Dennis Lehane’s New Book The Drop Comes Out This Summer

A lost puppy, the Chechen mafia, a couple of robbers, and a cop with a keen eye for mischief: that’s the mix Boston-born author Dennis Lehane has dumped into his latest novel set for release this summer.

In September, fans of the noir-style writer, known best for his works Gone, Baby, Gone, Mystic River, and Shutter Island, will get another dose of Boston crime tales in Lehane’s latest effort called The Drop.

Described as “a love story wrapped in a crime story wrapped in a journey of faith,” The Drop tells the story of a lonely bartender who discovers an abused puppy in a trash can, and quickly becomes his companion. Soon after, the protagonist meets a love interest with some problems of her own. “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,” according to a description of the novel.

To add to the excitement, the film version of The Drop, also by Lehane, comes out just one month after the book hits store shelves later this summer. The cast for the movie includes the late James Gandolfini, of The Sopranos fame, in his last on-screen performance. The film is directed by Michaël R. Roskam and stars Tom Hardy, who played Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, and Noomi Rapace, from Prometheus.

Here’s a description of the film from USA Today:

The story focuses on…Bob Saginowski, a former criminal trying to straighten out his life as the bartender at a place that also serves as a money “drop” for local gangsters. He works alongside his cousin Marv (Gandolfini), another former criminal. Bob’s attempt at a normal life with a rescued pit bull puppy and his girlfriend falls apart when he finds himself in the center of a robbery gone wrong, committed by a thug.

The novel The Drop was actually inspired by the screenplay Lehane wrote for FoxSearchlight Pictures. Oddly enough, that screenplay was based on a short story that was born from a novel the author started to write and then scrapped more than 10 years ago. After bits and pieces of the screenplay were clipped from his vision, and then more scenes were deleted on the cutting room floor, Lehane felt all of the material would make for an interesting book.

While the book version of The Drop “goes back to the streets of Mystic River” here in Boston, the movie is based in Brooklyn.

Lehane also has an additional book in the works, called World Gone By. The novel, which has a tentative release date of March 2015, is believed to be the third installment in a series of historical tales. It follows behind The Given Day, about the Boston Police strike in 1919, and Live by Night, which tracks the rum trade from Cuba to Florida during Prohibition, under the watchful eyes of rival gangs. All three books are based around various members of the Coughlin family.