Darkness, Take My Hand

Darkness, Take My Hand (1996) is the second book in the Kenzie/Gennaro series by Dennis Lehane.

The novel was a finalist for the 1997 Dilys Award.

Plot summary
From the back of the paperback: When Detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro agree to protect the son of a prominent psychiatrist they soon find bodies are piling up around them. What's more, all the clues point to an unlikely suspect - a serial killer who has been in prison for twenty years, so he can't be killing again, can he?

As the duo try to find out what kind of human being could perform such horrifying acts of mutilation, torture and dismemberment, they discover that the killer's motive is disturbingly rooted in their own past. In a series of heart-stopping climaxes that grow ever more bloody, ever more terrifying, the two detectives work frantically to capture the killer before they become victims themselves.

Reception
Darkness, Take My Hand received starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly.

Publishers Weekly called the novel "outstanding", noting that "the story is densely peopled with multidimensional characters; there are no forgettable, walk-on roles on Lehane's stage". They further stated, "Lehane's voice, original, haunting and straight from the heart, places him among that top rank of stylists who enrich the modern mystery novel".

Kirkus Reviews wrote, "Though there's an unseemly lack of subtlety to Lehane's sex scenes and violent set pieces, the passion of his neighborhood nightmare can hardly be denied. And he's created a villain who's both surprising and grimly fascinating: The kind of figure one hates but can't stop reading about."