Maggie's Reviews > A Drink Before the War

After reading "Shutter Island", which I liked, (with reservations that have grown in hindsight), and having seen the film "Mystic River", which I also liked, I decided to hunt down some of Dennis Lehane's other novels. "A Drink Before The war" is Lehane's first novel and is proof that a writer gets better with experience, (though they do have a ceiling and Lehanes is a low one). Let me explain;
While Shutter Island had an interesting plot with clever twists, an interesting lead character, and a well written phrase every few pages it suffered with generic dialogue. The plot was developed solidly enough to overcome the books flaws though. The same can not be said of "A Drink Before The War".
Lehane's star characters, two private investigators named Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro made their debuts here and I simply do not understand how either was found interesting enough by the publisher to warrant sequels. I suppose the nature of the publishing industry is every writer has to have recurring characters, even when they are as insipid as these two. Kenzie is completely generic as the wise guy P.I. and the only distinguishing characteristic for Gennaro is that she is an abused spouse. There is the typical sexual tension between the detectives but none of the charm and humor that made that so entertaining in "Moonlighting" with Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepard.
While reading Shutter Island I did have a nagging unvoiced complaint. I felt that the dialogue could have been better. It wasn't so bad as to distract from the story though. The dialogue in Lehanes debut novel is so cliched it overwhelms the already weak plot. Honestly, it is full of "groan-out-loud" CONVERSATIONS. Not a line here and there but entire exchanges between characters. One cliche after another. So many, so often it left me wondering if Lehane lacks self-awareness at all. I also wondered if he is surrounded by "yes-people" that never tell him the truth. The cliches are most noticeable whenever Lehane attempts to portray his characters as witty or sharing chemistry.
The plot itself concerns incriminating material, powerful politicians, street gangs, and, well, I suppose, on the chance one might still want to read the book I should not say more about the plot.
One other thing that bothers me about Lehane is his emphasis on race both here and, to a lesser degree, in Shutter Island. It comes across as, and I know this is speculation, but it is my review, Lehane might think it makes him edgy but to me it is just more generic cliches trying to pass itself off as some kind of enlightenment.
Bah. I think I have had enough of Mr.Lehane. Hollywood seems to be able to make his novels worth watching and the ones I've read could benefit from a few rewrites themselves.