 |
The Dawn Patrol by Don Winslow
Book Summary InformationAuthor: Don Winslow Edition: Hardcover Published: 2008-06-03 ISBN: 0307266206 Number of pages: 320 Publisher: Knopf
Book Reviews of The Dawn PatrolBook Review: Great PI Novel Set In San Diego Summary: 5 StarsAs a former private eye himself, author Don Winslow knows how to walk the walk and talk the talk. Apparently from the surfer lingo and expertise scattered throughout THE DAWN PATROL, Winslow also knows how to ride the waves, brah.
I loved his last book, THE WINTER OF FRANKIE MACHINE, and am looking forward to the movie. So I picked up THE DAWN PATROL with a lot of enthusiasm and high expectation regarding character development. Winslow didn't let me down. He hit his marks from the first line and had me frantically turning pages thereafter. Not only was the character development constantly in motion, so was the plot and all the emotional complications - as well as the twisty mystery/crime angle.
Boone Daniels (and yep, that name sparked a lot of commentary throughout the novel, `cause it's like Daniel Boone only backward) is a slacker private investigator in San Diego. But slacker though he is, he's also the guy a lot of lawyers go to when they need to turn up a lowlife or get information from the more dangerous neighborhoods in the city. But although Boone can be a tough guy, being a hardnosed private eye isn't really his way. Usually he nabs the person he's after or the information he's looking for because everyone likes him and because he's brutally clever.
Boone only works when he has to, and since his landlord will let him slide on the rent (Boone once did him a good turn and the old man really likes living on the fringes of Boone's detecting), Boone really doesn't have to work all that often. Mostly he's out on the waves. Generally the cases he does accept don't take him that long. He's connected to all the lowlifes and moves through them like a shark blazing through a calm lagoon.
One of the things I most loved about the book (and the one that is going to compel me to read through it again) is the band of characters that support Boone. They're all colorful and different, almost a full spectrum of the way Boone's life could have and might still go if he chooses a path. I especially loved the way I got to slide into their heads briefly enough to understand the conflicts that fired them into doing the different things they did throughout the novel.
Petra, the lady lawyer that insists on accompanying Boone on his search for a missing witness, is well done. If this book makes it to the movie studios (and it definitely has my vote), it's going to take a great actress to pull it all off. She's strong and sexy, and a complete pain in the butt when she wants to be - which is exactly the kind of character to pit Boone against as he tries to grind out what should be an investigation cakewalk that turns ugly and dangerous. Her appearance and subsequent interest in Boone causes problems with Boone's main squeeze, Sunny Day.
There's enough action, betrayal, and mystery to keep fans of the private eye genre devouring the book. Even if you figure out what's actually taking place, you're still in for a great ride while Winslow ties up every plot thread he's dangled out there in a satisfactory conclusion.
Summary of The Dawn PatrolThe author of The Winter of Frankie Machine (“another instant classic”—Lee Child) is back with a razor-sharp novel as cool and unbridled as its California surfer heroes, as heart-stopping as a wave none of them sees coming.
Boone Daniels lives to surf. Every morning he’s out in the break off Pacific Beach with the other members of The Dawn Patrol: four men and one woman as single-minded about surfing as he is. Or nearly. They have “real j-o-b-s”; Boone works as a PI just enough to keep himself in fish tacos and wet suits—and in the water whenever the waves are “epic macking crunchy.”
But Boone is also obsessed with the unsolved case of a young girl named Rain who was abducted back when he was on the San Diego police force. He blames himself—just as almost everyone in the department does—for not being able to save her. Now, when he can’t say no to a gorgeous, bossy lawyer who wants his help investigating an insurance scam, he’s unexpectedly staring at a chance to make some amends—and take some revenge—for Rain’s disappearance. It might mean missing the most colossal waves he’s liable to encounter (not to mention putting The Dawn Patrol in serious harm’s way as he tangles with the local thuggery), but this investigation is about to give him a wilder ride than any he’s ever imagined.
Harrowing and funny, righteous and outrageous, The Dawn Patrol is epic macking crunchy from start to finish.
|
 |
And Only to Deceiveby Tasha Alexander Harper Paperbacks; Published: 2006-10-01; Paperback; BookBest price: $4.85Price in other shops: $13.95
The Careful Use of Compliments: An Isabel Dalhousie Novelby Alexander Mccall Smith Pantheon; Published: 2007-08-07; Hardcover; BookBest price: $8.95Price in other shops: $21.95
Zoo Stationby David Downing Soho Press; Published: 2007-05-01; Hardcover; BookBest price: $13.78Price in other shops: $23.00
A Poisoned Seasonby Tasha Alexander Harper Paperbacks; Published: 2008-01-01; Paperback; BookBest price: $3.85Price in other shops: $13.95
Now and Thenby Robert B. Parker Putnam Adult; Published: 2007-10-23; Hardcover; BookBest price: $5.74Price in other shops: $25.95
The Book of Lost Things: A Novelby John Connolly Washington Square Press; Published: 2007-10-16; Paperback; BookBest price: $5.00Price in other shops: $15.00
The Girl Who Stopped Swimmingby Joshilyn Jackson Grand Central Publishing; Published: 2009-02-10; Paperback; BookBest price: $11.19Price in other shops: $13.99
Murder on the Orient Express (Hercule Poirot Mysteries)by Agatha Christie Berkley; Published: 2004-08-31; Mass Market Paperback; BookBest price: $2.84Price in other shops: $6.99
A Fatal Waltzby Tasha Alexander William Morrow; Published: 2008-05-20; Hardcover; BookBest price: $11.95Price in other shops: $23.95
Bangkok Haunts (Vintage)by John Burdett Vintage; Published: 2008-06-10; Paperback; BookBest price: $8.21Price in other shops: $13.95
|
|