A Drink Before the War
First edition cover | |
| Author | Dennis Lehane |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Kenzie-Gennaro |
| Genre | Crime fiction |
| Publisher | Harcourt |
Publication date | November 1994 |
| Publication place |  United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 267 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 015100093X Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
| Followed by | Darkness, Take My Hand |
A Drink Before the War is the Shamus Award award winning debut novel by Dennis Lehane and was published in 1994.[1] It is the first book in a series focusing on private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro.
Plot introduction
Private Investigators Kenzie and Gennaro are tasked to retrieve missing documents by a trio of politicians. The trail leads them into the midst of a gang war and reveals an act of child abuse. Kenzie struggles with memories of his own past while Gennaro deals with her abusive marriage.[2]
Explanation of the novel's title
The title refers to the gang war that is central to the plot. It is from a line of dialogue for the character Devin taken from page 181 of the book. The line originally appeared in a 1975 episode of the BBC comedy series Fawlty Towers where hotel owner Basil Fawlty (John Cleese) asks his German guests "Now, would you like to eat first, or would you like a drink before the war?" There is also a song of the same name released by Sinéad O'Connor in 1987.
Plot summary
 | This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (December 2007) |
Kenzie receives the job from the politicians just before a key "street terrorism" bill is going to be passed. The plot focuses on the documents stolen by Jenna Angeline, and Gennaro and Kenzie's travails in recovering them. Shortly after taking the job Kenzie notices that he is being followed. They track Angeline to her sister's home outside of Boston. They learn that she is an ex-wife of gang leader Socia and mother of his son Roland.
Jenna gives Kenzie a photograph from the documents she stole but before she can explain any further she is murdered by Curtis Moore. Kenzie wounds Moore and escapes unharmed. He is interviewed by the police but released with the assistance of his attorney. Socia threatens the detectives lives but believes that the documents incriminate him and are now in their possession. The detectives enlist Bubba for protection from Socia. Kenzie gets some advice about the tense gang situation between Roland and Socia from Devin.
They search Jenna's car and find a numbered key which they eventually trace to a locker at a train station. When they retrieve the documents they are attacked by Socia's people. Bubba is injured in the ensuing shootout, leaving the detectives vulnerable. They narrowly escape injury and arrest. They find that the documents show the statutory rape of a young boy by Senator Paulson while Socia looks on. They hide the documents in the church. They are picked up by the police but are once again released. They return to the church to retrieve their weapons and guns but find it is being watched so they have some neighborhood kids rent them guns and retrieve their car. They are pursued and after another shootout find that their attacker this time was Roland. They injure him and when he is incapacitated realize that he was the boy in the photographs. Roland wants the photographs destroyed to protect his reputation. Neither detective can bring themselves to kill Roland although he represents a continuing threat to them.
Roland prevails in the gang war and Socia makes a last attempt to get the photographs from the detectives. His behavior at the meeting provokes them and they kill him, leaving one photo on his body.
Rather than hand the photographs straight back to the politicians as they were employed to do the detectives use them to provoke a discussion of their content. Journalist Richie Colgan is there to document the meeting and the politicians are exposed. However, they destroy the images where Roland could be identified. He approaches them a final time and agrees to forget about them.
The book has two major sub-plots. The first is Kenzie's attraction to Gennaro and her problems with her abusive marriage. By the end of the book Gennaro defends herself against her husband and leaves him. The second is Kenzie's relationship with his own father and his history of a violent childhood is revealed via flashbacks.
Characters
The novel is written in the first person voice of Patrick Kenzie, a Boston based private detective. Kenzie works with his lifelong friend Angie Gennaro from an office in a neighborhood church. Angie is in an abusive marriage with Phillip. Their contacts include loyal sociopath Bubba Rugowski, anti-gang detective Devin Amronklin, attorney Cheswick Hartman and journalist Richie Colgan.
Their current clients are a cadre of politicians - Sterling Mulkern, Jim Vurnan and Brian Paulson - who have hired them to retrieve some documents that they believe were stolen by Jenna Angeline. As their case unfolds the streets of Boston are about to erupt in gang warfare between Marion Socia and his son Roland. Socia is backed by his enforcer Curtis Moore.
Major themes
Themes of the novel include racial and class warfare and the effect of blue collar bitterness in father figures.[3]
Literary significance and reception
The New York Times described the book as somewhat cliched but praised the honest approach to racial and class warfare.[3] They also felt that the seriousness of the novel's themes made a jarring contrast with the flippancy of the detective characters.[3]
Awards and nominations
Dennis Lehane received a Shamus award for best first detective novel for the book.[1]
References
- ^ a b "Exclusives". Dennis Lehane Books. 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-20.
- ^ "A Drink Before the War". Dennis Lehane Books. 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-20.
- ^ a b c "Crime by Marilyn Stasio". New York Times. 1994. Retrieved 2007-09-20.
External links
- A Drink Before the War at dennislehanebooks.com