inding Amanda. But are they any closer than they were a year ago?The end of the book finds the child, but far deeper questions arise. Gone Baby Gone makes you think about what is right and what is wrong. Lehane has his characters split: Patrick being practical, Angie being sentimental. They are forced to face the horrors adults can perpetuate on innocents but also their own conflicted feelings about what is best, and worst, when it comes to raising children. Each characters’ point of view is understandable and leaves the reader filled with conflicting thoughts. It is the climax of the kidnapping story itself that destroys things. Not only does it destroy one of the books’ (and thus the series) underpinning relationships, it heaves a mighty moral question in your face: What if what is humanely right at one time ISN’T morally or legally right? Or vice versa? How do you make such a decision, and who has the right to make such a decision. Certainly not Patrick and Angie, but it’s a decision forced upon them and one that leaves them emotionally bereft.While the story grips you, the language sings. Lehane peppers his dialogue with snappy repartee and sardonic comedy. Lehane use humor to lure the reader in and then smacks them across the face with a burst of surprising violence. The narrative voice of the book is that of Patrick Kenzie speaking in the first person. This draws the readers into Patrick’s situation and allows them to see things as he sees them and feel the action as he feels. As a detective Kenzie tries to be detached but in this book especially the reader can sense a mood of hopelessness in their search as well as the determination it takes to keep going.Lehane sets the tone with a sad but practical introduction featuring statistics of lost children in America and the rates at which they are found. He creates a broader picture of life, and contrasts Kenzie’s and Gennaro’s...
