One of the Best Books of the Year: A New York Times Critics’ Pick, The Seattle Times , The Denver Post, The Washington Post , Publishers Weekly , Amazon, National Post (Toronto), The Guardian , New Statesman, The Telegraph, The Sunday Times (London), The Daily Mail , The Mail on Sunday The Godfather . . . A big, sprawling, ultimately stunning crime tableau . . . A magnum opus . . . Don Winslow is to the Mexican drug wars what James Ellroy is to L.A. Noir.”Esquire Godfather for our time. You don’t have to read Don Winslow’s The Power of the Dog to get swept away by The Cartel , its ripped-from-the-headlines sequel, but you should. You should try to get your hands on everything Winslow’s written, because he’s one of the best thriller writers on the planet.”NPR Game of Thrones of the Mexican drug wars, a multipart, intricately plotted, blood-soaked epic that tells the story of how America’s unquenchable appetite for illegal drugs has brought chaos to our southern neighbors and darkened our own political and criminal culture.”Booklist (starred review) The Godfather here, but Winslow’s characterizations, though certainly multidimensional, have more of an edge to them than do Puzo’s, a greater recognition of the tragedy a violent power struggle leaves in its wake. Clearly one of the most ambitious and most accomplished crime novels to appear in the last 15 years,The Cartel will likely retain that distinction even as the twenty-first century grinds on.”Arizona Republic The Cartel is the most important crime saga of the millennium. This is reporting and expose built around an intricate plot, finely etched characters and whip-crack dialogue. . . . Storytelling that matters.”Lee Child The Power of the Dog. Less of a sequel than an integral part of a solid-gold whole.”Men's Journal War and Peace of the War on Drugs.” Fresh Air The Cartel tells its ghastly story with enjoyable verve yet I was even more impressed with the way Winslow uses his plot to offer a superb history of the cartels and those out to stop them. Steeped in reportage, the novel. . . possesses a virtue I associate with traditional documentaries: it explains things. I finished the book understanding why Juárez is so violent; why cartels murder so many innocent people; why both the American and Mexican governments favor some cartels over others; and why the war on drugs is not just futile, but morally compromised. It’s here that fiction and documentary come together in a shared sense of, well, bleakness.”Michael Connelly The Cartel is a first rate edge-of-your-seat thriller for sure, but it also continues Winslow’s incisive reporting on the dangers and intricacies of the world we live in. There is no higher mark for a storyteller than to both educate and entertain. With Winslow these aspects are entwined like strands of DNA. He’s a master and this book proves it once again.”Los Angeles Times The Power of the Dog and its epic conclusion, The Cartel . . . . His prose is sparse and ferocious, and his rapid-fire story hits you like bullets from an AK-47.”Entertainment Weekly James Ellroy The Cartel. This is the War and Peace of dopewar books. Tense, brutal, wildly atmospheric, stunningly plotted, deeply etched. It’s got the jazz dog feel of a shot of pure meth!!”The Sunday Times (London)Vanity Fair The Cartel ] is sure to have you grasping at the edge of your seat.”Details The Power of the Dog shows why. . . . The coke-fueled, blood-soaked horror show that ensues would scare Tony Montana straight.”Harlan Coben “The Cartel is a gut-punch of a novel. Big, ambitious, violent and wildly entertaining, Don Winslow’s latest is an absolute must-read.” Los Angeles Magazine Associated Press The Cartel is an intricately detailed narrative of the cartel life. . . . Winslow has become an unintentional expert on a subject that sickens him.”The Huffington Post The San Diego Union-Tribune Sunday Herald (Scotland)The Cartel offers a riveting expose of a modern tragedy where the fast pace of the thriller narrative never stumbles over the painstaking attention paid to detail and background. More importantly perhaps, they offer an alternative perspective on the accepted history of America’s involvement in the ‘war on drugs’, a shocking litany of greed, complicity and political machination. . . . Winslow [writes with] the authority of an investigative reporter and the narrative skill of a best-selling author.”MysteryPeople (Pick of the Month)The Wild Bunch a run for its money in the final showdown category. He builds up to these moments beautifully, creating emotion and setting the stage for visceral attitude when such scenes explode. . . . For a mammoth novel, The Cartel moves. Winslow never loses his humanity and rage as he sweeps across a decade of rough shadow history to the wounded grace note it ends on. It captures everything great about crime fiction and makes it epic.”Kirkus Reviews Barnes and Noble Review The Cartel is as much a work of meticulous journalism as artful fiction. But through the blood haze and the political fog, Winslow allows us to see—and even to care about—his skillfully drawn characters.”Publishers Weekly (starred review)Publishers Weekly (starred review)The Chicago Tribune The Cartel is so relentlessly paced, its probing of daily evil so deep, you’re drawn in whether you like it or not.”Vice The Seattle Times The Cartel will tear off the blinders. . . . This reader stuck with The Cartel to the end because it says something important.”Interview Magazine The Cartel] is brutal, graphic, and well-researched, with many of the more gruesome acts based on real events. But there is something else that characterizes Winslow’s work. Beyond genre, there is musicality to his prose; staccato sentences that draw the reader in immediately.”Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The Cartel. . . . Devilishly plotted and exhaustingly vivid . . . Winslow’s style, efficient and undeniable as a bullet, keeps you hanging on through the most labyrinthine plot twists. And there are plot twists.”Bill O'Reilly (Factor Tip of the Day) The Cartel ] gives, perhaps, the clearest insight I’ve ever seen into the corruption that has nearly ruined the country of Mexico. Very tough book, but if you want to know what’s going on south of the border it is a must read.”Stephen King The Oregonian Miami Herald The Power of the Dog . . . Expect violence, gore—and revenge.”National Post (Toronto)The Cartel still readily embraces its old roots in the thriller genre. The old comforts you might find in Michael Connelly or Elmore Leonard are still here. . . . Terrifying.”San Francisco Chronicle Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Santa Barbara Independent The Cartel and spend some time with the author’s dark vision.”LitReactor Time magazine Cinephilia & Beyond The Cartel is going to blow our minds and leave us wanting for more.”Star-News The Cartel takes hold like a vise, and for the next 600 pages the book keeps a tight grip as it takes the reader into the underbelly of America’s 30-year war on drugs. . . . Like the journalists he praises, Winslow’s grasp of the material is impressive and has a nonfiction quality. . . . Winslow educates without being heavy handed or preachy. . . . While it is epic in scope, the writing has an intimacy and the characters, even the most evil, feel authentic. It’s a story that is hard to shake even when you’re done. And that is a good thing because this book shouldn’t be forgotten.”The Bookmonger “The Cartel may be to Mexican drug lords of today what The Godfather was to the Mafia in the 1960s and 1970s—a great story full of compelling characters, as well as a good way to learn about the motives and methods of a super-violent criminal organization.”Library Journal (starred review)
★ 04/27/2015
Horrifying in its accuracy, mesmerizing in its sweep and immediacy, brilliantly pace and placed…It’s all made intensely real by Ray Porter’s powerful performance.”
BookPage (Top Pick in Audiobooks)
Here is fiction based on the best journalistic sources, with lively dialogue, timely revelations, and overall the pace and feel of an exploded documentary…A brilliant and informative work of fiction about a nightmare world that flourishes in the bright light of day.”
One of the best thriller writers on the planet…Winslow has written an epic, gritty south-of-the-border Godfather for our time.”
I’m totally swept up. You can’t ask for more emotionally moving entertainment.”
#1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King
Ray Porter is an experienced narrator who does an expert job with Winslow’s complex plot and dozens of characters…Porter does many voices—depicting characters’ accents, genders, and ages very well. His pace is good, and his tone is intense without being overly dramatic.”
[The Cartel ] gives, perhaps, the clearest insight I’ve ever seen into the corruption that has nearly ruined the country of Mexico. Very tough book, but if you want to know what’s going on south of the border, it is a must read.”
The O’Reilly Factor (Factor Tip of the Day) Bill O’Reilly
Sensationally good.”
#1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child
A first-rate edge-of-your-seat thriller.”
#1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly
There is some of The Godfather here, but Winslow’s characterizations, though certainly multidimensional, have more of an edge to them than do Puzo’s…Clearly one of the most ambitious and most accomplished crime novels to appear in the last fifteen years.”
Booklist (starred review)
High octane…The righteous indignation that fuels his tale of cops, cartels, and the near-apocalyptic havoc they can create is, to use a sadly appropriate word, addictive.”
Lengthy, ambitious, and uncompromising.”
A grand and gripping epic novel.”
A Wagernian epic of murder and vengeance..The Cartel is as much a work of meticulous journalism as artful fiction…[with] skillfully drawn characters.”
An adrenaline rush, addictive as crack, and epic…Winslow deals in corruption, subversion, and revenge with an intensity that makes him irresistible.”
With corruption, violence, and a love story to boot, [The Cartel] is sure to have you grasping at the edge of your seat.”
A sort of Game of Thrones of the Mexican drug wars, a multipart, intricately plotted, blood-soaked epic that tells the story of how America’s unquenchable appetite for illegal drugs has brought chaos to our southern neighbors and darkened our own political and criminal culture.”
A magnum opus…[Winslow] is to the Mexican drug wars what James Ellroy is to LA noir.”
A gut-punch of a novel. Big, ambitious, violent, and wildly entertaining…an absolute must-read.”
#1 New York Times bestselling author Harlan Coben
Overpowering.”
This is the War and Peace of dope-war books. Tense, brutal, wildly atmospheric, stunningly plotted, deeply etched.”
New York Times bestselling author James Ellroy
★ 06/01/2015
Winslow’s sprawling novel documents the Mexican drug wars between 2004 and 2014. A sequel to THE POWER OF THE DOG, this book also works well as a stand-alone. Winslow is a compelling writer who has done his research. Ray Porter is an experienced narrator who does an expert job with Winslow’s complex plot and dozens of characters. The violence is often graphic, and it’s hard to know where fact ends and fiction begins. Porter does many voices—depicting characters’ accents, genders, and ages very well. His pace is good, and his tone is intense without being overly dramatic. CARTEL will entertain you. It will also change the way you think about the Mexican drug wars, their victims, and the United States’ role. F.C. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
2015-04-30
