Paul Nelson's Reviews > A Drink Before the War

'Some people, you either kill them or leave them be, because you’ll never change their minds.'
 
A drink before the war is the outstanding first book  in the Kenzie and Gennaro series and I've gotta say this is a completely absorbing crime thriller that explores racial divides, political power plays, abuse in a sickening form, gang wars and a distinctly profound lack of goodness in people.
 
Private Investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are hired by big guns Senator Sterling Mulkern and Senator Brian Paulson to find some important paperwork apparently stolen by a cleaning lady from Paulsons office. Now missing the hunt is on.
 
I look back at my notes while writing this review and I'm struck by the quality of the writing, the delightful prose all coupled with a plot that ratchets the tension exponentially. The characters are deeply fleshed out, their lives away from the main story are as gripping as the twists and turns that comprise the main event. Kenzie is a man with a sense of humour that his beautiful partner doesn’t always share and he’s also deeply in love with her. She knows but is trapped in a relationship with an abusive husband that she won’t give up on.
 
'Unfathomable terror swam in his irises, and I could tell his brain was scrambling to get past it, searching his soul for the courage necessary to achieve resignation.'
 
I underlined that many passages of quotes and the like that I enjoyed, that there's just too many to include. So I've peppered a couple through the review just to give you an idea of why this guy's stuff is just top notch.
 
'Vanity is a weakness. I know this. It’s a shallow dependence on the exterior self, on how one looks instead of what one is.'
 
If you’ve not tried this series yet then you really need to, the detectives get into more and more trouble as the investigation progresses, pretty soon their lives are in danger but a really serious problem is somehow mixed with little gems of humour that add so much to the story and characters.
 
Highly recommended and I will definitely be reading more from Lehane soon.
 

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