INTERVIEW Don Winslow

EVER since Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett revolutionized the crime novel with hardboiled heroes, gritty settings, and moral complexity, countless authors have tried to carry the torch.

- Andrew F. Gulli

One of the few to truly perfect modern noir is Don Winslow. Since 1992, he has written more than twenty novels, which have been translated into over thirty languages and sold millions of copies. Several of his books have been adapted into successful films, further cementing his reputation as a crime fiction master.

Winslow began work on his first novel while juggling various careers—leading tours in Africa and China, managing a movie theater chain, and working as a private investigator. A Cool Breeze on the Underground was published in 1991, introducing Neal Carey, a bookish but resourceful PI who lives very much in the past while solving modern problems around the globe. Despite critical recognition—including an Edgar Award nomination for Best First Novel—sales lagged for Cool Breeze and the Carey mysteries that followed. That is, until the release of The Death and Life of Bobby Z in 1997. Diverging from more traditional crime novel structures, Bobby Z hinged on meticulous research about drug cartels and featured druglords, grifters, prostitutes, and a deeply flawed protagonist struggling for survival. In addition to marking a stylistic change for Winslow, the book was a commercial success that drew readers to his previous works and paved the way for others.

In 2005, Winslow again explored the brutal drug trade in The Power of the Dog, illustrating how the realpolitik of the War on Drugs aided brutal cartel dons while leaving the general population powerless. Based on hundreds of interviews with people on both sides of the drug wars, the novel introduced readers to DEA agent Art Keller, a reluctant anti-hero who wages war on the cartels despite enormous personal costs. Keller returns in the 2015 sequel