The New York Times
Mr. Winslow's keen attention to drug culture isn't going to keep readers away from him. He's too damn good to be polarizing. His characters are smart about their self-interest. His dialogue is tight, laconic and razor sharp; if Elmore Leonard or Lee Child discovered surfing, they might sound something like this. And even when he shows off…he gets away with it.
—Janet Maslin
The New York Times - Janet Maslin
Blazing . . . Mr. Winslow's keen attention to drug culture isn't going to keep readers away from him. He's too damn good to be polarizing. His characters are smart about their self-interest. His dialogue is tight, laconic, and razor sharp; if Elmore Leonard or Lee Child discovered surfing, they might sound something like this.
The Independent (UK)
“A brilliant, hypnotic novel . . . So much more than a mere backstory . . . With a stylistic swagger and bucketloads of empathy to go with a scintillating, perfectly executed crime-novel plot.
Booklist (starred review)
Blistering . . . Winslow serves up nonstop action, tempering the tension with his trademark razor-sharp wit. . . . This cool, clever entry is sure to be a royally popular summer read.
The New York Times - Chip McGrath
Don Winslow, whose book The Kings of Cool, just came out, is a rarity among writers of fiction: He doesn't just make it up.
San Diego Union-Tribune - John Wilkens
A fast, fun, smart jazz-riff of a book, a prequel to Savages and every bit as good. . . . What sets Winslow apart in the crowded field of crime/mystery/thriller writers is the white-knuckled way he writes and thinks. The dialogue is sharp and funny, full of knowing nods to pop culture, history, and geography. . . . A frenzied ride into the heart of what family and love and loyalty mean.
The Wall Street Journal - Tom Nolan
Don Winslow's crackerjack Laguna Beach thriller The Kings of Cool . . . gives background and back story to Mr. Winslow's novel Savages, published in 2010 and just made into a film by Oliver Stone. . . . It's a treat to trace the crossings of this trio's paths with those of other characters over the years. . . . One way or another, they scheme and tough their way through this often gruesome, sometimes witty saga and into the future fates already devised for them.
USA Today
As a former private investigator, Winslow knows his crime scene. . . . It’s tough not to be hooked.”
Library Journal (starred review)
Another Winslow roller-coaster thriller.
The New York Times Book Review - Marilyn Stasio
Made funnier by the seditious spin Winslow puts on the romanticized 1960s hippie culture of peace and love and hard drugs . . . [and boasts] the same pulsing rhythms and raw vocals that made “Savages” feel a little dangerous.
Booklist
Blistering . . . Winslow serves up nonstop action, tempering the tension with his trademark razor-sharp wit. . . . This cool, clever entry is sure to be a royally popular summer read.
USA Today
As a former private investigator, Winslow knows his crime scene. . . . It’s tough not to be hooked.”
Booklist
Blistering . . . Winslow serves up nonstop action, tempering the tension with his trademark razor-sharp wit. . . . This cool, clever entry is sure to be a royally popular summer read.
From the Publisher
A fast, fun, smart jazz-riff of a book, a prequel to Savages and every bit as good. . . . What sets Winslow apart in the crowded field of crime/mystery/thriller writers is the white-knuckled way he writes and thinks. The dialogue is sharp and funny, full of knowing nods to pop culture, history and geography. . . . A frenzied ride into the heart of what family and love and loyalty mean.” —John Wilkens, San Diego Union-Tribune
“Mr. Winslow’s keen attention to drug culture isn’t going to keep readers away from him. He’s too damn good to be polarizing. His characters are smart about their self-interest. His dialogue is tight, laconic and razor sharp; if Elmore Leonard or Lee Child discovered surfing, they might sound something like this.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times
“Don Winslow's crackerjack Laguna Beach thriller The Kings of Cool . . . gives background and back story to Mr. Winslow's novel Savages, published in 2010 and just made into a film by Oliver Stone. . . . It's a treat to trace the crossings of this trio's paths with those of other characters over the years. . . . One way or another, they scheme and tough their way through this often gruesome, sometimes witty saga and into the future fates already devised for them.” —Tom Nolan, The Wall Street Journal
“Blistering . . . Winslow serves up nonstop action, tempering the tension with his trademark razor-sharp wit. . . . This cool, clever entry is sure to be a royally popular summer read.” —Booklist (starred review)
“Blazing . . . Studded with the same sharp, lean dialogue and quick-witted calculation [as Savages].” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times
“This adrenaline-fused collision of generations . . . is another Winslow roller-coaster thriller.” —Library Journal (starred review)
The Wall Street Journal
Don Winslow's crackerjack Laguna Beach thriller The Kings of Cool . . . gives background and back story to Mr. Winslow's novel Savages, published in 2010 and just made into a film by Oliver Stone. . . . It's a treat to trace the crossings of this trio's paths with those of other characters over the years. . . . One way or another, they scheme and tough their way through this often gruesome, sometimes witty saga and into the future fates already devised for them.
— Tom Nolan
San Diego Union-Tribune
A fast, fun, smart jazz-riff of a book, a prequel to Savages and every bit as good. . . . What sets Winslow apart in the crowded field of crime/mystery/thriller writers is the white-knuckled way he writes and thinks. The dialogue is sharp and funny, full of knowing nods to pop culture, history, and geography. . . . A frenzied ride into the heart of what family and love and loyalty mean.
— John Wilkens
The New York Times Book Review
Made funnier by the seditious spin Winslow puts on the romanticized 1960s hippie culture of peace and love and hard drugs . . . [and boasts] the same pulsing rhythms and raw vocals that made “Savages” feel a little dangerous.
— Marilyn Stasio
Kirkus Reviews
Winslow offers a prequel for his drug-war epic Savages (2010). The year 2005 finds Ben Leonard and his buddy Chon doing what they do best: helping Orange County get high on Ben's custom-bred hydroponic grass. So successful is their business, in fact, that Duane Crowe, of The Association, pays Ben a visit gently suggesting that they either submit a monthly charge to the established network of importers or take their business elsewhere. Chon is not the person to take this challenge lying down, and soon he's struck preemptively at a couple of Association minnows he unwisely leaves alive--a decision that acts like the starting gun at a marathon. Quick as a sentence fragment, Winslow is piling on the violence, the flashbacks to an earlier generation of Southern California surfers and hippies, and the one-word paragraphs, as he makes a strong bid for the James Ellroy Award for Self-Indulgent Prose. Since fans know that Ben and Chon and their childhood friend O-for-Ophelia will still be around to peddle primo product in Savages, The Association's threats don't carry the menace they would outside the wonderful world of prequels, and readers are free to enjoy the proceedings as deliriously overgalvanized, intermittently hilarious ritual. The walk-ons who pop up just long enough to get caught in the crossfire are too interchangeable for tears, and not even Chon's deployment to Afghanistan and his encounter with a bomb are cause for alarm. The only blemish in the blood bath is the pretense, late on in the proceedings, that Chon and O are learning something important about their fathers. Sorry, gang, but you're in the wrong pew.
