The armed primate in question has escaped from the zoo, and a patrol cop named Shea is called to the scene. Elmore Leonard” - although even Leonard himself rarely wrote anything as riotous as the opening sequence here, which proceeds from a priceless first line: “No one knows how the chimp got the revolver.” The other showstopper in the collection is “The San Diego Zoo,” dedicated to “Mr. (“There’s a word for a man who believes in coincidence,” reads one: “the defendant.”) The characters include a debonair jewel thief who cruises the highway in lovingly described American cars, and Detective Lou Lubesnick, who will clearly be a Winslow keeper. Route 101) and from the idea of an introductory academic course, in keeping with the maxims that Winslow studs throughout. The piece takes its title both from the Pacific Coast Highway (U.S. It certainly captures Winslow’s stature as a writer from whom others can learn the ropes. Steve McQueen,” and that lives up to that level of cool. A better title might have come from the next one, “Crime 101” - an elegantly choreographed pas de deux that is dedicated to “Mr. It’s called “Broken,” after the first (and weakest) story in the bunch. Winslow has now delivered a collection of six novellas that show off his range. The reply: “Replaced by a newer, faster, easier technology.” “Whatever happened to morality?” Winslow had a character in “Savages” ask. His bravura Cartel trilogy, with its 40-year wingspan and brutally detailed knowledge of Mexican drug gangs, isn’t much like his darkly hilarious “Savages,” which itself barely shows how deeply his early books were rooted in California’s surf culture. They share a girlfriend, an Orange County beauty called Ophelia.If you’ve read only a few of Don Winslow’s books, you may not realize what a shape-shifter he is. Chon is the muscle, securing their territory against incursions. The result is quite splendid.ĭespite Ben's apparent environmental concerns, he is more than ready to handle big-time marijuana deals with his ex-mercenary friend, Chon, in Laguna Beach.

But have his admirers' pleas for a return to the massive reach of The Power of the Dog influenced his latest novel, Savages? Violent drug-dealing conflict is back, but now shot through with the mordant humour of his recent surfing novels. In them, Winslow has tried (and sometimes succeeded) to suggest that this laid-back community is in possession of more than a single brain cell. Opinion has divided over his recent books, set in California's surfer territory. His sprawling, visceral drug-crime novel, The Power of the Dog, rivalled the grand master of that genre, Robert Stone. Alaconic New York-born writer, Don Winslow is regarded as one of the best in the field.

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