Line #101 Literature/KenzieAndGennaroSeries


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/918xaqsnkxl_sl1500.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''A Drink Before the War'', the first book in the series]]
3
4	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.
5
6	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.
7
8	The books are also rather notable for their strong adherence to specific themes in every installment, touching on many different shades of vice and evil as they examine the many diverse faces of criminality and injustice. The first book, for example, deals heavily with institutionalized racism and urban poverty in its portrayal of inner-city violence and political corruption, while the second deals with primal evil and insanity in its portrayal of serial killers, the third deals with greed and avarice in its portrayal of crooked businessmen, and the fourth deals with apathy in its portrayal of parental neglect--showing that apathy can often be just as harmful as outright violence.
9
10	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.
11
12	!!The books published so far:
13	* ''A Drink Before the War'' - Patrick and Angie take an assignment from a powerful politician to find some "important documents" that were stolen by his cleaning lady. In their search, they end up stumbling into the middle of a vicious gang war that threatens to tear their neighborhood apart.
14	* ''Darkness, Take My Hand'' - Patrick and Angie spring into action when a long-dormant serial killer apparently resumes his killing spree. A pretty impressive feat, considering he's been behind bars for over fifteen years...
15	* ''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's typical Boston setting, with the action temporarily relocating to Tampa, Florida.
16	* ''Literature/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.
17	* ''Prayers for Rain'' - After splitting up in the fourth book, Patrick and Angie reunite to take down a psychopathic stalker.
18	* ''Moonlight Mile'' - Picking up eleven years after the last book, Patrick and Angie are a married couple with a daughter. They get pulled into one more crazy case when a teenage Amanda [=McCready=] (the vanished girl from the fourth book) vanishes again.
19
20	----
21	!Tropes present in the series:
22	* AbusiveParents: A recurring theme.
23	** Patrick's father regularly beat him and his sister; after Patrick accidentally started a house fire in the kitchen when he was 11, his father burned him on the stomach with a clothing iron as punishment.
24	** Brian Corliss from ''Moonlight Mile'' proves to be such a {{Jerkass}} to his daughter Sophie that Angie has to excuse herself to avoid punching him in the face. After his wife divorced him he only started fighting for his daughter Sophie's custody when he found out his ex-wife was living with another woman, and wore shirts with homophobic slogans around them, and then ''the day her mother died of stomach cancer'' had the gall to show up outside the hospital, and exploited the fact that (then) New Hampshire law had no protections for same-sex spouses over children to win custody over her. Once Sophie lives with him he then tries to take complete control of her life, including what she eats, and threatens to throw her out of the house if she doesn't lose ten pounds. It's no wonder she winds up running away.
25	* ActionGirl: Angie. Not as blatant as most examples, but Patrick makes it clear that she’s a hell of a lot more formidable in a fight than he is.
26	* AffablyEvil: A common trait of TheDragon in Lehane's work, notably [[ConsummateProfessional Pine]] in ''Darkness, Take My Hand'' and [[TheStarscream Yefim]] in ''Moonlight Mile''.
27	* AlasPoorVillain: [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well-intentioned extremists]] [[spoiler: Jack Doyle and Remy Broussard]] in ''Gone Baby Gone''.
28	* AloneWithThePsycho: [[spoiler: Patrick and Phil with Gerry Glynn near the end of the second book.]]
29	* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Jay Becker, introduced in the third book. He's every bit as skilled as Patrick, but he's slicker and much more experienced, and he has a lucrative job with a big-time detective agency.
30	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Over the course of the series, Bubba stockpiles loads of high explosives and combat weaponry, and he kills, maims, and/or tortures scads of Patrick's enemies. When he gets sent to jail at the beginning of the third book, it's for having an unregistered handgun.
31	* AscendedExtra: Phil Dimassi in the second book, after his HeelFaceTurn.
32	* AssholeVictim: Bubba gives a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown to Kevin Hurlihy, a PsychoForHire who begins shadowing Patrick's girlfriend to intimidate Patrick.
33	* TheAtoner: This is why Patrick ends up on the case in both ''Prayers for Rain'' and ''Moonlight Mile''.
34	* AuthorAppeal: As rough as Dorchester can be (i.e. [[CrapsackWorld VERY]]) Lehane's love of his native Boston still comes through.
35	** Lehane is also a well-known dog-lover, and demonstrates this after a fashion by having the BigBad of ''Prayers for Rain'' kill a dog ForTheEvulz.
36	* BadassNormal: Both Patrick and Angie. As Lehane puts it:
37	-->I decided, I do not want the people [in my books] to be veterans of any war I don't want them to know some sort of obscure Eastern kung fu philosophy that'll help them whoop ass. I want them to be regular, vulnerable people. They're not braver than most people, but they stick with it.
38	* BadGuyBar: The Fillmore lounge, in the fourth book.
39	* 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. [[spoiler: Because he was reborn from a traumatic experience, and because of his ghostly white hair, he's considered "The Holy Ghost" to Gerry Glynn's "Father" and Alec Hardiman's "Son".]]
40	* BerserkButton: Threatening Patrick and Angie (particularly Angie) is a good way to get on Bubba’s bad side.
41	** In a much darker example, [[spoiler: catching someone being irresponsible with fire will drive Patrick's dad into an unstoppable rage]].
42	** Lionel [=McCready=] in ''Gone Baby Gone'', a gentle, even-tempered guy who's pretty much the only person still making excuses for his JerkAss sister, ''completely loses his shit'' when said sister insults his wife and makes a racist remark.
43	* BigBad: Generally one per book:
44	** Marion Socia in ''A Drink Before the War''
45	** [[spoiler: Gerry Glynn]] in ''Darkness, Take My Hand''
46	** [[spoiler: Desiree and Trevor Stone]] in ''Sacred''
47	** [[spoiler: Remy Broussard and Jack Doyle]] in ''Gone Baby Gone''
48	** Scott Pearse in ''Prayers for Rain''
49	** Kirill and Violeta Borzakov in ''Moonlight Mile''
50	* 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.
51	* BittersweetEnding: A hallmark of the series. ''Literature/GoneBabyGone'' is the most obvious example.
52	* BlackComedy: Though the books are pretty serious, Patrick's narration carries a definite undercurrent of this, which WordOfGod is a defense mechanism. The climax of ''Moonlight Mile'', for instance, alternates between horrific and screamingly funny.
53	* UsefulNotes/{{Boston}}: WordOfGod is he intentionally presents a version of the city that's more in line with how it was when he was growing up, and the modern Boston is actually nowhere near as bad as portrayed in his books, in part thanks to the "Boston Miracle" in the 1990s that drastically reduced violent crime.
54	* BrotherSisterIncest: In ''Prayers 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.]]
55	* 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.
56	* 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, where Patrick and Angie eventually find her the second time]].
57	** 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]].
58	* 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]].
59	* ChekhovsSkill: One of the FBI agents in the second book briefly mentions that he's a literary buff. Because of this, he's able to recognize all of the subtle references to ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'' in the killer's notes. [[spoiler: This saves Patrick's life in his final confrontation with the killer. It turns out that "Iago" is a codeword that signals his dog to attack]].
60	* ContinuityNod: Recur throughout the series, although ''Moonlight Mile'' is the only book that could really be considered a straight-up sequel (to ''Gone Baby Gone'', in this case).
61	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Trevor Stone in the third book.
62	* CrapsackWorld: With its heavy levels of crime, poverty, racism, and corruption, Dorchester definitely qualifies. This is often overlooked because the residents have so much local pride.
63	* Crossover: The short story "Red Eye," co-written by Lehane & Michael Connelly and featured in the anthology ''[=FaceOff=]'', matches up Patrick with Literature/HarryBosch.
64	* DeadpanSnarker: Patrick, big-time, normally to pretty terrifying people.
65	* DemotedToExtra: Bubba Rogowski in TheMovie of ''Film/GoneBabyGone''.
66	* DeusExMachina: Patrick's lawyer, Cheswick Hartman, often functions as this. He only shows up when Patrick gets himself into legal trouble, and he ''always'' gets him off scot-free.
67	* 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.]]
68	* TheDitz: Helene [=McCready=] is a non-comedic example in ''Gone Baby Gone'', as the stupidity and thoughtlessness that might be funny under other circumstances are actually very hazardous traits for the mother of a young child, especially in a bad neighbourhood. It's only her brother who stops her from doing serious harm to Amanda.
69	** However, by the time of ''Moonlight Mile'' she's moved into a more typical example of this trope, because the older Amanda is now highly intelligent and independent, and all the damage Helene could do has already been done. An example of this is when she sees Amanda's baby, which by this point everyone (including her) knows is ''adopted'' rather than a blood relation, she immediately says the baby has her eyes. When her boyfriend Kenny incredulously asks her how it is that she's "allowed to vote and operate machinery", we get this gem:
70	--> "Cuz," Helene said proudly, "this is America." [[ImpliedFacepalm Kenny closed and opened his eyes.]]
71	* DoNotCallMePaul: Calling Patrick "Pat" is a good way to get on his bad side.
72	* DomesticAbuse: 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 really forgives him for it, and by the time the two old friends start to patch things up [[spoiler:Phil is killed by Gerry Glynn]].
73	* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: The end of ''Moonlight Mile'' has Patrick decide to quit the PI business and go back to school after he decides he's more than earned it with all they've been through. The final scene of the series is him and Angie entering their home together, Patrick content with the state of his life.]]
74	* EmbarrassingFirstName: [[spoiler:Ruprecht]] "Bubba" Rogowski.
75	* {{Ephebophile}}: In ''Moonlight Mile'', Patrick accuses [[spoiler:Dre]] of being this towards [[spoiler:Amanda, who's 16 so it's not illegal per se under Mass law[[note]]which is also a notable aversion of HollywoodProvincialism since both Lehane and Kenzie know age of consent in Mass is 16[[/note]], but still questionable since he's at least twice her age. Dre doesn't exactly deny it either, and it's later implied that Amanda knew he wanted to get into her pants and used this to manipulate him]].
76	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Boston's Irish Mafia plays host to some vicious, sadistic people. But even ''they're'' repulsed by the serial killer in the second book, refusing to believe that such a person could have grown up in "the neighborhood".
77	** 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.
78	* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: Most of the main cast, including Patrick, Angie, Phil, Bubba, and many of the psychos/mobsters that they have to deal with. Justified, since Dorchester is an exceptionally close-knit neighborhood.
79	* 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.
80	* FauxAffablyEvil: [[TheDon "Fat Freddy" Constantine]], who drops the facade the second Patrick makes a wiseass remark.
81	* FictionalCounterpart: The Church of Truth and Revelation, from the third book, is a not-so-subtle counterpart to the Church of Scientology.
82	* ForTheEvulz: The serial killer's manifesto in ''Darkness, Take My Hand'' reveals this, in so many words, as his primary motivation.
83	* FriendInTheBlackMarket: Bubba, who can always be trusted to find the necessary ordinance to help with any situation, and used to be a Marine.
84	* {{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 and would likely cost him his job.
85	* GrandFinale: ''Moonlight Mile.''
86	* HardBoiledDetective: Patrick Kenzie is a refreshing subversion. He has a fairly DarkAndTroubledPast, and he encounters plenty of horror in his job. But in spite of it all, he remains an easily relatable everyman with plenty of stable relationships, and he often uses humor to focus on what's important. He has a right to be angsty, but he rarely wears his angst on his sleeve.
87	* HeelFaceTurn: Phil Dimassi gets a big one. He's introduced 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.
88	* HeroicBSOD: Patrick, after [[spoiler: he fails to stop Gerry Glynn from killing Phil]]; he's snapped out of it when [[spoiler: Gerry]] takes a mother and infant hostage. By the time the book ends, he's settled into a more muted, long-term version thanks to the horrors they've experienced.
89	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Devin Amronklin and Oscar Lee, Patrick's contacts in the Boston Police Department.
90	* HumanPopsicle: It's revealed in ''Sacred'' that Trevor Stone hopes to use a cryogenic chamber to stave off his cancer until there's a cure for it. While Patrick thinks that such an idea is ridiculous, he finds out that Trevor's inner circle is plotting against him because they're just that unwilling to risk him living any longer.
91	-->'''Griffin:''' Don't laugh. He's crazy. He's not to be taken lightly, though. I don't believe in cryogenics. But what if I'm wrong and he's right, Mr. Kenzie? He'll dance on our graves.
92	* InformationBroker: Devin the cop and Richie the journalist both often serve this purpose for Patrick.
93	* ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies: Inverted with Patrick and his girlfriend Grace; ''she'' leaves ''him'' when she realizes the danger his work potentially puts her and her daughter in.
94	* LudicrousGibs: The result of [[spoiler:Dre]] getting hit by the incoming Acela train[[note]]The Acela high-speed train can attain speeds of up to 150mph; though it can't maintain this speed over the whole run, it still travels much faster than most people are used to seeing trains moving[[/note]] in ''Moonlight Mile'', to the point that it takes Patrick a few minutes to understand exactly what he's seeing splashed all over the other cars.
95	* MemeticBadass: Patrick is an in-universe example. After he single-handedly takes down [[spoiler: Gerry Glynn]], he becomes something of a local legend around Dorchester, and there are several True Crime novels published about his exploits.
96	* IJustWriteTheThing: Lehane explains the 11 year gap between ''Prayers for Rain'' and ''Moonlight Mile'' as being because Patrick Kenzie wouldn't talk to him.
97	* IntrepidReporter: Richie Colgan, who usually assists Patrick by giving evidence to the press and digging up information.
98	* ItGetsEasier: Averted- Patrick commits two murders over the course of the series, [[spoiler: Marion Socia, a psychotic gang leader who pimped out his own son]] and [[spoiler:Corwin Earle, a pedophile and murderer of children]]. Despite the two characters being grade-A {{Asshole Victim}}s and Patrick killing them years apart, he's racked with guilt both times.
99	* KirkSummation: 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.
100	* TheLadette: Angie
101	* LaserGuidedKarma: Dr. Dawe in ''Prayers for Rain'' believes himself to be the victim of this; when his daughter was born with a heart condition that was at the time considered a death sentence, he switched the newborn with that of a woman who had died in childbirth; when the healthy girl the Dawes took was just a little girl, she fell through a frozen lake and drowned, while their biological daughter ended up adopted and living a perfectly normal life.
102	* LoveTriangle: Patrick, Angie and Phil were in one for the longest time, since Angie actually lost her virginity to Patrick, panicked, and then ran to Phil. It takes them ''many'' years to settle it [[spoiler:and then Phil ends up dying]].
103	* MafiaPrincess: Subverted; Angie is the granddaughter of Delaware mobster Vincent Patriso, but she is estranged from him and only ever calls upon her connections to him twice during the series, both times as a last resort.
104	* {{Macguffin}}: Senator Paulson's photos in the first book.
105	* MoralityPet: Patrick essentially serves this role for Bubba, who otherwise is very much ruthless and remorseless. [[spoiler:Patrick and Angie's daughter]] Gabby also serves this role for him in ''Moonlight Mile'' since he's fiercely protective of her, and she adores him in turn.
106	* TheMovieBuff: Patrick, with a particular liking for Old Hollywood.
107	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: How Amanda feels about Patrick's decision to [[spoiler:return her to her mother]]; played with, in that Patrick didn't believe himself to be doing the exact right thing even beforehand, just the best of bad options.
108	* OhCrap: In ''Darkness, Take My Hand'', when Patrick puts two and two together after realizing that 1- a serial killer is stalking him, 2- his house painter said he wouldn't be able to make it that day and 3- there's someone outside painting his house...
109	* OnceDoneNeverForgotten: The fact that in ''Literature/GoneBabyGone'' Patrick wound up [[spoiler:taking down several corrupt cops]] has permanently put him on the BPD's shit-list.
110	* OnlyInFlorida: The section of ''Sacred'' set in Tampa has shades of this. The craziest stuff in the book happens in Florida.
111	* OutOfFocus: Richie Colson, a Boston Tribune reporter and Patrick's main contact in the press, plays a decently-sized role in ''A Drink Before The War'', but mostly fades into the background afterward, not even appearing in Books 4 or 5.
112	* ParentalNeglect: Helene [=McCready=], in the fourth book, is criminally neglectful of her daughter Amanda. Amanda's uncle Lionel recounts how toddler Amanda once 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.
113	* PlatonicLifePartners: Patrick and Angie, in the beginning. The platonic part doesn't last.
114	* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Sterling Mulkern, the corrupt, openly racist senator in the first book.
115	* PrivateDetective: Patrick and Angie, natch. It's actually a relatively realistic depiction--most of their cases start out as missing person cases, which [[TruthInTelevision PIs often handle in real life]]. Though it's rarely shown [[RuleOfCool for obvious reasons]], Patrick mentions that the bulk of his cases are pretty mundane ones involving corporate embezzlement and similar crimes. When the duo get involved in real crimes, there's always a justification for it, like a criminal having a personal connection to Patrick, a client deliberately avoiding police scrutiny, or Dorchester residents' refusal to trust the police.
116	* PsychoForHire: Kevin Hurlihy, TheDragon 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.
117	* PsychoSidekick: Bubba Rugowski, Patrick's friend and occasional bodyguard. He's a violent, sadistic, openly racist gun nut who lives in a warehouse surrounded by land mines. But for all of his, uh...eccentricities, he's fiercely loyal to Patrick and Angie, and will do anything to help them in their cases. In ''Moonlight Mile'' Patrick takes him along and repeatedly tells him that he can't just shoot everyone, [[spoiler:not that Bubba listens]].
118	* PutOnABus: Bubba goes to jail at the beginning of the third book, and isn't around for the rest of the story.
119	** TheBusCameBack: He returns in fourth book, then in the fifth he has probably the most importance of any of the books.
120	** Devin & Oscar between the fifth and sixth books; [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that they've retired from the force in the 12 years between the two books.
121	** After briefly returning in ''Prayers For Rain,'' [[RomanticFalseLead Grace Cole]] reveals to Patrick that she's moving to Houston, effectively leaving his life forever.
122	* ARealManIsAKiller: Averted. 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.
123	* RageAgainstTheHeavens: Patrick experiences a moment of this in the fourth book after [[spoiler: finding Samuel Pietro’s mutilated body.]]
124	* RefugeInAudacity: In ''Darkness, Take My Hand'', Patrick goes out to get the mail and finds AxCrazy TheDragon 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.
125	* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler: Phil in the second book. He's killed by Gerry Glynn when he tries to take revenge on him for attacking Angie]].
126	* ReligiousHorror: Lots of it in the second book. Victims of the serial killer are always found crucified, and [[spoiler: it turns out that there are actually ''three'' killers who have modeled themselves after the Holy Trinity. There's Gerry Glynn (the Father), Alec Hardiman (the Son), and Evandro Arujo (the Holy Ghost)]].
127	* RhetoricalQuestionBlunder: In ''Moonlight Mile.''
128	-->'''Violeta Borzakov''': Do you think I am stupid?\
129	[[spoiler: '''Yefim''': Tiny bit, yes. [BoomHeadshot] ]]
130	* TheRival: Jay Becker.
131	* 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.
132	* ScarsAreForever: Patrick has a hideous scar on his stomach from [[spoiler: when his abusive father burned him with an iron]]. In the second book, he also gets a scar on his face from [[spoiler: Gerry Glynn slashing him with a knife]], prompting him to grow a beard to cover it. In the same book, Angie gets a scar on her stomach from [[spoiler:getting shot]].
133	* SequelGap: 11 years between ''Prayers for Rain'' and ''Moonlight Mile''. Lehane explains this as being the result of [[IJustWriteTheThing Patrick not talking to him]].
134	* ShoutOut:
135	** The title of the first book is a reference to a famous episode of ''Series/FawltyTowers'', when Basil Fawlty tries to avoid mentioning "[[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the war]]" while catering to a group of German guests. He slips up and accidentally offers them "A drink before the war" instead of "A drink before lunch".
136	** In the third book, Patrick briefly uses the alias "[[Creator/DeForestKelley DeForest]] [[Creator/JamesDoohan Doohan]]" after getting into an argument with Angie over why he doesn't like ''Franchise/StarTrek''.
137	** Also in the third book, Patrick snarkily names one of Trevor Stone's bodyguards "Lurch", after the butler from ''Series/TheAddamsFamily''.
138	* SingleTargetSexuality: Averted. Angie may be the love of Patrick's life, but she's far from his only love interest. Aside from various lovers, he has a stable, happy relationship with a single mother in the second book, [[spoiler: which ends when his involvement in the Gerry Glynn case puts her daughter in danger]].
139	** SecondLove: The two of them zig-zag this trope, since they were technically each other's ''first'' loves, but Patrick is Angie's second husband after she divorces Phil (who technically was her second love) and then even more so [[spoiler:after Phil's death, which quashed any chance of him and Angie getting back together again.]]
140	* TheStarscream: [[spoiler:Yefim]] in ''Moonlight Mile'' [[spoiler:puts a bullet in his boss at the end of the book, and even better, Amanda gave him the idea]].
141	* StartOfDarkness: [[spoiler:Gerry Glynn]]'s young son died of a brain aneurysm, which made [[spoiler:Gerry]] snap, [[InsaneTrollLogic blame it on his wife for some reason]] and kill her.
142	* TakingTheBullet: [[spoiler: Patrick does, non-fatally, for Angie in the climax of the fifth book.]]
143	* TeenPregnancy: In ''Moonlight Mile'' 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 [[spoiler:the baby is actually her friend Sophie's, who actually does qualify for this trope since she's the same age.]]
144	* TerribleTrio: [[spoiler: In the second book, it turns out that there are actually ''three'' serial killers: Gerry Glynn, Alec Hardiman, and Evandro Arujo]].
145	* TheDogBitesBack: In the first book, after several years of offscreen DomesticAbuse, Angie takes a taser to her husband Phil in the front yard.
146	* ThoseTwoGuys: Devin and Oscar again.
147	* TitleDrop: In ''A Drink Before the War'', ''Darkness, Take My Hand'' and ''Gone Baby Gone''.
148	* TorchTheFranchiseAndRun: [[spoiler: ''Moonlight Mile'' ends with both Patrick and Angie permanently retired from the PI business and deciding to pursue new careers, essentially putting a kibosh on any follow-ups.]]
149	* TraumaCongaLine: The series is essentially a very long one for Patrick and Angie, and at the end of ''Moonlight Mile'' [[spoiler:Patrick quits the business for good, even tossing his gun in the Charles River, and decides to go back to school]].
150	** In the same book, Beatrice [=McReady=] is revealed to have gone through this after the events of ''Gone Baby Gone'', since in addition to the events of that book, [[spoiler:which left her husband imprisoned, she also lost her son in an auto accident and was cut off from contacting Amanda, who then goes missing ''again'']].
151	** Putting his victims through these via [[ManipulativeBastard manipulation]] is the MO of the BigBad of ''Prayers for Rain''.
152	* TruthInTelevision: Many of the series's depictions of domestic abuse are inspired by Lehane's time spent working with abused children.
153	* {{Tuckerization}}: Several characters are based on real people, including Angie, which is the name of Lehane's real life wife, and Bubba, who is based on a childhood friend of Lehane's who is apparently a bit of a nut but nowhere near the fictional Bubba's level.
154	* TheUnseen:
155	** Both Patrick's sister Erin and Angie's sister/Patrick's ex-wife Renee are occasionally mentioned, but neither ever show up in person.
156	** Angie's grandfather Vincent Patriso, a high-ranking figure in the Delaware mafia; Angie invokes her connections to him in the 2nd and 5th books to get her and Patrick out of trouble, but he never appears in the series.
157	* 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.
158	* UsedToBeASweetKid: A brief aside when Patrick investigates the carjacking-cum-murder of a woman he knows; the thief's social worker explains to Patrick that he was a promising kid working his way through college, but when he was given a huge pay cut he had to double his hours and ended up addicted to meth just to stay awake for both work and school.
159	* VigilanteMilitia: The second book, ''Darkness Take My Hand,'' features a neighborhood vigilante group, EEPA (The Edward Everett Protection Association) who were present in the {{Backstory}}. The seven EEPA members spent about six months in the seventies beating up hubcap thieves and giving the stink eye to any black or Hispanic people who came into their neighborhood. Then, they stumbled across a pair of serial killers preying on children. They tortured one to death with a blowtorch and framed the other one for his murder. Four of them enjoyed doing so and became permanently emboldened and sadistic afterward (with one becoming a crime boss), one committed suicide, one became an alcoholic, and the seventh was institutionalized. Decades later, the EvilMentor of the two killers targets several of their children.
160	* VillainousBreakdown:
161	** Marion Socia is in the thick of one by the end of ''A Drink Before the War''.
162	** [[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.]]
163	* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Trevor Stone in the third book.
164	* VillainsWantMercy: [[spoiler: The fifth book’s BigBad, Scott Pearse, goes out begging for his life before [[BoomHeadshot Bubba shoots his brains out]].]]
165	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Stevie the Pick and Roland- both of whom are [[KarmaHoudini Karma Houdinis]]- promise Patrick that they'll kill him eventually, the former as soon as Angie's grandfather has died, and yet in ''Moonlight Mile'' over a decade has passed since both threats, apparently without incident.
166	* WifeBasherBasher: Patrick, first with Phil and then with Cody Falk; he gives the latter a full-on TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about men who victimize women.
167	* WillTheyOrWontThey: Patrick and Angie in the beginning, [[spoiler: until they hook up in the second book and officially get together in the third]]. It's then double subverted when [[spoiler:Angie moves out at the end of ''Gone Baby Gone'', but in the next book they get back together for good and have a daughter by the sixth]].
168	* WiseBeyondTheirYears: The now 16 Amanda [=McCready=] to an extent that Patrick finds both admirable and kind of disturbing. He notes that you'd have to become this with a mother like [[ParentalNeglect Helene]].
169	* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: Patrick told his [[AbusiveParents abusive father]], on the latter's deathbed, that he hated him; his response was "Attaboy", which has left Patrick pretty shaken up, understandably.
170

Context Literature / KenzieAndGennaroSeries