Good day, Gaston College Book Club followers! Whit Preston, Evening Librarian here with a book review of a story full of grit and despicable characters. The author, Dennis Lehane, should be familiar to many of you, especially considering that another book of his, Mystic River, has been made into an Oscar-winning film.
Transitioning back to the novel at-hand, The Drop is equal parts lost family legacy as much as it is a venture in restitution. At the heart of this novel is Bob, a bartender whose cousin, Marv, ruled the Boston neighborhood in which they reside, until a prominent mafioso supplants Bob and Marv’s crew. Adding insult to injury is the fact that Marv, once the owner of the bar in which he and Ben toil, is usurped by the gangsters and becomes a drop bar, a place where money collected for criminal activities, is randomly selected as an individual night’s laundering point for the cash received by the mafia cronies.
The character of Bob is one whose heart and soul longs for some glimmer of hope in his seemingly bleak lot in life. That hope comes in the form of a pit bull puppy whose owner beat and abandoned it near Bob’s neighborhood. Several additional key story components are thrown into the mix, one of which comes in the form of Nadia, a friend who mentors Bob into a proud pet owner and acts as a fulcrum later in the story, also.
Overall, the story is extremely well-paced, the action does not falter at any point, and the ultimate revelations are properly sequenced at the right moments. This story has also been made into a movie that is equally enjoyable, especially for anyone who has enjoyed the films of James Gandolfini, Tom Hardy, or Noomi Rapace. Be warned though: read the novel first since the film follows the book almost verbatim.
The novel, as well as other books by Dennis Lehane, are currently available for checkout at the Gaston College Libraries.
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