Small Mercies: A Novel
In the summer of 1974 a heatwave blankets Boston and Mary Pat Fennessy is trying to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors. Mary Pat has lived her entire life in the housing projects of “Southie,” the Irish American enclave that stubbornly adheres to old tradition and stands proudly apart.
One night Mary Pat’s teenage daughter Jules stays out late and doesn’t come home. That same evening, a young Black man is found dead, struck by a subway train under mysterious circumstances.
The two events seem unconnected. But Mary Pat, propelled by a desperate search for her missing daughter, begins turning over stones best left untouched—asking questions that bother Marty Butler, chieftain of the Irish mob, and the men who work for him, men who don’t take kindly to any threat to their business.
Set against the hot, tumultuous months when the city’s desegregation of its public schools exploded in violence, Small Mercies is a superb thriller, a brutal depiction of criminality and power, and an unflinching portrait of the dark heart of American racism. It is a mesmerizing and wrenching work that only Dennis Lehane could write.
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Community Reviews
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What’s it about?
This story is set in 1974 in South Boston- against the backdrop of school desegregation. Mary Pat Fennessey was born and raised in the housing projects of Southie. She is one tough lady who is determined to fight desegregating the schools. However, once her 17-year-old daughter Jules goes missing she has much more to be concerned about.
What did it make me think about?
Hard to imagine that this all happened in my lifetime.
Should I read it?
This is almost more social commentary than mystery. It is such a tumultuous period in our history and it is easy to forget. This is a book about racism, segregation, love of family, institutional poverty, and how dangerous it is to feel superior.
Quote-
“Call them gooks, call them niggers, call then kikes, micks, spics, wops, or frogs, call them whatever you want as long as you call them something- anything- that removes one layer of human being from their bodies when you think of them. That’s the goal. If you can do that , you can get kids to cross oceans to kill other kids, or you can get them to stay right here at home and do the same thing.”
What’s it about?
This story is set in 1974 in South Boston- against the backdrop of school desegregation. Mary Pat Fennessey was born and raised in the housing projects of Southie. She is one tough lady who is determined to fight desegregating the schools. However, once her 17-year-old daughter Jules goes missing she has much more to be concerned about.
What did it make me think about?
Hard to imagine that this all happened in my lifetime.
Should I read it?
This is almost more social commentary than mystery. It is such a tumultuous period in our history and it is easy to forget. This is a book about racism, segregation, love of family, institutional poverty, and how dangerous it is to feel superior.
Quote-
“Call them gooks, call them niggers, call then kikes, micks, spics, wops, or frogs, call them whatever you want as long as you call them something- anything- that removes one layer of human being from their bodies when you think of them. That’s the goal. If you can do that , you can get kids to cross oceans to kill other kids, or you can get them to stay right here at home and do the same thing.”
This is another one that has been on my to-read list for years (May2023) that will be part of my 2026 cleaning out the to-read closet challenge. The story takes place during the 1974 Boston desegregation school busing riots. While I did enjoy some of the story, most of it was just kind of awful. I had a hard time with the horrible and blatant bigotry and racism, especially the language and the constant N-word diatribes. Uuuggghhh!!! I found myself having to set aside the book for a while and read and/or do something else before I could pick it back up. When I did, I had to remind myself of the timeframe. It’s sad and really despicable that 50yrs later, bigotry and racism is still alive and thriving in America as much as it ever has.
The book summary introduces the primary storyline of Jules, Mary Pat’s 17yr old daughter, along with three of her friends who chase a black kid into a south Boston, aka Southie, train station. The black kid ends up getting hit by a train and dying under a platform. Later several witnesses corroborate that four white kids chased the black kid onto the tracks. This becomes a highly publicized tragedy, one which the Southie Irish mob is not happy about it triggering a police investigation of what happened in their territory.
Most of the story revolves around Mary Pat trying to find her daughter along with what happened that night. All the while, the Southie mob boss, Marty, is trying to get Mary Pat to back off by telling her that he has spoken to everyone involved and no one knows what happened to Jules or where she is. He tells Mary Pat that Jules probably took off for FL and then tries to bribe her to keep quiet and quit getting the cops involved in finding her. Mary Pat becomes even more dedicated to finding out what happened and basically turns into a raging mama bear gone feral and going after anyone and everyone who knows what happened that night and where Jules is.
The character development for most of the cast of characters was kind of slim to none with the exception of Mary Pat, whose character development was well done. The pacing was pretty slow in the first half but did pick up in the second half. Once again, the storyline was kind of awful and I’m kind of at a loss as to what to say about the writing. Enough said. I’m looking at an overall rating of 3.3 that I will be rounding down to a 3star review.
The book summary introduces the primary storyline of Jules, Mary Pat’s 17yr old daughter, along with three of her friends who chase a black kid into a south Boston, aka Southie, train station. The black kid ends up getting hit by a train and dying under a platform. Later several witnesses corroborate that four white kids chased the black kid onto the tracks. This becomes a highly publicized tragedy, one which the Southie Irish mob is not happy about it triggering a police investigation of what happened in their territory.
Most of the story revolves around Mary Pat trying to find her daughter along with what happened that night. All the while, the Southie mob boss, Marty, is trying to get Mary Pat to back off by telling her that he has spoken to everyone involved and no one knows what happened to Jules or where she is. He tells Mary Pat that Jules probably took off for FL and then tries to bribe her to keep quiet and quit getting the cops involved in finding her. Mary Pat becomes even more dedicated to finding out what happened and basically turns into a raging mama bear gone feral and going after anyone and everyone who knows what happened that night and where Jules is.
The character development for most of the cast of characters was kind of slim to none with the exception of Mary Pat, whose character development was well done. The pacing was pretty slow in the first half but did pick up in the second half. Once again, the storyline was kind of awful and I’m kind of at a loss as to what to say about the writing. Enough said. I’m looking at an overall rating of 3.3 that I will be rounding down to a 3star review.
Wow! What a powerful story about revenge, family, love, hate, and power set against the backdrop of one of Boston's most tumultuous periods. It is 1974 and the city's public schools are about to be desegregated. U.S. District Court Judge Garrity ruled that the Boston school committee had "systemically disadvantaged black school children" in the public school system. The school with the largest African American population was Roxbury High School and the school with the largest white population was South Boston High School. It was decided that these 2 schools would switch a large number of their student populations. Students and parents had less than 90 days to get ready.
Mary Pat Fennessey is the fictional protagonist in this heated story. She is an Irish American woman who has lived her whole life in the housing projects of Southie. She has already experienced plenty of loss in her life (2 husbands and her only son). Mary Pat and her daughter, Jules (a high school senior) know who really call the shots in Southie; Marty Butler, kingpin of the Irish mob and his cronies. Mary Pat is okay with that until the night Jules doesn't come home. She was out with friends and Rum, a boy Mary Pat believes is one of Southie's biggest idiots. After a few days missing and no leads on Jules' whereabouts, Mary Pat starts handling things her way: asking questions, making others uncomfortable. On the same night that Jules disappears, a young black man is found dead in the subway station under mysterious circumstances. The cops don't believe it was an accident; Marty is telling Mary Pat to go home and get on with her life. Are they 2 events related? Mary Pat will stop at nothing to find out the truth about her daughter. She accepts her own role in perpetuating the same destructive behavior that is repeatedly told to children in Southie.
This is a crime thriller set against the desegregation of Boston city schools with an unflinching look at American racism. It is dark, powerful and sometimes hard to read this depiction of violent period of time. I really liked Mary Pat (duh
Mary Pat Fennessey is the fictional protagonist in this heated story. She is an Irish American woman who has lived her whole life in the housing projects of Southie. She has already experienced plenty of loss in her life (2 husbands and her only son). Mary Pat and her daughter, Jules (a high school senior) know who really call the shots in Southie; Marty Butler, kingpin of the Irish mob and his cronies. Mary Pat is okay with that until the night Jules doesn't come home. She was out with friends and Rum, a boy Mary Pat believes is one of Southie's biggest idiots. After a few days missing and no leads on Jules' whereabouts, Mary Pat starts handling things her way: asking questions, making others uncomfortable. On the same night that Jules disappears, a young black man is found dead in the subway station under mysterious circumstances. The cops don't believe it was an accident; Marty is telling Mary Pat to go home and get on with her life. Are they 2 events related? Mary Pat will stop at nothing to find out the truth about her daughter. She accepts her own role in perpetuating the same destructive behavior that is repeatedly told to children in Southie.
This is a crime thriller set against the desegregation of Boston city schools with an unflinching look at American racism. It is dark, powerful and sometimes hard to read this depiction of violent period of time. I really liked Mary Pat (duh