Live By Night (2012)

ranks of criminal elite. The plot is bad, there is simply no other way to describe it succinctly. It is not phoned in or a halfhearted senseless rehash. Lehane had obviously done a lot of research and comprehended the pulse and the nature of the time he was describing but that is not enough to save it from being wildly inconsistent at best.

The problem is this is the kind of story that is only driven by stupidity. For instance [Coughlin blows a Navy transport ship and steals its cargo, all the members of an army depot see his face, his face is well known in the city but there are no repercussions to this. The army does not even make a token effort to find the saboteur. What compounds the problem is the police chief even suspects him of the act but no follow up is done (hide spoiler)]. It is just one example of many where logic is forced to take backseat to move the story forward.

And if one has watched enough crime dramas, one will easily guess which secondary character comes back in the finale for some comeuppance. The next time Lehane wants a twist ending, I suggest he re-read Shutter Island to reacquaint himself with the concept of subtlety.

Writing
This is the saving grace of the book. Lehane ensures every word flawlessly flows into the next, every sentence captures the crux and essence of the mood of the characters and every chapter gets the pacing right. Some might feel the need to denigrate the writing by calling it a hard boiled novel pandering to pose as a literary darling but I thought though it might be flowery, it's lucid enough to not become ostentatious. It is not perfect, the romance sometimes gets corny but its hits more often than it misses.

Characters
While reading The Given Day I marveled at how well Lehane had handled two different leads from different ends of social strata . His characterization was perfect, he must have given it his all because there is no gas left in his tank for this one. Joe Coughlin is a consummate imbecile and an awful protagonist.

He nearly gets one of his brother's killed in Given Day and blames the other brother for the mishap. I chalk it down to teenage insolence. He has a chance to steal his corrupt father's money but he refuses though he had robbed a bank five minutes ago. I chalk it down to youthful naivete. But this become a trend. [He falls in love with wrong girl and loses his money. He has a chance to kill his arch nemesis, the man who is desperate to kill him and lets him live. He arranges the perfect ambush yet almost gets himself killed. He gets a chance to expand from bootlegging to gambling but his indecisiveness costs him the opportunity. He suspects an ambush is waiting and walks into it like an idiot. (hide spoiler)] The only thing he accomplishes is a major plot hole. Basically his ineptitude is so striking that not hitting the door on his way out of the room should have been a cause for celebration in Coughlin household. His musings are mature but his actions are callous. His success comes in spite of himself instead of because him and thus weakens the plot.

I am afraid Lehane tried to make the character sympathetic and ended up making him look weak and stupid. The moral ambiguity of Gone Baby Gone's ending and the haunting misery of Mystic River is disowned by Lehane and he tries to play safe with the lead and fails spectacularly. The secondary characters don't fair better. Coughlin's first love Emma is a bit of an enigma to the readers while a late addition to the cast,a born again evangelical preacher is under-developed.

Verdict
By most standards this book would be considered average but by the high standards Lehane had set for himself it almost threatens to veer into atrocious territory. That it doesn't, serves as a testament to the writing skills of Lehane but it is not enough to salvage the missed opportunity that's Live by Night. Rating - 3/5.