Savages
""...laced with dark humour, the action is tight, controlled and utterly believable and the dialogue is so hip it feels that Winslow is setting the trend. " "
Synopsis:
Part-time environmentalist and philanthropist Ben and his ex-mercenary buddy Chon run a Laguna Beach-based marijuana operation, reaping huge profits from their loyal clientele. In the past when their turf was challenged, Chon happily eliminated the threat. But now they may have come up against something that they can't handle - the Mexican Baja Cartel wants in, sending them the message that a 'no' is unacceptable.
When they refuse to back down, the cartel escalates its threat, kidnapping Ophelia, the boys' playmate and confidante. Ophelia's abduction sets off a dizzying array of ingenious negotiations and gripping plot twists.
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Review:
Don Winslow is quite simply one of the most individual and engaging voices writing in crime fiction today. With this ferocious narrative, Winslow fuses the themes of "The Power of the Dog" (2005), his epic account of the U.S' never-ending war on drugs, with the stylish syntax of his surf-detective novel "The Dawn Patrol" (2008) to produce something exhilarating and new here in Savages. At a remove the characters may appear one dimensional: Ben, the do-gooder, the pacifist, the son of two psychiatrists with a desire to fix Third World countries all on his own; Chon, the army vet of Iraq and Afghanistan who suffers from PTLOSD ("Post Traumatic Lack of Stress Disorder"); and Ophelia or “O”, the blue-streaked blond they both love who shops constantly to compensate for the lack of attention from her mother. Then comes the shift in the plot: the Mexicans show they mean business. They kidnap O while she's on a shopping trip at the mall – where else? From then on, the novel gathers pace like a runaway train. Every cliché and idle probability Winslow sets up is then torn apart, as women are shown to be the main provoker, drug thugs double as caring family men and Ben's stoner views on peace and love disintegrate in the face of his desperation to see his friend/ lover safe. The book is laced with dark humour, the action is tight, controlled and utterly believable and the dialogue is so hip it feels that Winslow is setting the trend. We need to get the word out there; Winslow deserves to be one of the genre's favourite sons. Buy a copy and demand all your friends do so as well.