Dennis Lehane's September Tour Dates

Tuesday, September 12 at 7pm
Swampscott Public Library
Boston, MA

Wednesday, September 13 at 7pm
Porter Square Books
850 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA

Saturday, September 16 at 1pm
Midwestern Literary Festival
5 East Downer Place, Aurora, IL

Wednesday, September 20
Newtonville Books
Boston, MA

Thursday, September 21 at 7:30pm
Worcester Public Library
3 Salem Square, Worcester, MA

Thursday, September 28
Orange County Correctional Facility
Orlando, FL
Note: this one might be hard to get into!

Saturday, September 30
The Celebration of Books Festival
Tulsa, OK

Coronado's on Fire!

CORONADO is currently #15 on the Publishers Weekly hardcover fiction bestseller list, #10 on the Book Sense list, #6 on the San Francisco Chronicle's list, and #1 on the Boston Globe's!

WaPo and SF Chronicle on Coronado

The Washington Post says of Dennis Lehane's CORONADO, "The raw, surprising tales of passion and violence in Dennis Lehane's new collection remind us anew why he is one of the most interesting young writers in America today." The reviewer advises, "If you've never read Lehane, you probably should start with 'Mystic River,' [which he calls "one of the best American novels of this young century"] but if you're already a fan, you'll savor this new glimpse into one of the most unpredictable minds in current American fiction."

The San Francisco Chronicle calls CORONADO an assured, technically impressive and largely compelling collection," that "certainly affirms Lehane's versatility, even virtuosity." The reviewer also says that Lehane "writes like an angel crunched for time." Dennis might be an angel, but his characters sure aren't!

Just in Time for College Season

Loren Pope shares his wisdom on choosing smaller colleges over big name universities in Time magazine's recent cover story, "Who Needs Harvard?"

The revised edition of his best-selling guide, COLLEGES THAT CHANGE LIVES, is out now.

Miami Herald Calls Lehane "Master of Suspense"

The Miami Herald also had some very nice things to say about CORONADO:

Hardcore fans may object to the fact that the latest work from suspense master Dennis Lehane involves short stories instead of serial killers. But a wide streak of Lehane's vivid and melancholy darkness winds through this mean, gripping collection, buffeting its bleak landscapes and shaping its desperate characters.

Lehane is the author of a mind-boggling array of excellent crime fiction: the wrenching Mystic River, turned into a terrific film by Clint Eastwood; the creepy, heart-stopping Shutter Island, set at a hospital for the criminally insane; Shamus Award winner A Drink Before the War, which introduced private investigator Patrick Kenzie of South Boston; Darkness, Take My Hand, the second book in the Kenzie series and one of the scariest thrillers ever written.

The review continues here.

USA Today Says Lehane Has Struck Gold

USA Today praises Dennis Lehane's CORONADO, calling it "an apt reminder that the master of crime and literary fiction (Mystic River and Gone, Baby, Gone) is also a proficient short-story writer."

The reviewer concludes, "Short-story collections can be a tough sell for readers, but think of them as the perfect medium for our short attention spans. And who better to entertain the newcomer to the genre than an author whose stories make us dig deep down into our own hopes and fears."

Another Star for Coronado

Library Journal gave Dennis Lehane's CORONADO a starred review in its recent issue:

Long before he became well known for Mystic River (2001), Lehane was writing short stories and teaching creative writing. This modest-sized volume of five previously published stories and a two-act play aptly show off his talents. There's not a wasted word in these dark, spare tales about disenfranchised males of the South. "Until Gwen" moves like a chess game, pitting a heartbroken Bobby against his amoral father. Readers can appreciate it even more after reading Coronado. The play brings seemingly unrelated characters together in a bar (plenty of drinking and gun toting in these stories), and Lehane cleverly weaves them together, watching to see if we can figure out the crime. Just what is the ultimate crime ("What's worse than murder?" asks one character) might be the author's main theme, as Bobby, Elgin, Blue, and the others repeatedly flail against some tide they cannot control. Highly recommended for those who appreciate the psychological fiction of Pete Dexter and George Pelecanos and essential for libraries populated by aspiring screenwriters and playwrights.

Read more reviews here.