Things that don't suck: Gone, Baby, Gone - the novel

Ben Affleck is scouting out locations in Boston for his directorial debut, a novel by local author Dennis Lehane called Gone, Baby, Gone. This is an incredible book. Please, do yourself a favor and read it before seeing the movie. It's one story from a 5-part series of books featuring two private investigators from Dorchester. Read them all. They are as follows, in order:

1. A Drink Before the War
2. Darkness, Take My Hand
3. Sacred
4. Gone, Baby, Gone
5. Prayers for Rain
   

These novels burn hotter and hotter as you go along - Lehane really hits his stride with Darkness, Take My Hand, but you need to read A Drink Before the War to really appreciate the inside dark humor. All of these novels, such as the case with any great novel, focus on character development first. Once you're hooked, you're in for a real thrill ride.

Lehane is the best crime author in the world right now. He penned Mystic River, the story that Clint Eastwood ruined by making it into a movie. If you liked Eastwood's Mystic River, you'll be stunned at how much better the book is. It's unrelated to this particular crime series, but it's one of the most complete psychological thrillers I've ever read. The ending is much, much more shocking (think, the ending of the movie Se7en).

Anyway, you can thank me later, once you've completed your summer reading.