What readers think of Live by Night, plus links to write your own review.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Not only did I enjoy the historical time period of Boston during the 1920's but I enjoyed the theme's of family - Father and Son, Good and Evil, and a bit of romance too. I honestly think it is a gift to be able to write a novel about a gangster kid and have the reader actually feel empathy and compassion for the "bad guy". An enjoyable read....Thank you!

Because of the settings of author Dennis Lehane's other books, I anticipated that this story about prohibition era gangsters would center around Boston. The story did start there but then quickly moved south when the main character, Joe Coughlin, is sent to Tampa, Florida to take over the liquor business there.
Most of the other books I have read about prohibition era gangsters took place in cities, so it was really interesting to see how the usual gangster problems intermixed with issues of race, such as dealing with the KKK, and with the vibrant population of Cuban nationalists.
I really enjoyed following Joe Coughlin's story to see how his morals were shaped by the positions he found himself in and how these morals were shaped by the philanthropic leanings of a woman he meets named Graciela and how these morals clashed with the stricter religious leanings of Tampa's police chief.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in historical fiction of the prohibition era as well as anyone who is interested in considering how you arrive a definition of right and wrong.
As a side note, I read this in the summer, but as a native of upstate New York, I can imagine that if I had read Lehane's descriptions of the pre-air conditioning humidity in Tampa during a long, cold winter, this book would have been even more appreciated.

How does the son of the Boston Chief of Police turn out to be a gangster? As Dennis LeHane tells us, it turns out to be a very interesting story featuring a very interesting man. It's easy for the reader to slide into the prohibition era with all its drama and strife. You get a first-hand look at the period's sobering reality. LeHane astutely balances the raw violence the era with the humanness of his characters. This book is too good to miss.

I never expected to like a book about unscrupulous and violent gangsters. However, I have to admit this story was so well written and the characters were so fleshed out and believable that I enjoyed the novel very much. It was a real page-turner. Joe, the main character of this novel, was an entirely likeable guy who happened to be a gangster or as he liked to think of himself, an outlaw. Although I do not agree with Joe's way of life and his methods of "making a living", Dennis Lehane's talent for writing created a protagonist that is hard not to root for. I think that anyone that enjoys good writing and an interesting plot would enjoy this book. I am certainly going to be checking out other Lehane novels after reading this one.

This is the first Dennis Lehane book I have read but diffidently not the last. The story is filled with love, loss, betrayal and redemption. A historical fiction set in the 1920's probation era about gangsters, crooked cops, thugs, spanning through Boston, Florida and Cuba. A good read from the historical view point and the thriller side.

Live by Night is a wonderful piece of storytelling. The story of the Coughlin family during prohibition was so detailed and rich I felt like I could smell the rum and the seas.
The book covers many themes like love, revenge, and hate masterfully. The characters were not static and grew which helped draw me into the book and love it more.

Live by Night by Dennis Lehane is a suspense/mystery story that I enjoyed. As a suspense/ mystery fan, it was fun to read a story quite different from most stories I’ve read. I feel the writing is good and the characters are well defined.

This book would appeal to mystery readers as well as those who enjoy suspense. Book clubs could find many areas to discuss from gangsters and their morality to knowing how to love the right person. I would not call it a Young Adult story even though the protagonist is in his late teens. It can make you smile occasionally, but is basically a serious story with serious questions. Who will get killed? Who will not get killed? Who is trustworthy, if anyone? I appreciate the chance to read this book.

For the most part, Lehane's Live by Night was an enjoyable novel filled with unexpected twists and turns. Although I felt tighter editing would have further enhanced the storyline, I appreciated the way Lehane combined danger, romance, betrayal, friendship, violence, and redemption among an assortment of characters with varying degrees of morality. All in all, it was a fascinating look at organized crime from prohibition to the early 1930s.