Along with completely original material, this new collection is a compilation of the best of Dennis Lehane's previously published short fiction, including "Until Gwen," which was adapted for the stage in 2005 and appears in this book as the play Coronado. By turns suspenseful, surreal, romantic, and tragically comic, these powerful tales journey headlong into the heart of our national myths—and reveal that the truth awaiting us there is not what we would expect.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Coronado: Stories
Comment: This is my first Dennis Lehane book, and he is a fine writer. He explores many aspects of human nature in his stories, occasionally with a subtle touch of irony. The themes of the stories are sometimes depressing, but they help one gain insight into other people, other places.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Nothing novel here - just short stories and a play
Comment: In Patrick Anderson's Triumph of the Thriller, the author identifies four authors as the modern masters of the thriller: George Pelecanos, Thomas Harris, Michael Connelly and Dennis Lehane. I've not yet read any Pelecanos and I think that Harris's output has been far too sparse and erratic to qualify for "master" status, but I have no objection to Connelly. As far as Lehane, I have enjoyed almost everything he's written (except for Shutter Island). Like Connelly, however, Lehane has achieved his greatness through novels; short stories require a slightly different set of skills. Coronado shows that while Lehane's strengths are with longer form fiction, he holds his own in short stories as well.

There are five stories in Coronado, but the title actually comes from a play that is also included and takes up almost half the book. The first story, Running Out of Dog, deals with Elgin and Blue, two lifelong friends in a small town. Blue gets a bounty from the mayor to hunt down the dogs running wild around town, and Elgin worries that Blue - never the most stable fellow - is beginning to get a real taste for killing. ICU is a tale of pure, Kafkaesque paranoia about a man who seems to be targeted for government persecution for no particular reason. Down to Corpus deals with an ex-jock's desire for revenge against the teammate who blew the big game and the lessons he learns about himself in the process. Mushrooms, the shortest in the collection, is also a tale of revenge, and how violence can spiral out of control.

Finally, Until Gwen relates the story of a man just released from prison. He is picked up by his crooked father who is interested in where his son hid some loot. The son has figured out some things in prison, however, leading to a violent confrontation between the two. The play, Coronado, is an expanded version of Until Gwen, with two other, seemingly disconnected storylines: one involving the semi-twisted relationship between a woman and her doctor, and the other involving a young couple whose romance is impeded by the fact that she is married; this problem will be solved by the murder of the husband. Eventually, all plot lines come together.

All the stories are well-written and even the play has its merits, though I wonder how well it worked when actually performed (for reasons I can't dwell on without spoiling the plot, but should be evident to the reader. Although this is not quite on the level of his novels, this is a good read, whether you're new to Lehane or a long-time fan.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: URGH......Don't start here with Dennis Lehane
Comment: Dennis Lehane is quickly becoming my one of my favorite authors, and I was very excited to see something new for him (short stories), but these just are not very good. Some stories have potential, but they just don't get developed and others are just BORING. If you've never read Lehane, I recommend him HIGHLY, just don't start with this book.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Give us another good novel
Comment: I'm not a short story reader and I had hoped the next Lehane would be a Patrick McKenzie. Will wait.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: I'm Glad I Read This One Last
Comment: I have been a big fan of Dennis Lehane over the years and have read all of his Patrick Kenzie novels and was hungry for more of his writing. I saw two books by him on Amazon that were not part of the Kenzie series and bought them just because Lehane was the author. The first book was "Shutter Island" and I loved it. The other book was "Coronado" and I thought it was horrible. Even though Dennis Lehane's name is on the cover, I have trouble believing that the same man who wrote all those other great books wrote this trash. If Coronado had been the first Lehane book I read, it would also have been the last and I would never have known his true talent.

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