The Drop: A Novel

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. . .

Dennis Lehane returns to the streets of his acclaimed New York Times bestseller Mystic River with The Drop—A love story wrapped in a crime story wrapped in a journey of faith.

Three days after Christmas, Bob, a lonely bartender looking for a reason to live, hears a whimper coming from inside a trash can. The abused puppy he finds there will change his life forever, as will Nadia, the damaged woman he meets that night. Like him, she's desperately searching for something to believe in.

Bound together by their decision to rescue the puppy, Bob and Nadia's relationship grows. But just as they've found something to live for, they cross paths with the Chechen mafia; a man grown dangerous with age and thwarted hopes; two hapless stick-up artists; a very curious cop; and the original owner of the puppy, who wants his dog back. . . .

From New York Times bestselling author Dennis Lehane, a new novel that's the basis of the major motion picture from Fox Searchlight Pictures directed by Michaël R. Roskam, screenplay by Dennis Lehane, and starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, and James Gandolfini.

“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.” - Wall Street Journal

“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.” - Boston Globe

“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. - Philadelphia Inquirer

“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.”  - Booklist (starred review)

“The bard of blue-collar Boston crime returns with a sleight-of-hand novel tinged with sin and redemption.”  - Kirkus Reviews