The inimitable Dennis Lehane continues writing stories that are just incredible. I have a list of books I need to get working on, and reading, and simply starting a Dennis Lehane book guarantees I will get nothing done.

I may have to ban his books from my domicile.

My only complaint of this otherwise stellar book is that it starts out as a deeply moving book about a young woman and the emotional pain she bears as she struggles to come to grips with a life filled with unknowns, and then suddenly becomes more of a genre mystery where her emotional journey takes an odd turn just when her life appears to be stabilizing.

I thought it was going to be more of a family drama, so its shift to a genre mystery left me confused. That did not stop me from devouring the book and enjoying every word of Mr. Lehane's story.

Yes, the writing alone pushed me to honestly give it 5 stars.