Coronado - by Dennis Lehane (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Now available with a contemporary look, a must-have collection of riveting short stories from the New York Times bestselling author of Mystic River and Shutter Island.

"Locations are vivid and crisp, characters are memorable and, most importantly, the story lines dig into you and leave their mark." --Boston Herald

When it comes to contemporary crime fiction there's no territory quite as dangerous and unpredictable as that of New York Times bestselling author Dennis Lehane. These five short stories and a play are Lehane at his visceral best.

In "Running Out of Dog," a vet returning from Vietnam is asked to redirect the violent skills he learned overseas to deal with his hometown's rampant population of strays. "ICU" follows a hunted man who finds refuge in the oddest place imaginable. Surprises await a gang of Texas high-school football jocks who lay siege to a luxury home in the suburbs in "Gone Down to Corpus." And in "Mushrooms," a simple theft triggers a series of murders that forces a disillusioned young girl to consider her next move. This collection also includes "Until Gwen" and its stage adaptation, Coronado, which expands on the trenchant tale of a morally bankrupt conman father, his ill-fated son, and the woman they have in common.

In Lehane's capable hands, each story faces unflinchingly the darkest depths of the human experience--sin and redemption, loss and longing, flesh and blood--delivering a knockout punch that'll have readers reeling.

Review Quotes

"[A] brilliant, insightful and intriguing literary voyage. Lehane's ability to create complex and believable characters using simple prose is his best asset, one that he uses to full advantage...Lehane's genius is in the intricacy of the relationship. He draws these characters so realistically that their eventual downfall is especially poignant...an exciting, frenetic read that draws you into the lives of characters, lifestyles and locales that are not only colorful but engaging. Locations are vivid and crisp, characters are memorable and, most importantly, the story lines dig into you and leave their mark." - Boston Herald

"Raw, surprising tales of passion and violence . . . [from] one of the most unpredictable minds in current American fiction." - Washington Post Book World

"Lehane has a startling capacity for assessing broken people " - Entertainment Weekly

"A knockout performance...This one is a classic." - Kirkus Reviews

"There's not a wasted word in these dark, spare tales about disenfranchised males of the South" - Library Journal

"Coronado is an apt reminder that the master of crime and literary fiction is also a proficient short-story writer...whose stories make us dig down into our own hopes and fears." - USA Today

"Coronado is a collection of short stories, exquisite fragments with jagged edges and raw emotions...an excellent, eliptical examination of the power of love and a man apparently without a soul." - The Guardian

"Dennis Lehane creates flawed, hopeful, memorable characters with the kind of lyrical writing that is to literature what John Prine and Tom Waits are to music." - San Jose Mercury News

"the stuff of a reliable pro" - Daily News

"Five richly vernacular stories and one play...Powerfully envisioned lives, recounted unflinchingly." - Publishers Weekly