CORONADO is a collection of previously published short stories and a two-act play that was originally a short story, all from MYSTIC RIVER author Dennis Lehane, all about the kind of people who live in our society, like it or not.
This being my first exposure to Lehane’s writing, I did not know what to expect. Apparently, he is a master of showing the ugly side of life, because he does one hell of a job of it. This is not a bad thing.
“Running out of Dog” is story that deals with a returning Vietnam vet from the deep south who has a lifelong friend with a problem he has known about his whole life. Something has to be done about it before it really gets ugly. In “ICU,” we are slowly introduced to a man named Daniel who is unwelcome no matter where he goes: a bar, a market, his own home, his job. It seems Daniel is hiding from a group of men and figures hanging out at the ICU is the best place to do that.
“Gone Down to Corpus” deals with the some football players exacting revenge on one of their former teammates, until his sister shows up with plans of her own. Meanwhile, “Mushrooms” is a short (and I mean short) story about clearing up a neighborhood beef. It starts with the killing and then you get the little backstory, with a girl trying to come to terms of what just happened and why.
Probably the best story in this collection is “Until Gwen,” for the simple reason that it’s damm good. It opens with a father and son, the latter having been just released from prison after four years. The father tries to make it up to him by getting him a room and a hooker, but this does nothing for the son at all. The following day, the father is concerenced with finding whatever was hidden all those years ago, while the son just thinks about his former love, Gwen. It seems the two men and Gwen had stolen a diamond. Now it’s just down to the father and son having a very dark heart-to-heart talk, with darker consequences.
“Coronado” is a reworking of “Until Gwen,” but as a two-act play. The great thing is Lehane has expanded the his story in such a way that you think you’re reading three diffrent stories, when in reality it’s one. The setting is a bar with three different couples having their own conversations. The first group is two lovers who plan on killing the woman’s husband. The second group is a doctor and patient who have had intimate relations, and the third is the father-son combo from “Until Gwen.” In this reworking, the drama still ends up in a fairground. Halfway through the first act, everything comes together regarding what’s really going on with these couples.
You feel like you want to just scrub yourself raw after reading these stories. You would never want to run into these folks in your daily life; we’re talking some real shady characters who all suffer for it in one way or another. Despite the unpleasantness, I was riveted throughout CORONADO, which shows why his books are now becoming major movies. I did find that the weakest of the stories also were the two shortest, “ICU” and “Mushrooms.” I just felt like he could have gone a little further with both stories, as they just leave you hanging. But the other pieces totally make up for these small missteps. Now I’m going to have to pick up his full-lengths, because Dennis Lehane just won over another fan. –Bruce Grossman
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