Nice clean execution of a story, well-written too. ( )

Nice and easy short novel set in Boston. I watched film years ago so I thought I would give the book a go.

Main character is Bob he works as a Barman for Cousin Marv who used to own the Bar but is now owned by the Chechen mob. The Bar is used to drop off and pick up the money from various illegal activities.

Bob gets himself a Dog he calls him Rocco and he meets a lady called Nadia. Bob is a very quiet man but he doesnt actually take any nonsense.
The Bar gets robbed Marv set it up but the Gangsters are convinced he knows more than he is letting on. A dodgy bloke called Eric comes along he says Rocco is his Dog and that Nadia is his also his Girlfriend.
Eric tries to rob the Bar with Marvs help after the Superbowl night when the Bar is flush.
It all goes wrong Eric and Marv end up dead.
Bob and Nadia get closer and closer together. Good ok book. ( )

This is the first Dennis Lehane book I read that doesn't star Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. The Drop is based on a novella called Animal Rescue that was turned into the movie The Drop which Lehane wrote the script for and then turned into this book.

All and all was this a good book. Bob is an ordinary guy, a bit too ordinary for my liking I thought when I read the book. He works at the bar, goes to church every Sunday, but it was finding the puppy that changed his life, made him suddenly snap out of his monotone life. I mistook him throughout the book for being a too soft guy, but then the ending comes and then I realized that the person you should be worried about was not Eric Deeds, the psycho who claimed to own the puppy, but Bob, the kind, and shy bartender...



So this book gets 3.5 stars. It was not as good as other Lehane books I have read, and it would have been just 3 stars if not Lehane had turned the table and made the ending quite spectacular.


(I love Tom Hardy with the puppy so just one more pic) ( )

A very entertaining quick read. Looking at the copyright page it seems like Lehane padded out a short story that was published a few years previously to make it novel length so it could be released as a standalone book go coincide with the movie release. A little cynical, maybe, and the padding does show at time, but for the most part this is a satisfying, lean crime story with memorable characters, great prose and a killer twist. ( )

I loved the movie, as well as several other stories of Lehane's. I was glad this was broadened from the short story into a novelization of the film. ( )