"The Drop"

"The Drop" is a stand alone novel by Dennis Lehane and the hardback copy is 207 pages so it was a fairly quick read but I stretched it out and made it last several days by reading it at bedtime.

The story centers around Bob, a lonely, single bartender, whose parents are deceased and he has inherited their home.  He works in his cousin's bar but the bar is currently the cousin's in name only -- It's more of a front for a local Chechen mafia and they use it as a place to drop cash.

Bob tends the bar and goes about his duties faithfully and diligently.  At home, though, there is no one waiting so, when he finds an abused puppy in a trash can, he rescues it and meets Nadia.  Nadia has her own problems but she does know how to take care of a puppy so she's able to help him get started in the care and training of a dog.

Events begin to get a little sticky when two bumbling stick-up artists rob the bar of one of its drops and that puts Bob and his cousin in the path of the Chechen's who want their money back.  Throw in a curious cop who attends mass with Bob and the original owner of the puppy (a not so nice man) who decides he wants his dog back and there's a mix of dangerous currents that threaten to turn into a major storm.  Who will survive and how?!

I love Lehane's stories (and their twists) and look forward to his new novel coming out next year, "World Gone By."  In the meantime, though, I'll have to read the three I've yet to read.  pazt