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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved the Power of the Dog trilogy and consider them to be some of the finest books I've read. I blew through City on Fire, which meant I liked it enough, but there was just something about it that keeps me from giving it a 4 or 5. I think it was mainly the dialogue. I expected half the characters to start yelling - IT'S A-ME, MARIO! WOOHOO! LET'S A-GET BOWSER!
That said, I will probably read the rest of this series when it comes out becuase Don Winslow is a powerhouse.
That said, I will probably read the rest of this series when it comes out becuase Don Winslow is a powerhouse.
I kinda knew what to expect with this Don Winslow novel going in and yet, I still wound up having a good time.
Winslow is famous for taking historical crime events and melding them into fictional tales. He did it with the history of the West Coast mob in The Winter of Frankie Machine, one of my favorite crime reads of the last few years. Here he draws inspiration from the Boston-Providence mob and their wars of the 90s post-Patriarca.
Oh and he decided to tell the tale as a reinterpretation of The Iliad.
I like this idea a lot and I wish more crime writers would reinterpret the classics for the modern age. The Greek tragedies, Shakespeare, the Bible…all of them lend themselves to the aesthetic of the contemporary crime novel quite well.
Instead of the Trojans and the Greeks, we get the Irish and the Italians, co-existing in an uneasy truce as they cut up Providence’s underworld. Yet once a metaphorical Helen of Troy comes between them, things are never quite the same, eventually leading to a bloody war that bruises all sides.
Winslow’s strengths as a crime writer shine through here. The characters are enjoyable and you find yourself caring for them in spite of their dirty deeds. He also evoked the grittiness of 80s Providence (at least I assume he did as I’ve only visited Providence once and not in the 1980s).
His weaknesses also come through: most of the female characters exist to help the men resolve their plots, the book takes too many twists near the end, and there’s absolutely no reason this needs a sequel, much less a trilogy. These seem to be the problems of many a Winslow novel.
Still, I enjoyed it. Winslow writes some of the best crime fiction you’ll read.
Winslow is famous for taking historical crime events and melding them into fictional tales. He did it with the history of the West Coast mob in The Winter of Frankie Machine, one of my favorite crime reads of the last few years. Here he draws inspiration from the Boston-Providence mob and their wars of the 90s post-Patriarca.
Oh and he decided to tell the tale as a reinterpretation of The Iliad.
I like this idea a lot and I wish more crime writers would reinterpret the classics for the modern age. The Greek tragedies, Shakespeare, the Bible…all of them lend themselves to the aesthetic of the contemporary crime novel quite well.
Instead of the Trojans and the Greeks, we get the Irish and the Italians, co-existing in an uneasy truce as they cut up Providence’s underworld. Yet once a metaphorical Helen of Troy comes between them, things are never quite the same, eventually leading to a bloody war that bruises all sides.
Winslow’s strengths as a crime writer shine through here. The characters are enjoyable and you find yourself caring for them in spite of their dirty deeds. He also evoked the grittiness of 80s Providence (at least I assume he did as I’ve only visited Providence once and not in the 1980s).
His weaknesses also come through: most of the female characters exist to help the men resolve their plots, the book takes too many twists near the end, and there’s absolutely no reason this needs a sequel, much less a trilogy. These seem to be the problems of many a Winslow novel.
Still, I enjoyed it. Winslow writes some of the best crime fiction you’ll read.
I wanted to like this book. I wanted to *love* this book. But...
The story, while compelling, is more Mafia melodrama. The characters lack depth, and often behave in ways that don't make sense. Often, for the purposes of the plot, the characters behave as if they were not nearly as bright as they have been described previously. I have a problem when the plot turns on the instant stupidity of a character. My understanding is that this is the start of a trilogy. I'm sure Winslow has it mapped out on a white board in his office, with story beats and twists carefully scheduled for maximum effect. I guess it felt kind of artificial and shallow to me.
And then there's his writer's tic of substituting "don't" for "doesn't" throughout the book, along with the other language things he does to try to put inside of his character's heads. Every time I saw a sentence like "Danny don't care." it just bumped me out of the narrative and made me totally aware that Winslow was trying to push my buttons.
And, I have the impression Winslow has no idea that a 1984 Dodge Charger was not a muscle car, but in fact a small Dodge Omni spinoff with all of the power of two lawn mowers strapped together. Not much of a getaway car.
The story, while compelling, is more Mafia melodrama. The characters lack depth, and often behave in ways that don't make sense. Often, for the purposes of the plot, the characters behave as if they were not nearly as bright as they have been described previously. I have a problem when the plot turns on the instant stupidity of a character. My understanding is that this is the start of a trilogy. I'm sure Winslow has it mapped out on a white board in his office, with story beats and twists carefully scheduled for maximum effect. I guess it felt kind of artificial and shallow to me.
And then there's his writer's tic of substituting "don't" for "doesn't" throughout the book, along with the other language things he does to try to put inside of his character's heads. Every time I saw a sentence like "Danny don't care." it just bumped me out of the narrative and made me totally aware that Winslow was trying to push my buttons.
And, I have the impression Winslow has no idea that a 1984 Dodge Charger was not a muscle car, but in fact a small Dodge Omni spinoff with all of the power of two lawn mowers strapped together. Not much of a getaway car.
The first of a planned trilogy, this book captures a treacherous series of urban battles between Italian and Irish mobsters. Enjoyed the characters, but found the action scenes a bit breezy.
Compulsively readable, fast-paced and super entertaining. Unlikable characters and terrible decisions all the way through, but nevertheless I really enjoyed it. The ending was quite satisfying, so I'm not sure about the trilogy decision. But hey, it's Winslow, so let's see.