Live by Night

By: Dennis Lehane

Narrated by: Jim Frangione

Length: 14 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Edgar Award Winner, Best Novel, 2013

Boston, 1926. The ‘20s are roaring. Liquor is flowing, bullets are flying, and one man sets out to make his mark on the world.

Prohibition has given rise to an endless network of underground distilleries, speakeasies, gangsters, and corrupt cops. Joe Coughlin, the youngest son of a prominent Boston police captain, has long since turned his back on his strict and proper upbringing. Now having graduated from a childhood of petty theft to a career in the pay of the city's most fearsome mobsters, Joe enjoys the spoils, thrills, and notoriety of being an outlaw.

Joe embarks on a dizzying journey up the ladder of organized crime that takes him from the flash of Jazz Age Boston to the sensual shimmer of Tampa's Latin Quarter to the sizzling streets of Cuba. At once a sweeping love story and a compelling saga of revenge, it is a spellbinding tour de force of betrayal and redemption, music and murder, that brings fully to life a bygone era when sin was cause for celebration and vice was a national virtue.

©2012 Dennis Lehane (P)2012 HarperCollinsPublishers

The question I had about this one is GONE!

If you could sum up Live by Night in three words, what would they be?

Wonderful pacing,characterization.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Live by Night?

I can think of 5 or 6, but to have one SO close to the end that was so unexpected, yet fitting was great.

What about Jim Frangione’s performance did you like?

I liked everything about Jim Frangione's performance. What I did not like was a review that complained about his performance. One of my key measures (of over 500 titles) is how much/often I simply don't notice someone is reading/performing and simply get lost in the story. If not for the cruel, stupid review I saw elsewhere, I'd never have noticed him at all. It was a masterful job considering the size and scope of the story and the myriad characters and accents involved. I may go listen to something else he did just to check him out more. As a first listen, I have to give him 4 out of 5 GuidallStars.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Many more than I expected. Probably 6 or 7 that would all be spoilers, I guess the first one was the near-opening scene of "feet in cement".

Any additional comments?

Dennis was close to having my "Prayer Review" One more like this and he gets it. (Yeah, I'm full of myself today but I have probably earned it.)

Engaging but cliched

An easy listen - not much heavy thinking involved - and the narrator did a terrific job capturing the characters and their varied accents. The book itself was a rather cliched collection of gangster-type characters and adventures, but the story was entertaining and easy to follow. Was glad to have a respite from the sometimes-heavier tone of Lehane's books, but still forgot about this one pretty much immediately after I'd finished it, unlike his other books, which lingered with me for awhile.

get this book

wish there were more books like this one. well written with a great story. movie didnt do it justice. love this period and setting.

Captivating Well Told Story

Any additional comments?

Story had a good pace and was very well told. And really sucked me in.
Never boring.

Worth a listen for sure

Even though I wish this had been a full continuation of all characters from the first book, it was a very engaging and great story on its own.

Captivating from start to finish.

Loved it, couldn't stop. It was captivating from start to finish. The author's attention to detail is amazing.

This one snuck up on me.

What made the experience of listening to Live by Night the most enjoyable?

While i've liked almost all of Lehane's work, the emphasis is on "like". This book i loved... and it wasn't 'til the mid-point, that i realized just how fine a piece of writing it is. If you enjoy good bad guys and flawed heros, this is your read...

What did you like best about this story?

the careful development of charactors...the historical detail so fine you can smell and taste the neighborhood...and the continuity that wouldn't let me stop turning the page (so to speak)...

Excellent story telling by Lehane

What made the experience of listening to Live by Night the most enjoyable?

I'm not much of a period piece enthusiast but Lehane pulled it off here with a great story and an enjoyable story.

Parts were fantastic, but sometimes it drags.

If I could I'd give this book 3.5 stars. I enjoyed the first in the series, The Given Day, more. I liked the way the first book switched back and forth between characters. This one focuses on youngest brother Joe. The story is interesting but drags in places. I would have liked to have seen more of the other two brothers and/or Luther. Young Joe likes the life of the gangster and excels at it, but having a heart and being an outlaw has consequences.

Great Book

Sometimes the book is better than the movie and in this case spot on. Watch and read you will enjoy..