary Pat, propelled by a desperate search for her missing daughter, begins turning over stones best left untouched--asking questions that bother Marty Butler, chieftain of the Irish mob, and the men who work for him, men who don't take kindly to any threat to their business.

Set against the hot, tumultuous months when the city's desegregation of its public schools exploded in violence, Small Mercies is a superb thriller, a brutal depiction of criminality and power, and an unflinching portrait of the dark heart of American racism. It is a mesmerizing and wrenching work that only Dennis Lehane could write.

Author: Dennis Lehane
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Harper
Published: 04/25/2023
Pages: 320
Weight: 1lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.40w x 1.30d
ISBN: 9780062129482


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 11/01/2022 pg. 5
Library Journal 01/01/2023 pg. 68
Publishers Weekly 02/13/2023
Kirkus Reviews 03/01/2023
Booklist 04/15/2023 pg. 23