Small Mercies

Small Mercies Plot Summary

Introduction

The summer of 1974 burns through Boston like a fever, the heat rising from cracked asphalt as federal judges decree that black children must be bused into South Boston's all-white schools. In the sweltering projects of Commonwealth, Mary Pat Fennessy watches her seventeen-year-old daughter Jules disappear into the night, just another teenager seeking escape from the suffocating tension. But when Jules fails to return home, and a young black man named Augustus Williamson dies under suspicious circumstances at Columbia Station, Mary Pat discovers that some disappearances cut deeper than the summer heat. What begins as a desperate mother's search evolves into something far more dangerous. In the maze of South Boston's criminal underworld, where Marty Butler's crew controls the streets with violence and fear, Mary Pat will uncover truths about her daughter's fate that will transform her from grieving mother into an agent of vengeance. The coming school integration may divide the city, but Mary Pat's reckoning will leave nothing standing in its wake.

Chapter 1: The Vanishing: A Daughter Lost in Summer's Heat

The power dies before dawn, leaving Mary Pat Fennessy sweating in her Commonwealth project apartment as another suffocating day begins. When her daughter Jules fails to come home from her night out with boyfriend Rum Collins and best friend Brenda Morello, Mary Pat tells herself it's normal. Seventeen-year-old girls stay out. They test boundaries. But something cold settles in her chest when Jules doesn't answer the phone. The city seethes with anti-busing fever. Signs declaring "Southie Won't Go" cover every surface, and Mary Pat finds herself swept into the movement when Brian Shea from Marty Butler's crew arrives with rally supplies. She's known Brian since high school, remembers his cold blue eyes and neat appearance. He represents the neighborhood's unofficial government, the crew that keeps order through fear and loyalty. As Mary Pat knocks on doors distributing flyers, her worry for Jules grows. The girl had seemed different lately, emotional and distant. When pressed about her evening plans, Jules had grown defensive, her eyes carrying secrets Mary Pat couldn't penetrate. Now those secrets feel dangerous. The heat presses down on Commonwealth like a punishment. Mary Pat searches her daughter's room for clues, finding only the usual teenage debris. But Jules's absence creates a vacuum that draws in all of Mary Pat's worst fears. In Southie, girls who disappear don't always come back whole.

Chapter 2: Beneath the Surface: Uncovering the Butler Crew's Web of Lies

Detective Bobby Coyne arrives at Mary Pat's door with questions about Augustus Williamson, a young black man found dead on the subway tracks at Columbia Station. The timing makes Mary Pat's blood run cold. Jules disappeared the same night Auggie died, and now police want to know if her daughter was among the white teenagers seen chasing him through the station. Bobby Coyne isn't like other cops Mary Pat has encountered. His manner suggests genuine concern rather than bureaucratic duty. When he describes the witnesses' accounts, a sick certainty settles in her stomach. Four white kids. Two boys, two girls. The timeline matches perfectly with Jules's last known whereabouts. Mary Pat seeks answers from Rum Collins, finding him pathetic and evasive. His story shifts with each telling, first claiming Jules walked home alone, then saying George Dunbar gave her a ride. When she presses harder, Rum breaks down, admitting they were all at Columbia Park that night, drinking and getting high near where Auggie Williamson would die. The deeper Mary Pat digs, the more tangled the web becomes. George Dunbar, the neighborhood's untouchable drug dealer, protected by his connection to Marty Butler through his mother Lorraine. Brenda Morello, supposedly Jules's best friend, suddenly unreachable. And beneath it all, the creeping realization that Jules had been keeping secrets that might have gotten her killed.

Chapter 3: Blood Ties: The Price of Community Silence

At the anti-busing rally downtown, thousands gather to protest the federal order that will integrate their schools. Mary Pat finds herself swept up in the crowd's fury, watching effigies burn as politicians speak of tyranny and resistance. But her personal crisis makes the political theater feel hollow. Brian Shea promises to look for Jules, invoking the neighborhood code that says they take care of their own. But when his promised deadline passes without contact, Mary Pat realizes she's being managed rather than helped. The Butler crew's protection comes with conditions she's beginning to understand. In a violent confrontation at the Fields of Athenry, Marty Butler's bar, Mary Pat beats Rum Collins nearly senseless when his lies finally crumble. The attack brings swift retaliation. Brian Shea makes it clear that her behavior threatens the crew's operations just as police and federal agents circle closer due to the racial tensions. Mary Pat's sister Big Peg reveals the neighborhood's open secret: Jules wasn't really dating Rum Collins. She was involved with Frank Toomey, Marty's lieutenant and a married father of four. The revelation explains Jules's recent behavior, her emotional volatility, her desperate phone calls. It also suggests why she might have disappeared, and why the Butler crew seems more interested in containing the situation than solving it.

Chapter 4: Breaking Points: When Loyalty Becomes Poison

Marty Butler offers Mary Pat a bag full of cash and a simple choice: take the money, leave Boston, and accept that Jules has gone to Florida to start a new life. The alternative remains unspoken but clear. Mary Pat stares at the money, understanding that accepting it means acknowledging her daughter is dead. Police detectives Bobby Coyne and Vincent Pritchard arrest Rum Collins and Brenda Morello, but high-priced lawyers connected to Butler's organization quickly secure their release. The legal system proves as corrupt as everything else in Southie, bought and paid for by men who view justice as another commodity to be controlled. Mary Pat's world collapses when she visits Auggie Williamson's funeral and faces his parents' rage. Calliope Williamson, her coworker at the nursing home, delivers a devastating indictment: Mary Pat raised a daughter capable of racial hatred and violence. The accusation cuts deeper than any physical blow because Mary Pat recognizes its truth. Returning home to find her apartment cleaned by the same women she later fights at the rally, Mary Pat experiences a moment of clarity. The neighborhood's protective embrace has become a stranglehold. The loyalty that once gave her strength now enables the worst impulses of everyone around her. She realizes that to find Jules, she'll have to break free from the very community that defines her.

Chapter 5: Vengeance Unleashed: A Mother's Fury Against the Machine

Mary Pat transforms herself into a weapon. Using skills learned during her first husband Dukie's criminal career, she begins systematically targeting the Butler crew's operations. She steals George Dunbar's drug shipments, forces him at gunpoint to inject heroin, and extracts the horrifying truth: Jules was murdered and buried in the basement of Marty Butler's safe house. The revelation comes with worse news. Jules had been pregnant with Frank Toomey's child and threatened to expose their relationship. Rather than pay support or face scandal, Frank chose murder. George's drug-addled confession reveals that Jules died trying to show mercy to Auggie Williamson, using a rock to kill him quickly rather than letting the other teenagers throw him onto the electrified third rail. Mary Pat's campaign of terror escalates. She tortures Rum Collins until he confesses to police, providing detailed testimony about the night Auggie died. She burns down Marty's headquarters and several of his business fronts, destroying millions in assets and eliminating key evidence of the crew's operations. Each attack is precisely calculated to cause maximum damage while staying one step ahead of retaliation. But vengeance extracts its price. Mary Pat becomes increasingly isolated, cut off from family and friends who view her actions as betrayal of neighborhood codes. She accepts this exile, understanding that her daughter's death has transformed her into something the community cannot tolerate: a woman who refuses to accept loss quietly.

Chapter 6: Final Reckonings: The Fort Independence Confrontation

The end comes at Fort Independence on Castle Island, where Mary Pat drags the wounded Frank Toomey for a final reckoning. The historic fort, built to defend Boston Harbor from foreign enemies, becomes the site where Southie's internal contradictions reach their bloody conclusion. Frank dies slowly, choking on his own blood as Mary Pat forces him to confront his crimes. But their confrontation is interrupted by Marty Butler and his remaining crew, armed with sniper rifles and decades of experience in neighborhood warfare. The battle that follows leaves bodies scattered across the fort's parade grounds. Mary Pat fights with the desperate fury of someone who has nothing left to lose. She kills Brian Shea in close combat, wounds several others, and faces down Marty's professional assassination attempt with only a pistol and unbreakable will. The historic fort, which never saw combat in its intended role, finally witnesses the violence it was built to contain. When police arrive, they find Mary Pat's bullet-riddled body sprawling where soldiers once drilled. Marty Butler and his survivors face arrest, but their legal protections ensure minimal consequences. The system that enabled their crimes continues to function, barely disrupted by one woman's war against it.

Chapter 7: Shattered Illusions: The Legacy of Truth in a City Divided

Mary Pat's death creates ripples that extend far beyond the immediate violence. Her actions expose the Butler crew's drug operations, leading to federal investigations that dismantle much of their empire. The rifles she prevented from reaching black militants could have sparked a race war during the school integration, potentially changing the course of Boston's civil rights struggle. Detective Bobby Coyne carries forward her story, understanding that Mary Pat represented something both terrible and necessary. Her transformation from grieving mother to avenging angel revealed the poisonous contradictions at the heart of Southie's tribal loyalty. She proved that when institutions fail, individuals must choose between complicity and resistance, regardless of the personal cost. The buses roll into South Boston High School as scheduled, protected by police escorts and federal authority. The white boycott empties the school of its intended students, but the symbolic barrier has been broken. Change comes slowly to neighborhoods built on resistance, but it comes nonetheless. In the end, Mary Pat's war against the Butler crew may have done more to advance integration than any federal mandate, removing the criminal element that would have violently opposed racial progress. Her grave at Forest Hills Cemetery receives daily offerings of classical music, played on a transistor radio according to her final wishes. The melancholy strains of Mozart and Beethoven drift across the stones, a mother's lullaby for the daughter she couldn't save but finally avenged. In death, Mary Pat achieves the peace that eluded her in life, leaving behind a city forever changed by her refusal to accept injustice quietly.

Summary

Mary Pat Fennessy's journey from desperate mother to implacable avenger reveals the true cost of tribal loyalty when it enables evil. Her daughter Jules, caught between racial hatred and sexual exploitation, becomes a casualty of systems designed to protect the powerful at the expense of the vulnerable. The Butler crew's reign of terror over South Boston represents more than organized crime; it embodies the community's willingness to sacrifice its children rather than confront uncomfortable truths. The story resonates beyond its 1974 setting because it explores timeless themes of justice, corruption, and moral courage. Mary Pat's transformation demonstrates that ordinary people can become extraordinary when pushed beyond their breaking point. Her war against the Butler crew costs her everything but achieves something precious: the knowledge that some fights are worth dying for, even when victory seems impossible. In the end, she proves that love can be stronger than hate, and that a mother's fury, properly directed, can bring down empires built on cruelty and fear.

About Author

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Dennis Lehane

Lehane investigates the intricate layers of crime and morality through a lens focused on family dynamics and the sociopolitical landscape of Boston. His novels, known for their emotional depth and meticulous attention to detail, often serve as a mirror to societal issues, providing readers with a profound understanding of human nature. In works like "Mystic River" and "The Given Day", Lehane dissects the impact of personal and collective history on individual lives, creating a rich tapestry of interconnected narratives that resonate with his audience. His ability to weave compelling stories has led to several adaptations, with "Mystic River" becoming an Academy Award-winning film directed by Clint Eastwood.\n\nIn addition to his novels, Lehane has significantly impacted television and film through his work as a screenwriter and producer. Beyond his book-writing prowess, he contributed to critically acclaimed series such as HBO's "The Wire" and Apple TV+'s "Black Bird", showcasing his versatility in storytelling across different mediums. His first film screenplay, "The Drop", demonstrates his skill in adapting his narratives to the screen, thereby broadening his reach and influence. This versatility ensures that Lehane's stories maintain their emotional resonance, regardless of the format, benefiting readers and viewers who seek narratives with depth and complexity.\n\nLehane's achievements in literature and screenwriting have earned him numerous accolades, including the Shamus Award for his debut novel, "A Drink Before the War", and the Edgar Award for "Live by Night". These recognitions underscore his talent for crafting narratives that captivate and challenge his audience. As an author whose bio reflects a rich career in diverse storytelling forms, Lehane continues to engage readers with narratives that are both thought-provoking and deeply human.

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