Sacred is the third book in the Kenzie/Gennaro series. The other books being A Drink Before the War (1), Darkness Take My Hand (2), Gone Baby Gone (4), Prayers for Rain (5), and Moonlight Mile (6). You'll notice I have a link for Gone, Baby, Gone because I did not realize it was part of a series, I just knew that movie and thus read this out of order. Whoops.
Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro are still private detectives in Boston when they are kidnapped/hired for a job.* Super-rich-but-also-dying guy's daughter has gone missing. Things haven't been going well for this family. First Trevor Stone (rich guy) and his wife were carjacked and his wife killed when things went south. While in the hospital to treat his injuries doctors discover he has an inoperable tumor and don't give him long to live. Then his daughter's boyfriend suddenly dies. And now the daughter, Desiree, is gone. Not only is she gone but Patrick's mentor, Jay Becker, originally hired for the case has also gone missing. Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuun.
There are lots of twists including a weird cult that technically isn't Scientology cos no one says it is but yeah, it's Scientology and a trip to Florida and even some Bubba. Which, if you've read the other Kenzie/Gennaro books (and I encourage you to do so) you'll know that even a brief Bubba visit is a fun one. That psychopath that you know is doing horrible horrible things but since he's on your side, you're pretty happy he's around. I don't want to say much more about the plot since it is all about twists and turns and who do you trust? Who's telling the truth and what are the motives and how did Desiree seemingly fall of the face of the Earth?
This is everything you'd expect from a Lehane novel. It's dark and it's violent and it's suspenseful and it's entertaining. It's not my favorite Lehane book. That's not to say this is bad at all. It's just that the others are so good. Maybe this one didn't quite work because the setting changed from the familiar gritty Boston streets to spend time in Florida and Lehane writes Boston so well I'd rather see him play up there. Or maybe that's just because I know Boston, and I like seeing settings I know. But when you have lines like "This was the North End, home of the Mafia, and one thing people knew around here from birth was no matter what they saw, they didn't see it."
That said, I'd still recommend this book. Especially if you're reading the whole series, which you should also probably do. And I am going to try not to let more than a year go before my next Lehane.
*Are there better ways to hire a PI to take your case? Probably. I've never hired one so I suppose this could be normal etiquette, but let's assume not.
Title quote from page 260, location 2653
Lehane, Dennis. Sacred. Kenzie & Gennaro #3. HarperCollins, 2009. Kindle edition. Originally published 1997.
