Sunday, September 7, 2014

The Drop-Dennis LeHane

The Drop
Dennis LeHane
Morrow, Sep 2 2014, $14.99
ISBN 9780062365446

Just two days after Christmas and with Little Christmas still to come in the Flats, lonely Cousin Marv’s bartender Bob Saginowski heads home after his shift ends.  He stops when he hears a whimpering noise.  Bob rescues a battered abandoned puppy from a trash can belonging to Nadia Dunn who takes a picture of the bartender and his new companion he names Rocco.

Nadia helps Bob with Rocco but insane Eric Deeds demands they give him the canine as he insists the dog is his.  At the same, Marv, who lost ownership of his former dive to Chechen financiers, struggles with a lack of funds and much more.  When masked men rob the bar of 5K, the angry owners target the financially strapped cousins as the most likely thieves.

Tied to a not yet released movie, which in turn is based on the short story “Animal Rescue” (see Boston Noir), The Drop is a stark gritty look at the Boston underbelly.  Most of the cast is nasty and greedy as if human DNA is imprinted to take advantage and harm others; in contrast to caring Bob.  Faster than a Celtic fast-break during the Rondo and the Big Three era, readers will enjoy this dark look at Boston’s meanest vilest streets.


Harriet Klausner

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