I have finished all six books in the Kenzie and Gennaro detective series by Dennis Lehane. In order, the titles are: A Drink Before the War, Darkness, Take My Hand, Sacred, Gone, Baby, Gone, Prayers for Rain, and Moonlight Mile.

The series follows two Boston private investigators who are willing to bend or break the law to solve a case. It balances light moments of humor with extremely dark subject matter, including murder and exploitation. The heart of the series is the partnership between Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. They are partners who share undeniable chemistry, and their relationship evolves in surprising ways over the 15 years covered by the books. The series is also filled with memorable side characters, with Bubba being my personal favorite.

Overall, I rate the series 4 out of 5 stars. Individually, I gave one book five stars, three books four stars, one book three stars, and one book two stars.

Here is my ranking of the Kenzie and Gennaro series from least favorite to favorite: for full reviews of each book click on the underlined titles.

6: Moonlight Mile
The final book in the series was written 11 years after Prayers for Rain, and it shows. The story plays more like a greatest-hits retrospective than a single compelling mystery. I kept waiting for a major plot twist that never arrived. The plot revisits characters and situations from Gone, Baby, Gone. Twelve years after Kenzie and Gennaro found missing four-year-old Amanda McCready, she disappears again.

5: A Drink Before the War
The first book in the series is a solid introduction, though it takes a while to become compelling. What stands out immediately is the dialogue between Kenzie and Gennaro, whose banter is fun and flirtatious. They are hired by a politician on the verge of passing a gang bill after his cleaning lady is accused of stealing sensitive documents. When they find her in hiding, they discover she did not steal documents at all. Instead, she took a photograph of the politician fraternizing with a gang member.

4: Prayers for Rain
The fifth book had the difficult task of following Gone, Baby, Gone, which left the characters emotionally fractured. The mystery is strong, but it takes time for Patrick and Angie to find their rhythm again. This installment features one of the series’ most sinister villains. Patrick initially takes a case involving a woman being stalked, confronts the man responsible, and considers the matter resolved. Six months later, the woman is found dead by suicide, reopening the case in a chilling way.

3: Sacred
The third book has an incredibly strong opening, slows somewhat in the middle, then builds to a powerful finish. The plot is wild and unpredictable. It begins with two missing persons: a young woman whose dying father wants to see her again, and the detective originally assigned to the case, who also happens to be Patrick Kenzie’s mentor.

2: Darkness, Take My Hand
The second book is the darkest entry in the series. It involves the mob, brutal serial killers, and deeply personal connections to the characters’ pasts. The story explores Patrick’s family history while following a terrifying plot in which killers target the children of the people who stopped them years earlier.

1: Gone, Baby, Gone
The fourth book is the best in the series. The mystery is gripping from the start and layered with moral complexity. It is also the only entry to receive a film adaptation. The novel builds toward an emotionally devastating ending that forces both the characters and the reader into a moral dilemma: is saving a child worth committing terrible acts, and when do a parent’s rights no longer matter? Four-year-old Amanda McCready goes missing, and after 72 hours her aunt hires Kenzie and Gennaro to find her.