''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, 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 Constitution of the United States, nationwide constitutional law prohibition, prohibited the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The alcohol industry was curtai ...
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, 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 ...
, 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 United States, 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 ...
, 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'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 ...
. 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.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...
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 dial ...
with
Ben Affleck 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 RunnersAuthor's websitePublisher'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