Darkness, Take My Hand vs The Friends of Eddie Coyle: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Massachusetts, Boston, Fiction
Darkness, Take My Hand
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The master of the new noir, Dennis Lehane magnificently evokes the dignity and savagery of working-class Boston in this terrifying tale of darkness and redemption. Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro's latest client is a…
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
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"Eddie Coyle is a small-time punk with a big-time problem - who to sell out to avoid being sent up again. Eddie works for Jimmy Scalisi, supplying him with guns for a couple of bank jobs. But a cop named Foley is onto…
Side by side
The verdict
- Readers rate Darkness, Take My Hand highest: Darkness, Take My Hand 4.4 · The Friends of Eddie Coyle 4.0.
- The Friends of Eddie Coyle is the quickest read — about 3 hours vs 9 for Darkness, Take My Hand.
- The Friends of Eddie Coyle has the widest readership — 11456 ratings behind its score.
- The Friends of Eddie Coyle runs the darker storyline; Darkness, Take My Hand stays the lighter read.
How to choose
Scores by source
| Darkness, Take My Hand | The Friends of Eddie Coyle | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | — | 4.0 (11456) |
| Hardcover | 4.1 (64) | 3.8 (31) |
| Google Books | 4.0 (8) | — |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (550) | 4.0 (276) |
Reception
| Darkness, Take My Hand | The Friends of Eddie Coyle | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 550 | 11456 |
| Editions | 28 | 25 |
| Citations | — | 5 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | — | 12790 |
| Reading it now | — | 833 |
| Written reviews | — | 1148 |
| Wikipedia attention | 570 | 6936 |
| Pages | 511 | 192 |
Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: Darkness, Take My Hand or The Friends of Eddie Coyle?
Darkness, Take My Hand has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Darkness, Take My Hand 4.4/5, The Friends of Eddie Coyle 4.0/5).
Which is shorter to read: Darkness, Take My Hand or The Friends of Eddie Coyle?
The Friends of Eddie Coyle is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: The Friends of Eddie Coyle (192 pages, ≈ 3 h 33 m); Darkness, Take My Hand (511 pages, ≈ 9 h 28 m).
Which is harder to read: Darkness, Take My Hand or The Friends of Eddie Coyle?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Darkness, Take My Hand: Moderate; The Friends of Eddie Coyle: Moderate.