The Drop characters

Appears from the start

A quiet bartender at Cousin Marv's in a working-class Boston neighborhood. Bob attends Mass, keeps mostly to himself, and notices more than his withdrawn manner suggests. Although the bar bears Marv's name, Bob understands that its real owners are Chechen criminals who sometimes use it to collect illicit cash.

Appears from the start

Bob's older cousin and employer, once a feared neighborhood figure. Marv still presents the bar as his own, though debts and the Chechen takeover have reduced his authority to a performance he is increasingly desperate to preserve.

Appears from the start

A wary young woman whose trash bin contains an injured pit-bull puppy Bob discovers on his walk home. She knows how to care for the animal and helps Bob learn, while making clear that trust and intimacy do not come easily to her.

Also known as Rocco

Appears from the start

The abused pit-bull puppy Bob rescues from a trash bin. Caring for him gives Bob a new routine and draws him closer to Nadia. Bob names him Rocco and becomes fiercely protective of him.

First appears in chapter 4

A local man with a threatening manner and a cultivated reputation for violence. He claims ownership of Rocco and uses the dog, and his former relationship with Nadia, to force himself into Bob's life.

First appears in chapter 3

A Boston detective investigating the armed robbery of Cousin Marv's. Patient and observant, Torres is familiar with the neighborhood's silences and recognizes that the bar's function as a criminal money drop makes the theft more dangerous than it first appears.

First appears in chapter 2

Marv's sister, who shares the strain of looking after their ailing father. She sees the family's financial pressures without sharing Marv's attachment to his former neighborhood status.

First appears in chapter 5

A representative of the Chechen organization that owns Cousin Marv's and uses it as one of several rotating collection points. Controlled and businesslike, Chovka expects the stolen money to be recovered and makes Marv and Bob responsible for the loss.

First appears in chapter 4

A neighborhood man who disappeared years earlier. His unsolved fate remains part of local folklore, and Eric Deeds benefits from rumors connecting him to the killing.