In his novel Mystic River, author Dennis Lehane did what all writers strive to do—create characters so alive and authentic, that they live in your imagination for a long long time. In his latest book The Given Day, Lehane proves that was no accident. Whether it’s the real Babe Ruth or the fictional Luther, Lehane draws them on the page and in your mind swiftly and indelibly. If you want a lesson in creating fictional characters who live on the page, read Lehane and learn.

Lehane’s obviously ample historical research for The Given Day, which takes place in Boston and recounts events from the Great Molasses Explosion to the taint of Massachusetts politics and power, never gets in the way of the characters or the story. It provides the setting, the impetus, the dilemmas…acting primarily as the skeletal structure for the rich cast of characters who happen to be living out their lives in this particular city in the early part of the 20th century. Lehane holds the focus of the novel on its cast, real people with deficiencies and strengths that afflict and ennoble, often at the same time.

This is a story of caste, race, gender, family, and ideology. It’s dense, it’s complex, and it’s fascinating…a story told with intelligence, sincerity, and great skill.