Lehane Mob novel is hard to refuse

There's a deadly war fermenting in the post-bootlegger underworld of Tampa, a year after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Joe Coughlin is the 37-year-old "retired" gangster, now a partly legit businessman who, a decade earlier, stepped back from the life of violence when his wife was shot dead in a gangland ambush.

Now Joe's a widowed father of a bright 9-year-old son, Tomas. Joe's trying to follow a less violent path as the consigliere to Tampa's ruling Bartolo crime family. He is widely respected. He has acquired wealth, power, even a wonderfully frisky but risky mistress who makes him believe happy endings really are possible. But, most importantly, Joe has no enemies.

Then he hears someone has put a contract out on him.

That scenario ignites a bloody tale of mobster loyalties, betrayals, murder, and some sort of honor among killers, gangsters, smugglers, drug dealers, pimps and thieves.

World Gone By is an exceptional read by Dennis Lehane, whose previous novels include Gone, Baby, Gone, Mystic River and Shutter Island — all made into movies. World Gone By is the final volume in a trilogy; Ben Affleck is set to direct and star in a film version of the second book, Live by Night.

Lehane writes convincingly, tensely, tersely, powerfully, about the fatal tensions of daily Mob life without romanticizing it, without judging it. He steers the plot and its characters toward inevitable consequences. Everyone here is bloodied — splattered with either with their own or someone else's blood.

These characters are masterfully drawn, integrating actual history and personalities of the '40s mobster world, from Meyer Lansky to Charles "Lucky" Luciano. Yet, so many personalities emerge early on that it's almost confusing.

But it doesn't take long to wise up. Most are fleshed out so remarkably you'll wish those who aren't were. That's how well Lehane writes characters. Dion Bartolo is a flawed godfather. Rico DiGiacomo is the bright Mob star — just don't put your money on him. Montooth Dix is the giant black kingpin in Tampa's Ybor City neighborhood, a man of true dignity — also a drug dealer, pimp and murderer. Despicable characters such as these abound, from the rural Florida gangster King Lucius to a cast of contract killers.

The novel's finest distinctions show the moral angst Joe wrestles with despite his deadly decisions. Lehane writes such a morally complex story. He leaves you no alternative but to admire Joe, pull for Joe, plead for Joe, until you can't.

This gangster novel is violent, graphic and guiltily compelling — from its memorable Ash Wednesday shootout to a heartbreaking denouement in a Cuban sugarcane field. In a touching moment Joe's son, Tomas, who sadly saw too much, asks, "Dad, are you a bad guy?" And Joe responds, "No, son, I'm just not a particularly good one."

Joe's always right. No matter how much he wants to be a good guy. No matter how much you want him to be a good guy.

World Gone By

By Dennis Lehane

3.5 stars out of four