History Literature / KenzieAndGennaroSeries

A series of HardboiledDetective novels that started the career of Creator/DennisLehane, now famous as the author behind ''Literature/ShutterIsland'' and ''Literature/MysticRiver'', both of which were adapted into successful films. ''Literature/GoneBabyGone'', the fourth book in the series, was also adapted into a film, with Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan playing the title characters.\\
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The premise of the books is fairly simple: Patrick Kenzie is a wise-ass private detective working out of the tough, working-class Boston neighborhood of Dorchester. Always by his side is his faithful partner, the beautiful Angie Gennaro. Though they start out as PlatonicLifePartners, Patrick (in his narration) makes no secret of the fact that he's been in love with Angie since they were both teenagers. With their small, struggling detective agency, Patrick and Angie take it upon themselves to help every poor, downtrodden Bostonian who comes their way. Along the way, they end up tangling with everybody from drug lords, to serial killers, to {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s to crazed stalkers, standing up for what's right and occasionally leaving corpses in their wake. Despite the loads of horror that they have to deal with, Patrick and Angie manage to keep their sanity through the PowerOfFriendship, both with each other and with the other residents of their close-nit neighborhood. Naturally, they end up falling in love with each other along the way. \\
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With a heavy dose of realism and occasional social commentary, the series manages to subvert many cliches of detective fiction, and it's considered a prime example of "Neo Noir". In particular, it strongly averts StatusQuoIsGod, with many deliberate arcs over the course of six books.\\

* BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler:Evandro Arujo]] in the second book goes into prison a harmless petty thief, but his experience inside leaves him so thoroughly AxCrazy that he walks out as a disciple of a serial killer. His hair also [[LockedIntoStrangeness goes white]] from the trauma of what happened to him while he was inside.

* AbsurdlyYouthfulMother: In ''Moonlight Mile'' [[spoiler:when they finally find the now 16 year old Amanda she has a baby with her, and though she claims that the baby is hers and that she gave birth to her Patrick doesn't buy it. It turns out that the baby is actually her friend Sophie's, who actually does qualify for this trope since she's the same age.]]

* HeelFaceTurn: Phil Dimassi gets a big one. He's introduces in the first book as Angie's abusive, alcoholic husband who Patrick just refers to as "the asshole". In the second book, we learn that he was once Patrick's best friend, and that most of the animosity between them stems from Patrick's jealousy over him marrying Angie. After he and Angie get a divorce and he quits drinking, he and Patrick begin to reconnect.

* DomesticAbuser: Phil, Angie's ex-husband. The first book opens with Angie sporting a black eye, and Patrick relates a previous incident where Angie told him to "be reasonable" after she showed up covered in bruises, and Patrick's response was to reasonably beat the hell out of Phil with a pool cue. This was not the first time this happened and Patrick seriously considers doing it again. Once Phil and Angie divorce Phil is seriously regretful of his behavior but Patrick never forgives him for it.

* {{Tuckerization}}: Several characters are based on real people, including Angie (the name of Lehane's real life wife) and Bubba (based on a childhood friend of Lehane's who is apparently a bit of a nut but nowhere near the fictional Bubba's level).

* DomesticAbuser: Phil, Angie's ex-husband. The first book opens with Angie sporting a black eye, and Patrick relates a previous incident where Angie told him to "be reasonable" after she showed up covered in bruises, and Patrick's response was to reasonably beat the hell out of Phil with a pool cue. This was not the first time this happened and he seriously considers doing it again.

* DomesticAbuser: Phil, Angie's ex-husband. The first book opens with Angie sporting a black eye, and Patrick relates a previous incident where Angie told him to "be reasonable", and Patrick's response was to reasonably beat the hell out of Phil with a pool cue. This was not the first time this happened.

* {{Tuckerization}}: Several characters are based on real people, including Angie (the name of Lehane's real life wife) and Bubba (based on a childhood friend of Lehane's).

* ParentalNeglect: Helene [=McCready=], in the fourth book, is criminally neglectful of her daughter Amanda. Amanda's uncle at one point recounts how Amanda got third degree sunburns when Helene left her outside in the sun and simply forgot about her. By the time Amanda's a teenager the girl has basically raised herself.

* ParentalNeglect: Helene [=McCready=], in the fourth book, is criminally neglectful of her daughter Amanda. By the time Amanda's a teenager the girl has basically raised herself.

* ParentalNeglect: Helene [=McCready=], in the fourth book, is criminally neglectful of her daughter Amanda.

* ''Moonlight Mile'' - Picking up eleven years after the last book, Patrick and Angie are a married couple with children. They get pulled into one more crazy case when a teenage Amanda [=McCready=] (the vanished girl from the fourth book) vanishes again.

A series of HardboiledDetective novels that started the career of DennisLehane, now famous as the author behind ''Literature/ShutterIsland'' and ''Literature/MysticRiver'', both of which were adapted into successful films. ''Literature/GoneBabyGone'', the fourth book in the series, was also adapted into a film, with Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan playing the title characters.\\

* AffablyEvil: A common trait of the {{Dragon}} in Lehane's work, notably [[ConsummateProfessional Pine]] in ''Darkness, Take My Hand'' and [[TheStarscream Yefim]] in ''Moonlight Mile''.

* PsychoForHire: Kevin Hurlihy, the {{Dragon}} for TheIrishMob in ''Darkness, Take My Hand''; Patrick describes him and his much more PunchClockVillain Mafia counterpart, Pine, as dangerous in two distinct ways: Pine is so disconnected from killing that he just sees it as a way to pay the bills, whereas Hurlihy enjoys it enough that he'd do it for free.

* RefugeInAudacity: In ''Darkness, Take My Hand'', Patrick goes out to get the mail and finds the AxCrazy {{Dragon}} for TheIrishMob on his doorstep; he simply sits down, starts reading his new issue of ''Spin'' and tries to strike up a conversation with the guy on the magazine's content.

* AffablyEvil: A common trait of the {{Dragon}} in Lehane's work, notably [[ConsummateProfessional Pine]] in "Darkness, Take My Hand" and [[TheStarscream Yefim]] in "Moonlight Mile".

** Marion Socia in "A Drink Before the War"
** [[spoiler: Gerry Glynn]] in "Darkness Take My Hand"
** [[spoiler: Desiree and Trevor Stone]] in "Sacred"
** [[spoiler: Remy Broussard]] in "Gone Baby Gone"
** Scott Pearse in "Prayers for Rain"
** Kirill and Violeta Borzakov in "Moonlight Mile"
* BigBadWannabe: Kenny Hendricks in "Moonlight Mile"; he has Patrick beaten and delivers demands he drop his investigation, but once it becomes clear that he's just a flunkie for some much worse people, he's a ButtMonkey for the remainder of the book.

* BrotherSisterIncest: In "Prayer For Rain" the BigBad actually brags about the fact that he's engaged in this with the murder victim, his sister Karen. [[spoiler:Except he's not actually his victim's brother and is only posing as him.]]
* BullyHunter: Both Patrick and Angie, particularly in "Moonlight Mile"; it's part of what makes Patrick a poor fit for the big-shot security agency he's been doing investigations for, as it requires him to work for CorruptCorporateExecutive types that he finds repulsive.

** The "one-shot", essentially a miniature bomb packed with a bullet, that Patrick takes to his confrontation with [[spoiler: Gerry Glynn]] in "Darkness, Take My Hand", which ends up saving his life and allowing the police to shoot [[spoiler: Gerry]].
* ChekhovsGunman: Angie’s grandfather, a Mafia boss and associate of TheDon of Boston, “Fat Freddy” Constantine, in the second book. [[spoiler: Angie uses her connections with him to capture and interrogate the mob flunkies who know the killer’s identity]].

* DiminishingVillainThreat: TheIrishMob in "Darkness, Take My Hand", over the course of the novel. At the beginning, they are, collectively, TheDreaded, but they take a back seat to the serial killer BigBad by the third act, and [[spoiler: after their obstruction of the case leads to Angie being non-fatally shot, the Mafia gives them the old YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness.]]

** After one of the {{Mooks}} in "Moonlight Mile" decides to quit the life to sell insurance for his uncle, TheMafiya expresses disgust with the career choice.

* EvilPowerVacuum: One has developed in the Dorchester underworld between "Darkness, Take My Hand" and "Gone Baby Gone"; [[FatBastard Cheese Olamon]] has been doing his best to fill it.

* ForTheEvulz: The serial killer's manifesto in "Darkness Take My Hand" reveals this, in so many words, as his primary motivation.

* PsychoForHire: Kevin Hurlihy, the {{Dragon}} for TheIrishMob in "Darkness, Take My Hand"; Patrick describes him and his much more PunchClockVillain Mafia counterpart, Pine, as dangerous in two distinct ways: Pine is so disconnected from killing that he just sees it as a way to pay the bills, whereas Hurlihy enjoys it enough that he'd do it for free.

* RefugeInAudacity: In "Darkness, Take My Hand", Patrick goes out to get the mail and finds the AxCrazy {{Dragon}} for TheIrishMob on his doorstep; he simply sits down, starts reading his new issue of "Spin" and tries to strike up a conversation with the guy on the magazine's content.

* SadisticChoice: Mafioso Stevie the Pick in "Prayers for Rain" derives his name from his fondness for giving his victims two options for how they die.

* SequelGap: 11 years between ''Prayers For Rain'' and ''Moonlight Mile''. Lehane explains this as being the result of [[IJustWriteTheThing Patrick not talking to him]].

* TitleDrop: In "A Drink Before the War", "Darkness, Take My Hand" and "Gone Baby Gone".

** Putting his victims through these via [[ManipulativeBastard manipulation]] is the MO of the BigBad of "Prayers for Rain".

* UnreliableNarrator: [[spoiler: Trevor Stone]] in "Sacred" is definitely a bastard, but when it's revealed [[spoiler: what a ManipulativeBitch his daughter is]], a great deal of what we've been told about him becomes ambiguous.

** Marion Socia is in the thick of one by the end of "A Drink Before the War".
** [[TheMafiya Kirill Borzakov]] in "Moonlight Mile" has been having a coke-and-vodka-fueled one for a while on top of being AxCrazy from the beginning; it's the main reason [[spoiler: his compatriots give Yefim permission to kill him.]]

* ''Sacred'' - Patrick and Angie agree to help a wealthy recluse find his missing daughter. Patrick also looks into the disappearance of his old friend/mentor, who vanished while investigating the same case. Features a brief departure from the series' typical Boston setting, with the action temporarily relocating to Tampa, Florida.

* ''Prayers For Rain'' - After splitting up in the fourth book, Patrick and Angie reunite to take down a psychopathic stalker.

* TruthInTelevision: Many of the series' depictions of domestic abuse are inspired by Lehane's time spent working with abused children.

The premise of the books is fairly simple: Patrick Kenzie is a wise-ass private detective working out of the tough, working-class Boston neighborhood of Dorchester. Always by his side is his faithful partner, the beautiful Angie Gennaro. Though they start out as [[TheStraightWillAndGrace Platonic Life Partners]], Patrick (in his narration) makes no secret of the fact that he's been in love with Angie since they were both teenagers. With their small, struggling detective agency, Patrick and Angie take it upon themselves to help every poor, downtrodden Bostonian who comes their way. Along the way, they end up tangling with everybody from drug lords, to serial killers, to {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s to crazed stalkers, standing up for what's right and occasionally leaving corpses in their wake. Despite the loads of horror that they have to deal with, Patrick and Angie manage to keep their sanity through the PowerOfFriendship, both with each other and with the other residents of their close-nit neighborhood. Naturally, they end up falling in love with each other along the way. \\

* BrotherSisterIncest: In "Prayer For Rain" the BigBad actually brags about the fact that he's engaged in this with the murder victim. [[spoiler:Except he's not actually his victim's brother and is only posing as him.]]

* ChekhovsGun: In ''Moonlight Mile'' Amanda's No. 19 Red Sox Jersey proves to be this, since it's the jersey of player Josh Beckett [[spoiler:and the town where Amanda was taken in the Berkshires during her first disappearance is called Becket, and where Patrick and Angie eventually find her]].

* BigBadWannabe: Kenny Hendricks in "Moonlight Mile"; he has Patrick beaten and delivers a HannibalLecture demanding he drop his investigation, but once it becomes clear that he's just a flunkie for some much worse people, he's a ButtMonkey for the remainder of the book.

* ShutUpHannibal: Patrick to [[spoiler:Gerry]] in ''Darkness, Take My Hand'' when [[spoiler: Gerry]] attempts to make his murders seem grandiose; Patrick steadfastly refuses to give him the satisfaction of being horrified by him, and simply tells him that he'll completely vanish from the news cycle when something more sordid grabs their attention.

* BittersweetEnding: A hallmark of the series. ''GoneBabyGone'' is the most obvious example.

* DemotedToExtra: Bubba Rogowski in TheMovie of ''GoneBabyGone''.

* NeverLiveItDown: {{In-universe}}, the fact that in ''GoneBabyGone'' Patrick wound up [[spoiler:taking down several corrupt cops]] has permanently put him on the BPD's shit-list.

* {{Gayngst}}: In ''Darkness, Take My Hand'' , [[spoiler:Eric Gault,]] a former professor of Patrick's, turns out to have been having an affair with Jason Warren, the son of Patrick and Angie's client; he didn't divulge this even after [[spoiler:Jason is murdered]] because he knows that a same-sex professor-student relationship, even involving adults, would provoke an AllGaysArePedophiles-type reaction from parents.

A series of HardBoiledDetective novels that started the career of DennisLehane, now famous as the author behind ''Literature/ShutterIsland'' and ''Literature/MysticRiver'', both of which were adapted into successful films. ''Literature/GoneBabyGone'', the fourth book in the series, was also adapted into a film, with Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan playing the title characters.\\

* ''GoneBabyGone'' - Patrick and Angie get pulled into the fray when a little girl's mysterious disappearance causes a huge stir in the neighborhood. Along the way, Patrick is forced to make the hardest choice of his career.

A series of HardBoiledDetective novels that started the career of DennisLehane, now famous as the author behind ''ShutterIsland'' and ''MysticRiver'', both of which were adapted into successful films. ''GoneBabyGone'', the fourth book in the series, was also adapted into a film, with Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan playing the title characters.\\

* ARealManIsAKiller: Averted ''hard''. Patrick is only forced to kill a few times in the series, and each time he feels terrible about it. So much that by the third book, he outright refuses to kill the BigBad when he has his final confrontation with him.