''Live by Night'' is a

crime novel Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

by American writer

Dennis Lehane Dennis Lehane (born August 4, 1965) is an American author. He has published more than a dozen novels; the first several were a series of mysteries featuring recurring characters, including ''A Drink Before the War''. Of these, four were adapted a ...

, published in 2012. It won a 2013

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

for novel of the year.

Plot summary

By 1926,

Prohibition in the United States In the United States from 1920 to 1933, a nationwide constitutional law prohibited the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The alcohol industry was curtailed by a succession of state legislatures, an ...

gives rise to an endless network of underground distilleries, speakeasies, gangsters, and corrupt cops. Joe Coughlin, the youngest son of a prominent

Boston police The Boston Police Department (BPD), dating back to 1854, holds the primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest municipal police department in the United States. The ...

captain, defies his proper upbringing by climbing a ladder of

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

that takes him from Boston to

Ybor City, Florida Ybor City ( ) is a historic neighborhood just northeast of downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It was founded in the 1880s by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and other cigar manufacturers and populated by thousands of immigrants, mainly from Cuba, Sp ...

, to

Havana, Cuba Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, where he encounters a dangerous cast of characters who are all fighting for their piece of the American dream. When the novel begins, Joe is in the employ of one of Boston's most powerful mobsters, Tim Hickey. Joe and two friends knock off a gambling room located behind a speakeasy. Unbeknownst to them, the speakeasy belonged to Albert White, their boss's biggest rival. Emma Gould, a server in the room and White's mistress, catches Joe's attention. They begin an affair. Coughlin is later sent to Charlestown Penitentiary after a bank robbery goes awry. On the night of his arrest, the car Emma is traveling in crashes into a river and she is presumed dead. Joe comes under the protection of Italian mobster Maso Pescatore while in prison. While Joe and his police captain father, Thomas Coughlin, had a complicated relationship, Thomas agrees to do Pescatore's bidding to keep Joe safe in prison. The stress of these dealings gives Thomas a fatal heart attack. Upon release, Pescatore sends Joe to

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough ...

, to solidify the family's rum-running operation. Joe builds a highly successful business with his henchman, Dion. Still grieving for Emma, he encounters a fiery Cuban expatriate and revolutionary, Graciela Corrales, upon arrival in Tampa and they become an intensely devoted couple. Graciela convinces Joe to mastermind the robbery of a weapons cache from an American warship to aid

Fulgencio Batista Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (; ; born Rubén Zaldívar, January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who served as the elected president of Cuba from 1940 to 1944 and as its U.S.-backed military dictator ...

's overthrow of Cuban strongman

Gerardo Machado Gerardo Machado y Morales (28 September 1869 – 29 March 1939) was a general of the Cuban War of Independence and President of Cuba from 1925 to 1933. Machado entered the presidency with widespread popularity and support from the major polit ...

. While building his empire, Joe fights against the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Cat ...

. The local chief of the Klan is related to Figgis, the Tampa police chief. Joe blackmails Figgis with pornographic photographs of the man's beautiful daughter Loretta in a drug-addled state, whom Figgis had believed was working in Los Angeles, California, as an actress. Figgis's daughter later returns to Tampa and becomes a famous preacher. Loretta later reveals to Joe that she does not believe in God and is merely performing. Loretta later commits suicide and it is revealed that she was sexually abused by her father. When Pescatore decides to replace Joe in Florida with his own dimwitted son, Albert White uses this opportunity to seek revenge against Joe, whom he blames for Emma's death. Joe escapes and regains control of his empire. Joe, his wife, Graciela, and their small son return to her homeland of Havana, Cuba, to live a quieter life. Dion becomes head of the family while Joe acts as an advisor. While in Cuba, Joe meets Emma outside the brothel where she works. She reveals she was involved in Joe's arrest. When Joe and Graciela return to the United States for a visit, Graciela is shot and killed by Figgis. Joe turns his back on organized crime to live a more mundane life with his son.

Film adaptation

Warner Bros. produced a

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...

with

Ben Affleck Benjamin Géza Affleck (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Volpi Cup. Affleck began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS education ...

directing, writing, producing, and starring as Joe Coughlin, while Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson Killoran served as producers. The film was released on December 25, 2016 and received mixed reviews from critics.

References

External links

Dennis Lehane on Live By Night, His Novel of Prohibition Era Rum Runners

Author's website

Publisher's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Live by Night 2012 American novels American crime novels Edgar Award-winning works English-language novels Novels about organized crime in the United States Novels about prohibition in the United States American novels adapted into films Novels by Dennis Lehane Novels set in Boston Novels set in Cuba Novels set in Florida William Morrow and Company books