Dennis Lehane’s The Drop is a gritty Boston-set crime novel that follows the lonely, emotionally scarred bartender Bob Saginowski, who works at Cousin Marv’s Bar—a neighborhood joint now owned by ruthless Chechen mobsters and used as a money “drop” for illicit cash. Bob’s quiet life is shaken when he rescues a battered puppy abandoned in a trash can, an act that pulls him into the lives of Nadia, a woman with deep wounds of her own, and Eric, her menacing ex and the dog’s original abusive owner.

After the bar is robbed and the Chechen mafia demands answers, Bob must navigate growing threats and his evolving connections to those around him, revealing hidden depths and secrets as violence inexorably seeps into his world.

Lehane crafts a tense, bleak tale, rich with moral ambiguity and blue-collar authenticity, centered on ordinary people striving to survive in the shadow of organized crime.