World Gone By audiobook

What they didn’t tell you about absolute power was that it was never absolute; the instant you had it, someone had already lined up to try to take it away. Princes could sleep soundly, but never kings. The ear was always tuned for the creak on the floorboard, the whine of a hinge. The princes would probably do well to stay alert as well. Remember Richard the Third? World Gone By is the final volume of Dennis Lehane’s Coughlin Family trilogy. The series began ambitiously with The Given Day, set in Boston, among other places, in the late 19-teens. That book cast a perceptive eye on the social movements of the era, and the underlying problems that called them into being. It was an opus magnus, big canvas, big ideas, well realized. The second of the Coughlin books, Live by Night, shifted the focus to Florida in the roaring twenties, Prohibition, rum trade, a fair bit on the DNA of violence. It was smart, literary, insightful, and a damn fine read. It took a lot of wordsmith ordnance to produce the first two. But it seems that there were only a few cartridges left when it came time for the third. This is not to say it is not a good book. I liked it. But, compared to its older siblings, it is disappointing for the reduction in scope, and the feeling one might get that Lehane was dashing through this one to finish the series so he could move on to something else. Joe Coughlin, in Live by Night, had carved out a nice little chunk of the Florida crime market. Even bought himself some public respectability. But now he has scaled back. Maintains a low public profile. Although he is still a member of the organized crime council, he functions as a freelancer, an advisor, a voice of wisdom, a gangland statesman almost. “So was I a gangster?” He nodded. “Yes. Now I’m an advisor to people.”“Criminals.”He shrugged. “A friend of mine was Public Enemy Number Three about six years ago—“She sat up quickly. “See, that’s what I’m saying. Who could begin a sentence, ‘A friend of mine was Public Enemy’ anything?” He is doing well, plenty of money, a son he adores, a gorgeous, connected girlfriend. He hobnobs with the movers and shakers financial and civic, also has working relationships with the military and the police. But he gets wind that there is a hit out on him, and the game is afoot. Who, when, why? This gives the story structure, a ticking bomb, with tension ramping up as the deadline approaches. Dennis Lehane -from Boston MagazineLehane brings back plenty of the cast from the last episode, but there is enough new blood to keep things pumping. Joe’s pal, boss of bosses Dion Bartolo, appears to have a mole in his organization. People are dying or being locked up. It’s bad for business and needs to end. One of Joe Coughlin’s challenges is to unearth the snitch. There is enough organizational politicking, back-stabbing (literally, as the case may be) and maneuvering for fans of Wolf Hall or Game of Thrones. The seats of power may be smaller, but the desire, and willingness to do whatever it takes is just as high. The scale of this book is far different from that of its elders, 309 pps for this one, versus 402 for Live by Night and 704 for The Given Day. This one takes place within a few weeks, whereas the prior two covered decades. But thematic strains persist. the gangster genre to me has always been a metaphor for unfettered capitalism. It’s the American system run completely amok without regulation, without anything. So whereas in the real world you have, say, Exxon buying off the State of New Jersey (a recently proposed [and accepted] pollution settlement) — well, in the gangster novel, that would just be somebody would get killed. - from the U-T San Diego interviewFamily figures large here, again. Lehane brings back issues of fathers and sons, how violence by elders scar and steer their children. Can the cycle ever be broken? Moms have a hard time of it, mostly by their absence. Although one, who is, delightfully, a floral arranger and contract killer, makes a well-deserved dent in her abusive hubby’s cranium to achieve her widowhood. Widowers abound, usually with sons. It’s a man’s world, more so than in the earlier books, probably because the female characters have been killed off. I didn’t realize that until after the book was pretty much going to print. I could have thought that one through a little bit more. Where the hell are all the women in this? - from LA Review of Books interviewLehane touches on race as well, most poignantly in a scene where Joe Coughlin talks with his mixed race son, Tomas, about being called a nigger. There are some wonderful characters here. A top-hatted Montooth Dix conjures images of Baron Samedi. A mob doctor has a particularly interesting tale to tell. An unaffiliated don has a group of bodyguards with a particularly daunting rep. One of the mob bosses has a gambling problem. Contract killers have kids, and even a big deal like Joe Coughlin has to cope with his kid getting chicken pox. So there are both broad and fine brushes in Lehane’s set. Throughout the book Joe sees a young boy. He is uncertain if the boy is real, a message from the other side, maybe manifestation of a brain tumor. But the sightings trouble him. And this is not the only potentially spectral child presence in the book. He wrestles with feeling alone in the world as well, the larger family of which he was a member having, despite the lie about putting family first, done an excellent job of making orphans.Joe gives some thought to the hereafter, making up for his crimes, sure, but more interestingly, offers up a very interesting notion of time “Do you think she’s happy? Wherever she is?”His father turned on the seat and faced him. “Matter of fact, I do.”“But she must be lonely.”“Depends. If you believe time works like it does down here, then, yeah, she’s only got her father for company and she didn’t much like him.” He patted Tomas’s knee. “But what if there’s no such thing as time after this life?”“I don’t understand.”“No minutes, no hours, no clocks. No night turning into day. I like to think your mother’s not alone, because she’s not waiting for us. We’re already there. “ So, what’s not to like? Were this the first book in the series, or a stand-alone volume, one might look at World Gone By differently. But it is part of a trilogy, so the first two parts must be taken into account as well. How does it compare? The Given Day is a big-time historical novel. An epic, a saga, about a time and place, covering considerable time, considerable history. It is a book with heft, and not just from its 700+ pages. Live By Night, while not sharing the same scope as its predecessor, was an amazing book that carried the Coughlin family gangster story forward in the context of American history. There were added artistic elements that gave the work some extra oomph. With World Gone By the scope of the first, and even the second book is abandoned for a smaller tale. The ghostly visitation by a young boy that Joe experiences would be more interesting if Lehane had not played a very similar card already in Live by Night. The sociopolitical concerns persist, and I suppose there is nothing wrong with flogging a theme, but it seemed to me that this had been done pretty clearly in the previous volumes, so that when we stop by there again this time it was a case of been-there-done-that. There is a strain of melancholy here that exceeds that of his prior books. Check out Ivy Pochoda’s interview with Lehane in the LA Review of Books on that. There are reasons. I liked the book. There is a lot of substance surrounding the gangster tale. Some of the secondary characters were wonderful. The ramping up of tension worked well. You might not have the same sort of reaction I did to what seemed recycled material. That is mostly what kept me from liking it more. (Wish I could give it three and a half stars) Joe Coughlin is an engaging character and, despite his chosen profession, one can relate to him. World Gone By completes the Coughlin trilogy, day, night, gone. Lehane has already begun work on another trilogy, this one set in more contemporary Boston.Review posted – 5/1/15Publication date – 3/10/15=============================EXTRA STUFFLinks to the author’s personal, Twitter and FB pagesOther books in the Coughlin series-----The Given Day - #1-----Live By Night - #2Interviews-----Ivy Pochoda for the LA Review of Books -----John Wilkens for the Union Tribune San Diego -----Colette Bancroft for the Tampa Bay Times

This excellent novel concludes the Coughlin Family trilogy that Dennis Lehane began with The Given Day. Through the three books, the story ultimately comes to focus on Joe Coughlin and is set against background of the nation's turbulent history from the end of World War I to the middle of World War II. Joe is the son of a Boston cop, Danny Coughlin, but he ultimately rises to become a major crime boss with principal interests in Tampa and in Cuba. He's associated with the noted gangsters of the day, including Meyer Lansky and Charles "Lucky" Luciano.As this book opens in the spring of 1943, Joe, though still a young man, has essentially retired from active duty and now acts as a consigliere to the Bartolo crime family. He's the man who mediates disputes and smooths the path so that other criminals can play well together. He's a major earner who fronts a number of legitimate businesses and plays a critical role as organized crime makes a fortune out of the raging world war.As a practical matter, Joe is the Essential Man, and as a result, he's untouchable--or at least that's what everyone thinks. But then someone tells Joe that there's a contract out on his life. At first he can't believe it, but then he gradually comes to realize that it may be true. Even more than fearing for his own life, Joe worries about the fate of his young son. Joe is a widower and naturally wonders what would become of his son were he to be killed.Joe has precious little time to determine who might want him dead or why and even less time to figure out what he might do about it. And as we watch him sort through his options and react to the forces arrayed against him, the reader finds him or herself in a serious moral dilemma: Why are we rooting so hard for a man who is pretty much the essence of evil?This is a gripping, thought-provoking story with a great protagonist and a very well-drawn set of supporting characters. As he has demonstrated in so many books by now, Dennis Lehane is a very powerful and gifted writer, and this is easily my favorite of his books since Mystic River. It's a great conclusion to the Coughlin family trilogy. I usually give very little weight to author blurbs, but in this case I would make an exception. Stephen King calls this "The best gangster novel since The Godfather," and he'll get no argument from me. 4.5 stars.

In this 3rd book in the 'Joe Coughlin' series, the gangster/businessman is in the midst of deadly mob rivals. The book can be read as a standalone.*****As the book opens World War II is raging. Joe Coughlin, a former crime boss in the Tampa area, is now more of a businessman gangster living a (more or less) respectable life with his 9-year-old son Tomas. Joe is an advisor to current Florida crime boss Dino Bartolo and friends with top lieutenant Rico DiGiacomo, whom he's known since childhood. He's also on good terms with other gang bosses because he makes lots of money for everyone and doesn't skim or cheat.So Joe is surprised when a hit-woman needing his help tells Joe that a hit on him is scheduled for Ash Wednesday. Meanwhile Bartolo's gang is short on personnel because so many men have been drafted. This opens lieutenant spots for some ambitious but less than brilliant criminals, like Rico's brother Freddy DiGiacomo. Freddy wants to push out Montooth Dix who rules 'Brown Town', the neighborhood where African-Americans and Cubans live. Freddy tries to kill Montooth but fails, losing two men in the skirmish. Freddy then insists that Montooth be murdered because he killed two white men - though Freddy started the trouble. Joe, who likes Montooth, is ordered to set him up. Joe's life is further complicated by his torrid affair with the mayor's wife and by the ghost of a young boy who seems to be related to him. The author does an excellent job creating a dangerous atmosphere as Joe hobnobs with various gangsters who might be about to kill him. It's clear that being a gang boss is a tricky business, as there's always someone ready to bump you off and take your place. The dramatic climax of the book takes place on a luxury yacht. The book should have ended right after this but the story drags on for a bit to a somewhat surprising ending. All in all this is a good story with vivid, interesting characters - recommended for fans of mystery/thriller or gangster books.You can follow my reviews at http://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com/

A book with cover artwork that includes a faux-sticker with a Stephen King quote about this book: "The best gangster novel since The Godfather" A book so compelling, that when I found out it was the last of a trilogy, not only did I order the two preceding books, I kept on reading this one! A book so absorbing that I have delayed designing my new bathroom, for want of reading this!It's 1943, the United States is at war, and back in Tampa, Joe Coughlin retired gangster and now middleman between the legitimate world and the underworld is virtually everyone's ally, but can anyone be untouchable in the world of organised crime? The gangster and associated life is but a matter of a flick of a coin right? A wonderful real feeling look at Tampa in the 1940s, and the reach and power of organised crime headed by the American-Italian mafia. A book that lovingly and unrelentingly, world builds as it also winds up the tension and drama in a book that starts of by telling you most people that attended the biggest party of the year awhile back are all dead now. This is the 1940s version of The Sopranos and The godfather mafia realities, and definitely belongs in that class! 8.5 out of 12.

Do I really need to tell you in this day and age that this is a very well-written crime saga filled with fully-drawn characters and a page-turning plot? I don't think so. I could just tell you that it's a new Dennis Lehane book and you should already know what to expect. World Gone By is the sequel to Lehane's Edgar-Award-winning Live by Night and you should definitely read that book before tackling this one. It leads to a much more rewarding experience. Set in the middle of World War II in 1943, years after the events in Live By Night, former South Florida crime boss Joe Coughlin has sort-of gone legit, a member of the Commission with Meyer Lansky, but now he just runs his sugar cane and import/export business, acting as the legal front and consigliere to the present Florida crime lords. He leads a relatively quiet life between Cuba and Ybor City with his son Tomas. But everything changes once Joe hears the rumours of a contract put out for his assassination, a hit scheduled on Ash Wednesday, eight days away. This book is understandably not the epic crime saga that Live By Night was (which tracked the bloody rise of Joe Coughlin from a small-time hood in South Boston to the most powerful crime lord in Florida); it's more intimate and narrower in scope but still just as exciting, the ticking clock of the assassination providing tension and suspense as the story moves forward. But more importantly the book deals with the theme of consequences that come home to roost when you live the lives that these characters do, with each one forced to take stock of the things that they've done in the past and what their lives have amounted to. Yet again, another good piece of work from one of my favorite authors. "You have put a lot of sin out into the world Joseph. Maybe it's rolling back in on the tide. Maybe men like us, in order to be men like us, sacrifice peace of mind forevermore."

Seven years after the events of Live By Night, Dennis Lehane’s World Gone By picks up as Joe Coughlin settles into a position acting as a bridge between the criminal underworld and high society. Coughlin makes a lot of people a lot of money, which means a lot of people are very happy – so why has a hit been ordered on him?Over the past few years, Dennis Lehane has slowly crept into Lawrence Block territory for me in that he’s quickly becoming one of my favorite living crime writers (although, I’m not sure Block has written a book I disliked as strongly as Since We Fell – but that’s neither here nor there).World Gone By weaves a rich tapestry of characters and settings. All the major players are interconnected through alliances and rivalries that consistently raise the stakes based on actions by outside forces. Joe is put through the wringer as he tries to nail down the person responsible for offering up a contract on his life. He becomes so stressed during the ordeal that he hallucinates regularly, adding another layer of complexity upon his predicament. Despite this, he’s a hard character to have sympathy for. While Joe’s relationship with his ten year old son certainly lightens his character, Lehane won’t let you forget just how little empathy Joe has for others and isn’t shy about showing the more ruthless side of the self-made gangster.There’s more than enough gangland politics and violence in here to satisfy ardent Lehane fans. Some scenes – one in particular involving a tense standoff between two foes at a kitchen table – were so intense I caught myself speed reading. Although it is not as strong as its predecessor Live By Night, World Gone By is a great conclusion (if he so chooses to conclude here) to his Coughlin series that began with a sprawling epic defining post-War American life in the early twentieth century – The Given Day. Lehane has noted in past interviews that he views this as less of a trilogy and more a group of three standalone novels that are connected through a family bloodline. I suppose that’s true – Joe is barely a character in the first novel while Joe’s older brothers are seldom mentioned in the later books, so it isn’t exactly linear. Either way, I wouldn’t read any of these books without reading the others. It’s an intricate story that I feel requires all three books be read in order.With a particularly haunting ending, World Gone By provides a good finish line for the series, although I would not be against a continuation should he choose to do so. Any subsequent sequels or spin offs would likely be very different. Along with his Kenzie & Gennaro series, Dennis Lehane has ownership of two of my favorite modern crime sagas out there.

The Coughlin saga ends in a satisfying hail of bullets with WOLD GONE BY reaffirming Lehane’s place as one of my go-to-for-a-great-mob-book authors. Joe Coughlin has lost his wife and buried many friends during his life as a fedora wearing, smooth dressing gangster but WORLD GONE BY takes his time in ‘this thing of ours’ to new extremes. Learning of a contract being placed on his head by a less than reputable source does little to crease Joe’s smooth veneer – after all, he’s more a businessman these days, too valuable to the underworld to lie six deep but when the threat steadily emerges and the pieces align to a pistol pointed his way, Joe does what he does best – lean on his standing in the crime community to negotiate a deal to keeps his lungs full of air, and his enemies/friends pockets lined with cash. Yeah, that doesn't quite work out. WOLD GONE BY is an emotionally charged book thanks to some very good writing and solid plotting. Joe and his crime compatriots are well defined characters that give life the underworld. I’m still left reeling from the conclusion and suspect I will for some time yet – Lehane has crafted cinematic quality structured scenes written to make an impact – and that they do. http://justaguythatlikes2read.blogspo...

The third book in Dennis Lehane's brilliant Joe Coughlin Trilogy finds Joe and his son Tomas living in the Ybor City section of Tampa and a sugar plantation in Cuba during World War 2. Joe is essentially a smart, charismatic bootlegger from Boston who over the years (and the two previous books in the series), has risen through the ranks to a position of general facilitator to Meyer Lansky and his fledgling national crime syndicate. Next to his beloved son Tomas, Joe values loyalty above all and is incredulous when he learns there is a contract out on him due to be exercised on Ash Wednesday. What follows is a series of events that will hit you like a runaway freight train.Dennis Lehanne has not only created an exceptionally complex and dangerous world of organized crime in the form of a "Boardwalk Empire"-like life and times history but has created a truly unforgettable protagonist and supporting characters that I'm still thinking about. Lehanne is first and foremost a truly gifted storyteller and this is his masterpiece to date. I highly recommend it!

Here is a masterful piece of historical fiction from a veteran novelist with extraordinary talent. World Gone By follows the interior struggle of a man with a tragic past he cannot escape and an uncertain future. In her review of the book in The New York Times, Marilyn Stasio refers to that struggle as “the existential agonies of a moral man working at an immoral profession in a corrupt world.”World Gone By is the third in a trio of interlinked novels that span the years from 1918 to 1943. The Given Day launched the series with a powerful tale of a troubled family in Boston during its most momentous period in the wake of World War I, focusing on the Boston police strike of 1919. Live By Night took up the story of young Joe Coughlin, the black sheep of that family in his early years as a hoodlum and his emergence as a powerful figure in the Florida mob. In World Gone By, Coughlin has retired as the head of the mob, remaining as consigliere to his childhood friend who succeeded him as capo. Coughlin remains a member of the Commission that monitors the activities of its branches in cities throughout the country, thus dealing face-to-face with familiar figures such as Meyer Lansky (his partner in Cuba) and Lucky Luciano.In action shifting from Ybor City, Florida, to Cuba, the tension builds relentlessly to a shattering conclusion. It’s very difficult to put the book down during its final chapters. World Gone By is a masterpiece of plotting.If you’re attuned to popular culture, you’ve probably been exposed to the work of Dennis Lehane. He has written twelve novels, including his magnum opus, A Given Day, plus three others which have (already) been adapted into popular, attention-getting films: Gone, Baby, Gone; Mystic River; and Shutter Island. Lehane has also written extensively for television, including such notable series as The Wire and Boardwalk Empire.

An Amazing novel by a amazing writer. The ending alone earns the 5 star rating i gave it.

It's just business, not personal.... But the result is the same: Betrayal and death. This is the territory of WORLD GONE BY.The story begins in Tampa, December 1942, at a fundraiser for soldiers fighting Hitler. It attracts the mayor of Tampa, his wife, and all the interconnected luminaries of the small town's society. The organizer is Joe Coughlin, legitimate businessman: ”He was one of the biggest charity supporters in all of West Central Florida, a friend of numerous hospitals, soup kitchens, libraries, and shelters. And if the other rumors were true — that he hadn't fully left his criminal past behind — well, one couldn't fault a man for a bit of loyalty to those he'd known on the way up. Certainly if some of the assembled tycoons, factory owners, and builders wished to settle any labor unrest or unclog their supply routes, they knew who to call. Joe Coughlin was the bridge in this town between what was proclaimed in public and how it was achieved in private.” (p.4)The story is structured with care. An eager reporter pitches a story to his editor in the prologue. He points to the photos from the 1942 gathering. In the space of a mere six months nearly a dozen of the party-goers in the photos are dead. The reporter doesn't get the green light, but the story is there, and Lehane is about to tell it.The book is fast paced. Within the space of a few pages, Coughlin is confronted with several problems. He hallucinates on the lawn at the party. It's not one of the victims from the past, but a ghostly unidentifiable boy from the 1920's era. Then, a petty thief named Bobo Frechetti pleads with Coughlin to intervene on his behalf with a vindictive upper echelon mobster. Of course Frechetti is reminded of the obligatory quittance. Other problems follow. A recent police narcotics raid has aroused suspicions of an informer in the Coughlin-Bartoli circle. The greedy brother of Coughlin's friend Rico DiGiacomo engineers a clumsy hit on the Negro mob boss Montooth Dix. Instead, Montooth kills the hitmen and the DiGiacomo Brothers invoke racism to sanction their insistence on retaliation. Finally, Coughlin learns of a rumor that a contract is out on him. The information is puzzling, because no one has an obvious motive for killing him. The hit is said to be scheduled for Ash Wednesday. He vacillates between the improbability of the rumor and the idea of a ticking time bomb.There are many colorful secondary characters. The creepiest is Lucius Brozjuola, a man so evil even Meyer Lansky and “Lucky” Luciano recoil from him. King Lucius is so powerful, his operations span both coasts. He is the only candidate Coughlin can think of with the brass to order him killed. Coughlin arranges to meet King Lucius and brings his friend Rico with him. Lehane sets the mood perfectly. “The low sky and the bending palm trees formed a cowl around the car, and the rain slowed but the drops thickened. It was like driving through broth.” (p.135) King Lucius lives on a luxuriously outfitted houseboat. They board the boat and as it floats down the river they view denuded banks and dead trees, the residue of King Lucius' lucrative phosphate strip mining operations. The conversation takes an odd turn. Lucius asks Coughlin: “'Do you think you're an evil man?'” It's an interesting question. Lehane has already provided a second narrative of Coughlin's personal life. He still mourns the death of his Cuban wife Graciela. His loving and protective relationship with his 9-year old son Tomas is given particular attention. Tomas is gentle, thoughtful and inquisitive. Much of the relationship is shown through questions he poses to his father, and Coughlin's guardedly honest answers. Lucius continues to probe: “'You think feeling bad about your sins makes you good. Some might find that kind of delusion contemptible.'” (p.147) Back in the safety of their car, Rico reacts to a murder they've just witnessed. He calls Lucius a savage. "Joe stared out at all the prehistoric flora and told himself that's exactly what was troubling him, that's what was gnawing at his soul — this difference between him and a savage. He told himself — and then he pledged to himself — that there was a difference. There was. There was. A couple more snorts of rye, and he almost believed it.” (p.156)This is a well-written book with a tightly drawn plot. I never anticipated the plot twists (but then, I never do!). Unfortunately, this just wasn't my kind of book. Joe Coughlin was not a sympathetic character. He does have a great deal of depth, and is smart enough to reason his way through the entangled motives of the people who inhabit his world. The main problem, however, is that I really don't have much of an affinity for books about organized crime. What brought this back up to four stars for me was the quality of the writing.