The superlatives are being flung at Lehane for books such as Gone, Baby, Gone and Darkness, Take My Hand, with Chandler, Ross MacDonald and Robert Parker all being invoked to persuade us to read him. But is he that good? A truthful answer has to be: he's certainly getting there. The new book has Boston private investigator Patrick Kenzie meeting an innocent young woman, Karen Nichols, who six months later jumps from one of Boston's most cherished monuments. As Patrick becomes obsessed with the truth behind the tragic events that befell Karen, he soon finds himself engaged in psychological warfare with a lethally intelligent sociopath who specialises in making his victims' lives hell. Lehane gives his narrative the momentum of a very large boulder rolling down a hillside, with the interplay between Patrick, his ex-partner Angela and his unbalanced friend Bubba being a particular pleasure.
