The Drop – Dennis Lehane

The Drop follows lonely bartender Bob Saginowski through a cover scheme of

funnelling cash to local gangsters — ‘money drops’ — in the underworld of Boston bars. Under the heavy hand of his employer and cousin Marv, Bob finds himself at the centre of a robbery gone awry and entwined in an investigation that digs deep into the neighbourhood’s past where friends, families and foes all work together to make a living — no matter the cost.

 

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for review.

 

Several years ago I discovered Dennis Lehane’s excellent Kenzie-Gennaro novels and at the time I thought they were one of the best collections that I owned. I persuaded friends and colleagues to read them and bought multiple copies of some of the titles as my books were not returned if I lent them out.   The fifth book Prayers for Rain came out in 1999 and then…

…

…Lehane moved on to new projects and didn’t return to Kenzie and Genarro until 2010 with Moonlight Mile (which I missed as I didn’t know about it until yesterday). During the intervening 11 year period he penned several other works which included Mystic River and Shutter Island both of which were adapted to film and became box office successes.

Getting the chance to read The Drop was something of a treat – by reading it I indirectly discover some of my favourite characters have retuned while I was not paying attention AND I get to enjoy a story by an author I have not read since 1999. Yup didn’t read any of the stand-alone novels – planning to go back though.

The reason I know I will go back to Lehane’s work is that The Drop was fabulous. It is a story about people. Nice people, bad people, mis-understood people, missing people and scary people but it is the author’s skill at making their lives intertwine that make this story so strong. Oh, there is a dog too!

The principle focus of The Drop is barkeeper Bob Saginowski. Through Bob we learn about the Chechen gangsters that have taken over the organised crime in his corner of Boston. They use the bar where Bob works as a ‘drop’ to pass money gained from gambling and prostitution. During the story someone robs the bar on the night a drop is to happen. This leads to some unhappy gangsters and places Bob in a predicament as he has to find a way to replace the lost money. He also has to find a way to stop his new dog fouling in his house. Both these issues seem to have equal concern for Bob such is his approach to life.

While Bob is a laid-back and uncomplicated fellow he crosses paths with an ex-convict who is borderline psychotic – their clashes are peppered through the tale and I found myself rooting for barkeep Bob to repel the bully. When a writer engages my sense of injustice I find myself more drawn to the story – naturally I want the bully to get a taste of their own medicine.

The beauty of The Drop is how the characters are developed as the story unfolds – to even allude to some of the best twists would be criminal – this is a tale you need to enjoy for yourself with little pre-conception as to what may be about to happen.

The strength of this story is the characterisation and the interchange between characters – this is not a book that ends every chapter on a dramatic cliff-hanger or rolls from set play to set play in a frenzy of adrenaline. To be clear though, this is not a boring story either – far from it. You engage with the characters and want to hear more about them, pages fly past and you get drawn into their small Bostonian corner. I loved it and was sorry to reach the last chapter all too soon.

The Drop is available from 2 September.