The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion

This will be the thread for discussing The Drop by Dennis Lehane. Tom will be the moderator for this discussion. Congrats and enjoy the discussions.

I'll be starting this one this weekend, been wanting to read this since the movie came out. I've read all the Kenzie and Gennero novels and thoroughly enjoyed them but not picked any of his other novels up so this seems as good a place as any!

It's set around Xmas time so quite an apt time to read it now that the Xmas bonanza has started. Only 12% in but I can tell this is going to be good, shame it's only a short novel! I love dogs too so taking in an abandoned puppy endears the main guy, Bob, to me even more!

I just started listening to the audio of it today and already have a good feeling about it. I haven't seen the movie yet but have no trouble imagining James Gandolfini as Cousin Marv.

Tom wrote: "I just started listening to the audio of it today and already have a good feeling about it. I haven't seen the movie yet but have no trouble imagining James Gandolfini as Cousin Marv."

I'm at 60%, the combination of it being short and being very well written makes it easy to blitz through. I might even finish it tonight!

I'm like you in that I thought instantly of James Gandolfini as Cousin Marv, the only thing that skewed this was Marv goes to the gym. Other than that I can imagine him as Marv and Tom Hardy as Bob.

I'm borrowing the film from a friend to watch at the weekend too so I'll feedback on that when I've watched it.

Before we get too much further into this I should throw out some ground rules. Basically there is only one.

Be considerate of other readers. We invite you to share your thoughts and impressions of the book but keep in mind that others may not have read as far as you have. If you are in doubt as to whether or not something is a spoiler, use the spoiler brackets. To use spoiler brackets enter "<&spoiler> type stuff here <&/spoiler>", without the quotes or the &.

Just out of curiosity, how many people have read other Dennis Lehane novels? This one seems to be quite similar in style to his Kenzie and Gennaro books which I highly recommend if anyone likes this but hasn't tried any others.

Richard wrote: "Just out of curiosity, how many people have read other Dennis Lehane novels? This one seems to be quite similar in style to his Kenzie and Gennaro books which I highly recommend if anyone likes thi..."

I have read Shutter Island by Lehane, whilst I found it highly enjoyable at first my interest dwindled but I don't know why but I enjoyed the film.

I also enjoyed the film version of 'Gone Baby Gone' but I have not read the book.

My enjoyment of the film 'Moonlight Mile' and the novel was about the same just OK.

I remember having the dvd rental 'Mystic River' whilst I can remember the storyline - the film did not have big impact on me.

I resisted watching the movie 'The Drop' on the tv the other day as I can see a bit of pattern of enjoying Lehane movie version of his books more than the books themselves and I always prefer to read the book first.

My review http://gutreactionreviews.com/2014/10...

This will be my fourth Lehane book. I've read Mystic River, Shutter Island, and A Drink Before the War, the first in the K&G series. All of them have been excellent. I really like this one too so far. Most of his books deal with South Boston, where Lehane grew up.

I enjoy the Kenzie/Gennaro books. Although I've had to wait to read Gone, Baby, Gone until the movie has been wiped out of my mind.

The Drop was the first non-series book of his that I read and I enjoyed it for the character study that it was. I have the other non-series books, but haven't gotten around to reading them yet.

Seems like a few of Lehane's other work has been read by a few then, I have to say that in terms of style this one matches up to the others for me. I'm blazing through it and had to stop myself from finishing it last night as I was getting tired and didn't want to spoil it. Should be finished soon.

In a non-spoiler way, how freaky is Eric Deeds?! I feel i'll have to mention him a fair bit later on as he's one of the main driving forces in this for me.

"They got a ...book on dog training written by monks who were on the cover looking hardy and not real monkish".

I cracked up when I read this. I used the same book the first time I had to bone up on dog training.

Tom wrote: ""They got a ...book on dog training written by monks who were on the cover looking hardy and not real monkish".

I cracked up when I read this. I used the same book the first time I had to bone up ..."

I saw those monks on TV training dogs.

Jan C wrote: "I saw those monks on TV training dogs. "

Right. They raised German Shepherds and had a show where they trained problem pooches.

Finished last night, the ending felt a little rushed but there were a few bits of information dropped that caught me off guard so I was happy with it overall.

Not quite as good as the majority of his Kenzie & Gennaro novels but I still rate this highly. Plenty of good characters fleshed out in a short space of time.

Eric Deeds was a key character for me. Throughout the novel I couldn't work him out and to the end I wasn't sure. That to me is a sign of a good writer, someone who can drag you along and switch your opinions a number of times.

I'll be posting a review later and no doubt linking it here for anyone interested.

I finished it last night and needed a little time to think about it. I really liked the dichotomy between the characters of Bob and Eric. They definitely added a spark to the mix, even though nothing happened that really surprised me.
I can still say that Dennis Lehane has never disappointed me. My review is here.

Nice review Tom, some good thoughts there.

My review.

Have to say this was a good read, recommend that people should give it a shot with it only being a small read.

This was my first Lehane novel. I thought all of tbe characters were very well drawn and I thought the author fit a lot of character and plot into a short book.

Just saw that this is the current read. I've read almost all the other books written by Lehane and am not sure how I missed this one. I'll be picking this up at the library later today.

Update now that I've read the book:

I didn't particularly care for this one. I didn't find any of the characters sympathetic, which surprised me. Lehane excels at portraying good characters who are not totally good and bad characters who are not totally bad, but I found all of the characters in The Drop dreary with little good in them.

I also was distracted by the number of f-bombs. Now, I know that's the way they talk in Southie (I spent eight years in the Boston area), and I certainly have been known to utter a few expletives of my own, but the bad language seemed excessive to me. YMMV.

Will be interested in seeing what the next read is.

Elise wrote: "Just saw that this is the current read. I've read almost all the other books written by Lehane and am not sure how I missed this one. I'll be picking this up at the library later today."

Excellent! It's a short book and well worth your time. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

This was actually my first Lehane book (I purchased "Gone, Baby, Gone" & "A Drink Before the War" but I haven't started them yet. After reading "The Drop" I'm looking forward to these books.

I gave the novel 2 stars I thought this novel was OK and I didn't love it but I would still read further Lehane novels.

I loved Lehane characterisation there was some very flawed characters here and I thought these were really well done. But I could not hardly find a character that I liked, well perhaps the dog Rocco and I don't like dogs.

I thought the story telling was a little choppy e.g in one paragraph 2 characters were in a prison setting and then in the next paragraph 2 different characters were in the bar.

I was actually most surprised by Cousins Marv actions not sure why as I thought he was going to the morally responsible adult. Eric was a menacing character from the start and Bob appeared 'simple and straightforward' but I felt that there was deception there and was not surprised by some of his actions.

I watched the movie and enjoyed it more although they left out the best part of Eric going to collect the drugs. The ending was more shocking on film.

Overall I could not see the point of the story and this story will be forgotten by me in a few months time.

Sue wrote: "My enjoyment of the film 'Moonlight Mile' and the novel was about the same just OK. ..."

Moonlight Mile is the last of the Kenzie and Gennaro series, after a very long hiatus. I think you had to read the other books in order to appreciate this one because there is an overall story arc.

At book signings for Mystic River and Shutter Island, the first question that was asked was if there were going to be any more Kenzie and Gennaro novels. Lehane's response was that the characters hadn't told him there was anything more to tell. I think he wrote Moonlight Mile to provide closure for fans of the series. It doesn't have the impact of the other books, but it does provide satisfaction that their stories are now finished.

Elise wrote: "At book signings for Mystic River and Shutter Island, the first question that was asked was if there were going to be any more Kenzie and Gennaro novels. Lehane's response was that ..."

At a signing this year he answered the same question this way.

If you’re a writer whose core is based in realism or naturalism it’s very hard to go too far down the road of a series because the series starts to become very artificial. It just seems like – how many cases can these guys get? How many times can they fight the fight against the heart of darkness? I mean how many times can serial killers come to their door?

I haven't read the book but I watched the movie on DVD. I thought it was well-done and entertaining. Bob was a very interesting character. He seemed a tiny bit slow but then figured out what was going on and took care of business just fine.

And I loved little Rocco.... so cute and sweet!

I too listened to the audiobook version and thoroughly enjoyed it.