THE BEST CRIME BOOK EVER! Dennis Lehane is seriously the best author in the genre & this is his finest moment. I'd never been interested in reading any of his stuff but I saw the trailer for the new movie version of this & thought that looked excellent so I figured I'd give this a try before the film arrived - I loved this so much I then bought every other book of his & read them all one after the other. This doesn't rely on scores of grisly murders like a lot of crime books do, just great characters, an intense story, plenty of action, good humour & searing social commentary. If you like crime books & haven't read Dennis Lehane yet you really do have to! And the film version (which should finally get released over her in June if they don't delay it again) is also my favourite movie ever.