Begun as a wry story of low level crime set in Boston, Lehane's short novel is a rich mix of humanity, compassion and sudden violence. Animal Rescue was the tale of a lonely and deceptively harmless barman who finds a dog, adopts it and quickly finds himself wrapped in conflict with local hoods and confronted by a terrible dilemma; Lehane has now also expanded it into a movie script (with Tom Hardy and James Gandolfini) which has relocated the action to Brooklyn but is otherwise remarkably faithful to the book. Small-time crime, badly emotionally bruised but utterly believable characters, crime at its most basic, the ordinary poetry and camaraderie of bar life: no one does this better than Lehane. Low key but indispensable.
The film version of The Drop is released in UK cinemas on Friday 14 November 2014. Click below to view the trailer.
The Drop follows lonely bartender Bob Saginowski through a cover scheme of funelling cash to local gangsters -- 'money drops' -- in the underworld of Boston bars. Under the heavy hand of his employer and cousin Marv, Bob finds himself at the centre of a robbery gone awry and entwined in an investigation that digs deep into the neighbourhood's past where friends, families and foes all work together to make a living -- no matter the cost. A moving, gripping thriller, from Dennie Lehane, acclaimed New York Times bestselling autor of Shutter Island, Gone, Baby, Gone and Mystic River, The Drop will stay with you long after you turn the last page.
