Product Overview

'You'll be lucky if you read a more engaging novel this year' The Times
Thriller of the Month 'Small Mercies is thought-provoking, engaging, enraging,
and can't-put-it-down entertainment' Stephen King 'A jaw-dropping thriller...
a resonant, unflinching story written by a novelist who is simply one of the
best around' Gillian Flynn New York Times bestselling author Dennis Lehane
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 Fennessey 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. Read
more