The Drop : A Novel
Author(s): Dennis Lehane
New York Times bestselling author Dennis Lehane’s The Drop is a crime story, a love story, and ultimately a journey of faith, set in Boston’s underworld.
“[A] gritty gem...a stark and moving short novel.” — Publishers Weekly
Two days after Christmas, Bob Saginowski, a lonely bartender looking for a reason to live, rescues an abused and abandoned pit bull puppy from a trash can and meets a damaged woman named Nadia Dunn looking for something to believe in.
As their relationship grows, they cross paths with the Chechen mafia, who have taken over his cousin Marv’s bar and use it as a money drop; Marv himself, who has grown dangerously desperate with age and thwarted hopes; two hapless stick-up artists who make the mistake of robbing the bar; a very curious cop; and the original owner of the puppy, a psycho named Eric Deeds, who wants his dog back. . .
Review(s):
“Lehane…is a master of the sort of deadpan-noir pioneered by the late Elmore Leonard… It’s a style full of dark situational humor, sudden mayhem and quirky regional grammar.”
“This book is as authentically grounded in place as his earlier works and more pleasurable than any tie-in novelization…has a right to be. And The Drop benefits from bracing blasts of Lehane-ian humor.”
“Understated and perfectly paced….What makes The Drop so good is not just the pacing, which is just about right, but the mood…. There’s also the very stylish writing.
“A tight, gritty little tale of working-class crime in Boston… Lehane breathes pulsing life into his story through the small details of his stoop-shouldered characters’ lives, investing their every mannerism with unspoken emotion and the weight of too many bad decisions, all of which makes Bob’s transformation from quiet desperation to quiet determination a powerful kind of existential drama.”
“The bard of blue-collar Boston crime returns with a sleight-of-hand novel tinged with sin and redemption.”
ISBN: 9780063084896