Up in Smoke

Great news for lovers of the fabulous Don Winslow: In July, Simon & Schuster will publish Winslow’s Savages, which just might be his best novel yet. Savages is about two pals from Laguna Beach, California--an environmentalist named Ben and a born warrior called Chon--who share the same girlfriend, the stunning O (for Ophelia, a family joke), as well as a thriving business growing and distributing the best-quality pot on the planet. When they resist being muscled by a Mexican drug cartel, O is kidnapped and the ransom is every cent they’ve made over the last five years. They agree to pay, but hatch an alternative plan to get her back, get revenge, and then get lost.

I’ve raved about Winslow on this page before--most recently in regard to his second San Diego surfing thriller, The Gentlemen’s Hour, for which I laid out actual cold cash in order to obtain an early, UK edition. It was wonderful stuff, better--believe it or not--than his gorgeous 2008 novel, The Dawn Patrol. Even if the closest you’ve ever come to a surfboard is watching a Gidget flick, there’s enough action, suspense, sex, love, humor, and wisdom in The Gentlemen’s Hour to get you down to your nearest point break at top speed.

Winslow’s other fine books include The Winter of Frankie Machine, The Power of the Dog, and The Death and Life of Bobby Z.

Savages is a darker and bloodier than much of his work, and thus harder to quote from on a family friendly blog. But here’s a taste:

O has diagnosed Chon with PTLOSD. Post-Traumatic Lack Of Stress Disorder. He says he has no nightmares, nerves, flashbacks, hallucinations or guilt. “I wasn’t stressed,” Chon insisted, “and there was no trauma.”

“Must have been the dope,” O opined. Dope is good, Chon agreed ...

Savages features 290 more pages of action, adventure, swearing, shooting, killing, and close shaves. It also contains some rare insights into how and why it is that people go into the drug trade. This is a book not to be missed.