The Drop

By: Dennis Lehane

Narrated by: Jim Frangione

New York Times bestselling author Dennis Lehane returns to the streets of Mystic River with this love story wrapped in a crime story wrapped in a journey of faith—the basis for the major motion picture The Drop, from Fox Searchlight Pictures directed by Michaël Roskam, screenplay by Dennis Lehane, and starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, and James Gandolfini.

Three days after Christmas, a lonely bartender looking for a reason to live rescues an abused puppy from a trash can and meets a damaged woman looking for something to believe in. As their relationship grows, 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. . . .

Another amazing Lehane

Characters with depth and a well written novel. The reason reading was invented. Amazing work.

Simple yet tightly knit story grounded in reality

It does read like a script that there is a lot of dialogue between characters, but book is excellent, and I throughly enjoyed it. It is a very focused book on few characters. Author does a great job developing these characters, and I got to know them very well.

Story is simple but powerful rooted in gritty reality that I could see these events could take place in rea life. At times, readers are introduced to either very accomplished tough guys, or naive incompetent ones. This books walks a fine line between these characters which are possibly neither. It made a very interesting read. This is my first Lehane book, but it will not be the last. I highly recommend Lehane.

Narrator did a great job portraying the grittiness of various tough guys. Overall, narrator is able to capture the spirit of the book. Again, I would be looking for other books narrated by from Jim Frangione.

Saw the movie…..

Liked the book so much better. Definately worth the listen. Loved the listen looking forward to more of his books in the future

Short but Satisfying

If you could sum up The Drop in three words, what would they be?

Plenty of tension

What other book might you compare The Drop to and why?

None come to mind.

What about Jim Frangione’s performance did you like?

He gets out of the way of the story.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, and I almost did, but I wanted to save the ending for the next day!

Any additional comments?

The Drop is short for a Dennis Lehane, but the story didn't suffer from it. As usual, Lehane masters the craft of inner dialogue that allows us to live inside the protagonist's head and reveals the complete character. I wished it were a bit longer; then again, this one has so much tension I might be glad it's shorter than usual. Another Lehane winner.

So much more

than I expected. No good guys nor bad ones. Just flawed people getting to the next day.