Don Winslow is like a writer, man. A raconteur of rare caliber whose prose rolls off the page smooth and effortlessly on through your consciousness as if you were hearing him recall an elaborate anecdote over a meal and drinks at that spot around the corner. The pages of his books practically turn themselves and before you know it, things have changed, man. They get sort of intense and all and you’re gripping the bookends more firmly than is strictly necessary; how did this happen?
Like I said, he’s like a writer, man. The illusion of easy-going is painstakingly crafted over long, lonely hours by the author. Thanks, Don, for that. Check out the way the laid back passages yawn and stretch lazily and satisfyingly, tucked neatly inside what’s otherwise a breathlessly paced thriller. How is it that that works?
Savages is about the most fun you’re likely to have with a book this summer. Ben and Chon are, like entrepreneurs, dude. They have a surf shop in southern California and grow and deal and smoke their own pot. Things never stay laid back when there's money, real money, being made, though. (Ask The Dudes from A Choice of Nightmares or The Devil's Redhead). Their small business has caught the eye of a ruthless Mexican drug cartel who sends them a very nasty threat in an effort to discourage their independent operation and be absorbed into the larger corporation.
Ben and Chon have no taste for working for anybody, which leaves them two options: fight or flight. Guess which they choose. Did I mention that Chon is an ex-Navy SEAL? Kinda helps in these situations. This aggression will not stand, man.
Like a vintage Elmore Leonard set up, it’s a pleasure to watch everything leading up to the inevitable collision of powerful personalities and ideals here, and the escalation of stakes is as swift and unblinking as any classic western standoff.
Winslow sits somewhere inside our loose collective of hardboiled, border crime chroniclers like David Corbett, Kent Harrington and Kem Nunn, (with whom he also shares membership in the surfing-dude-noir genre: check out Tapping the Source from Nunn or The Dawn Patrol from Winslow), just left of center. And like those writers, he’s long overdue (and probably the best suited) for a massive following. Savages could be the book that finally gets him that.
If the book doesn’t, the movie might. Oliver Stone is angling to get it made, which is an announcement that makes me a little nervous, but he did a decent job with another adaptation of a book I loved, John Ridley’s Stray Dogs, (U-Turn). One way or the other, it’s bound to be better than the first Winslow adaptation from The Death and Life of Bobby Z. Michael Mann is also looking to adapt The Winter of Frankie Machine.
And if you find that, (like I do), after reading Winslow you say "like" and "dude" far more frequently than usual, don't worry. It wears off eventually.
Jedidiah Ayres writes fiction and keeps the blog Hardboiled Wonderland.
