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(More customer reviews)In the book's introduction, Lehane adds his own twist to a description of the noir genre. He argues that it represents uniquely working class tragedy, a story of loss and of people who are unable to roll with the changing times. "No art form that I know of," submits Lehane, "rages against the machine more violently than noir." He adds, however, that the Boston locations in this volume add an unexpected strain of humor to the mix.
Although the entries are a bit uneven, I found some of them very entertaining. In just a few pages of the first story, Lynne Heitman sets the mood, creates dramatic tension and builds a nice visual image of the Financial District office in which the action occurs. A woman who is passed over for a job has shot her boss and is holding her rival hostage. The author manages simultaneously to create a feeling of sympathy and vague dislike for the captive businessman. The author saves her best lines to describe the woman with the gun: "This suit has never really fit, and the dark blue Tahari would have hidden the blood stains better."
Dennis Lehane's story features a confrontation between small time hoods in Dorchester. The story has atmosphere, compelling characters and classic noir visuals like: "The street signs and window panes rattled, and Bob thought how winter lost any meaning the day you last rode a sled. Any meaning but grey."
My other favorite was Brendan DuBois' Dark Island. Locales in the story include Scollay Square, the waterfront and one of the small islands off the coast of the city. In a staple beginning of the genre, a mysterious woman walks into the office of a gumshoe. She is pretty, needs help and is not what she seems.
These stories takes place in various locations in and around Boston (Beacon Hill, the North End, Watertown) and are from different time periods (colonial, post WW II, the sixties). I like the genre, am a fan of Lehane and come from Boston. For me, this book was a nice blend of all three.
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