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Live by Night - Dennis Lehane
Live by Night
by: (author)
4.13 170
Boston, 1926. The '20s are roaring. Liquor is flowing, bullets are flying, and one man sets out to make his mark on the world. Prohibition has given rise to an endless network of underground distilleries, speakeasies, gangsters, and corrupt cops. Joe Coughlin, the youngest son of a prominent... show more
Boston, 1926. The '20s are roaring. Liquor is flowing, bullets are flying, and one man sets out to make his mark on the world. Prohibition has given rise to an endless network of underground distilleries, speakeasies, gangsters, and corrupt cops. Joe Coughlin, the youngest son of a prominent Boston police captain, has long since turned his back on his strict and proper upbringing. Now having graduated from a childhood of petty theft to a career in the pay of the city's most fearsome mobsters, Joe enjoys the spoils, thrills, and notoriety of being an outlaw. But life on the dark side carries a heavy price. In a time when ruthless men of ambition, armed with cash, illegal booze, and guns, battle for control, no one—neither family nor friend, enemy nor lover—can be trusted. Beyond money and power, even the threat of prison, one fate seems most likely for men like Joe: an early death. But until that day, he and his friends are determined to live life to the hilt. Joe embarks on a dizzying journey up the ladder of organized crime that takes him from the flash of Jazz Age Boston to the sensual shimmer of Tampa's Latin Quarter to the sizzling streets of Cuba. Live by Night is a riveting epic layered with a diverse cast of loyal friends and callous enemies, tough rumrunners and sultry femmes fatales, Bible-quoting evangelists and cruel Klansmen, all battling for survival and their piece of the American dream. At once a sweeping love story and a compelling saga of revenge, it is a spellbinding tour de force of betrayal and redemption, music and murder, that brings fully to life a bygone era when sin was cause for celebration and vice was a national virtue.
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Format: hardcover
ISBN: 9780060004873 (0060004878)
Publisher: William Morrow
Pages no: 402
Edition language: English
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Community Reviews
Sheila's Reads
Sheila's Reads rated it
5.0 LIVE BY NIGHT by Dennis Lehane
I did not realize there was an earlier novel in this series. This is a standalone book. Joseph Coughlin is working on the opposite side of the law than his father who is hoping to become the Police Commissioner in Boston. Joseph is involved in robbery which leads to cops dying. He is arrested and se...
Cynically Speaking
Cynically Speaking rated it
4.0
Ok, time for a good story. And Mr. Lehane always delivers. This book follows "The Given Day" (an excellent story) and while I am not a fan of gangster novels (and this most certainly is a gangster novel) Mr. Lehane's pacing and character development is first rate.
Evaine's Books, Books and More Books
Evaine's Books, Books and More Books rated it
3.5 Live By Night by Dennis Lehane - My Thoughts
So, I bought this thinking it was a mystery, ala Kenzie & Gennaro, but instead it's a straight up novel, set in the late 20s and early 30s. It has the feel of a John Jakes historical family epic. Live By Night follows the life of young gangster (he prefers to think of himself as an outlaw) Joe Co...
A Few Thoughts
A Few Thoughts rated it
3.0 Live by Night
Live by Night took me a while to get into, mostly due to the fact that it is kind of a rambling tale. It never turned into a great novel. It's lack of focus held it back from the heights it's finer moments suggested. Still, it won me over eventually.
Kealan Patrick Burke
Kealan Patrick Burke rated it
4.0 Live by Night
After the disappointing MOONLIGHT MILE, I approached LIVE BY NIGHT with managed expectations(still need to read THE GIVEN DAY), but was delighted to find it a return to form for Lehane, who has, over the past few years, become one of my favorite writers. Reading NIGHT, it's easy to see why Lehane se...
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