Absent Friends, SJ Rozan

When Dennis Lehane abandoned Patrick and Angie to publish a standalone, many people despaired, but then quickly forgave him for straying from the series after reading Mystic River. Same thing here with Rozan. At first, I was disappointed when I learned the new book wasn't a new entry in the Bill & Lydia series. What a fool I was to feel that way.

Absent Friends is one of the best books I've read in a long time. There is a mystery element, actually a couple of them, and the story unfolds via a series of flashbacks. The characters are richly developed. The plot is complex, and I could go into detail about what's it about, but what it's really about is how we navigate love and loss, face or shirk responsibility, and how we define or misunderstand what it means to be a hero.

In addition to all that, the portrayal of life in the aftermath of 9-11 was riveting and heartbreaking. The epilogue, which is related to the theme of the book, although not related to the plot in a concrete way, was stunning.

When I finished the book, I put it down, mostly because I needed to get a kleenex to wipe away the tears, but I couldn't bear to be apart from it. I literally held the book to my chest and cried awhile, for all the absent friends in all our lives.