Mystic River

Mystic River is a novel by the American writer Dennis Lehane, published in 2001. It is a crime novel set in a working-class neighbourhood of Boston, and it won the Dilys Award. It was adapted into a film in 2003.

Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus and Dave Boyle grew up as friends on the same street until a car stopped and Dave got in; what happened to him ended the friendship and changed all three of them. Twenty-five years on, Sean works as a homicide detective, Jimmy runs a corner store after a spell in prison, and Dave is struggling to keep his marriage together against things he cannot put down.

Jimmy's daughter is found murdered, and Sean is assigned to the case, which puts him back among the people he grew up with and drives all three men onto the same ground again. The investigation runs alongside the private damage each of them is carrying.

It is a standalone novel.