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A review by d_audy
City on Fire by Don Winslow
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The Illiad, retold as a mob war set in late 1980s New England.
The Italians and Irish have been at peace and uneasy partners for over a generation, lording over their territories of Federal Hill and Dogtown in Providence, Rhode Island. One fine afternoon of August 1986, Pam from Connecticut emerged like Aphrodite from the sea drawing all eyes and desires, and before that night is over the sparks start to fly that will set the city on fire.
This is a mob story as classic as it gets, but told with perfection by a master storyteller (who announced this trilogy would be his literary swan song). While the mythological parallels are limpid and explicit, and the themes are as old as the source of inspiration and the origins of Western literature, this conceptual framework just elevates the work and never gets in the way of Winslow's perfect execution of his riveting crime story.
The tale is told with a talent for character portraits that rivals Stephen King's, with a very interesting young protagonist and a solid secondary cast of which some like Madeleine truly shine. The story, not really a surprise, adopts a typical tragedy structure in three acts that builds at first slowly, picks momentum then comes crashing down in final act that leaves you panting and exhilarated and extremely eager to pick the second novel.
This was my first Don Winslow, but aside obviously from volumes two and three of this trilogy it will definitely not be my last. What a way to end a literary career, can't wait to find out what the rest of his body of works was like.
The Italians and Irish have been at peace and uneasy partners for over a generation, lording over their territories of Federal Hill and Dogtown in Providence, Rhode Island. One fine afternoon of August 1986, Pam from Connecticut emerged like Aphrodite from the sea drawing all eyes and desires, and before that night is over the sparks start to fly that will set the city on fire.
This is a mob story as classic as it gets, but told with perfection by a master storyteller (who announced this trilogy would be his literary swan song). While the mythological parallels are limpid and explicit, and the themes are as old as the source of inspiration and the origins of Western literature, this conceptual framework just elevates the work and never gets in the way of Winslow's perfect execution of his riveting crime story.
The tale is told with a talent for character portraits that rivals Stephen King's, with a very interesting young protagonist and a solid secondary cast of which some like Madeleine truly shine. The story, not really a surprise, adopts a typical tragedy structure in three acts that builds at first slowly, picks momentum then comes crashing down in final act that leaves you panting and exhilarated and extremely eager to pick the second novel.
This was my first Don Winslow, but aside obviously from volumes two and three of this trilogy it will definitely not be my last. What a way to end a literary career, can't wait to find out what the rest of his body of works was like.