Moonlight Mile

Starred review from February 7, 2011
It's been 11 years since we've seen Boston private detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro and, although they're now married with a four-year-old daughter, the years have not been kind. The couple is plagued by money troubles, depression, and regret over a decision Patrick made 12 years ago in the course of the novel Gone, Baby, Gone. Having found the kidnapped Amanda McCready, he elected to return her to her drug-addicted mother rather than leave her in the care of the considerably more benign kidnappers, a loving elderly couple. Now Amanda has gone missing again, and, to Angela's dismay, Patrick postpones a well-paying job to search for the girl. Jonathan Davis captures Angie's bitterness; the youthful, yet coldly efficient delivery of the brilliant teenage Amanda; the growl of the friendly sociopath Bubba and assorted others, including a genial, self-amused Russian mobster. But his finest achievement is his voice for Patrick, the narrator. It's world-weary, very definitely Bostonian, and conveys a strength of character that suggests the task he's set for himself may not be as impossible as it appears. Fans of the series should be more than pleased. A Morrow hardcover.