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Savages #1
The Kings of Cool
In Savages, Don Winslow introduced Ben and Chon, twenty-something best friends who risk everything to save the girl they both love, O. Among the most celebrated thrillers in recent memory—and now a major motion picture directed by Academy Award–winning filmmaker Oliver Stone—Savages was picked as a best book of the year by Stephen King in Entertainment Weekly, Janet Maslin in The New York Times, and Sarah Weinman in the Los Angeles Times.
Now, in this high-octane prequel, Winslow reaches back in time to tell the story of how Ben, Chon, and O became the people they are. Spanning from 1960s Southern California to the recent past, The Kings of Cool is a breathtakingly original saga of family in all its forms—fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, friends and lovers. As the trio at the center of the book does battle with a cabal of drug dealers and crooked cops, they come to learn that their future is inextricably linked with their parents’ history. A series of breakneck twists and turns puts the two generations on a collision course, culminating in a stunning showdown that will force Ben, Chon, and O to choose between their real families and their loyalty to one another.
Fast-paced, provocative, and wickedly funny, The Kings of Cool is a spellbinding love story for our times from a master novelist at the height of his powers. It is filled with Winslow’s trademark talents—complex characters, sharp dialogue, blistering social commentary—that have earned him an obsessive following. The result is a book that will echo in your mind and heart long after you’ve turned the last page.
Now, in this high-octane prequel, Winslow reaches back in time to tell the story of how Ben, Chon, and O became the people they are. Spanning from 1960s Southern California to the recent past, The Kings of Cool is a breathtakingly original saga of family in all its forms—fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, friends and lovers. As the trio at the center of the book does battle with a cabal of drug dealers and crooked cops, they come to learn that their future is inextricably linked with their parents’ history. A series of breakneck twists and turns puts the two generations on a collision course, culminating in a stunning showdown that will force Ben, Chon, and O to choose between their real families and their loyalty to one another.
Fast-paced, provocative, and wickedly funny, The Kings of Cool is a spellbinding love story for our times from a master novelist at the height of his powers. It is filled with Winslow’s trademark talents—complex characters, sharp dialogue, blistering social commentary—that have earned him an obsessive following. The result is a book that will echo in your mind and heart long after you’ve turned the last page.
336 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 19, 2012
About the author
Don Winslow
93 books6,828 followersDon Winslow is the author of twenty-one acclaimed, award-winning international bestsellers, including the New York Times bestsellers The Force and The Border, the #1 international bestseller The Cartel, The Power of the Dog, Savages, and The Winter of Frankie Machine. Savages was made into a feature film by three-time Oscar-winning writer-director Oliver Stone. The Power of the Dog, The Cartel and The Border sold to FX in a major multimillion-dollar deal to air as a weekly television series beginning in 2020.
A former investigator, antiterrorist trainer and trial consultant, Winslow lives in California and Rhode Island.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
A former investigator, antiterrorist trainer and trial consultant, Winslow lives in California and Rhode Island.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 639 reviews
July 5, 2012
Hey, George Lucas! Now THIS is how you do a prequel!
Don Winslow’s Savages instantly became one of my favorite crime novels, and I was a little worried about him doing another one that takes place before it. Frankly, it seemed like a rush job done to capitalize on the movie version of Savages which comes out tomorrow.
I should have had more faith in Winslow. He has expanded the backgrounds of the characters from Savages and uses their stories to give us an idea of the rise of the drug trade in southern California from the ‘60s through the turn of the century. It turns out that that drug dealers Ben and Chon (A mutated version of John.) and their shared girlfriend O (Short for Ophelia.) had a lot to contend with as they built up their pot growing empire that they were running at the beginning of Savages.
Like that book, Winslow has played with the style and format as well as taking that casual SoCal tone of voice he does so well to extreme lengths including incorporating segments that are written like a screenplay and sometimes using sentence fragments arranged on the page for maximum impact. Instead of a crime novel, this could almost be considered an epic free form poem. With shotguns.
This is that rarest of prequels, one that actually adds depth and story to the original without diluting it. There seems to be some parts of the history that don’t sync well with what we were told before, but the continuity glitches weren’t enough to seriously detract from my enjoyment.
Oh, and there’s a lot of mocking of both hippies and Republicans which made me laugh out loud repeatedly.
Don Winslow’s Savages instantly became one of my favorite crime novels, and I was a little worried about him doing another one that takes place before it. Frankly, it seemed like a rush job done to capitalize on the movie version of Savages which comes out tomorrow.
I should have had more faith in Winslow. He has expanded the backgrounds of the characters from Savages and uses their stories to give us an idea of the rise of the drug trade in southern California from the ‘60s through the turn of the century. It turns out that that drug dealers Ben and Chon (A mutated version of John.) and their shared girlfriend O (Short for Ophelia.) had a lot to contend with as they built up their pot growing empire that they were running at the beginning of Savages.
Like that book, Winslow has played with the style and format as well as taking that casual SoCal tone of voice he does so well to extreme lengths including incorporating segments that are written like a screenplay and sometimes using sentence fragments arranged on the page for maximum impact. Instead of a crime novel, this could almost be considered an epic free form poem. With shotguns.
This is that rarest of prequels, one that actually adds depth and story to the original without diluting it. There seems to be some parts of the history that don’t sync well with what we were told before, but the continuity glitches weren’t enough to seriously detract from my enjoyment.
Oh, and there’s a lot of mocking of both hippies and Republicans which made me laugh out loud repeatedly.
September 21, 2016
I dislike acronyms. They irritate me. We are inundated with them at work, and plagued with them in the news and on social media. This novel is rife with them. Not sure what writing style is being used here, but I couldn't cozy up to it.
On the upside, the characters were drawn quite well. I liked Chon and O, and especially gentle Ben, the one genuinely concerned with karma. A good point is made to not fall into the 'bad habit of having a habit.' Paranoia is noted as a perfectly good survival technique. I liked the references that were made to the Godfather movies.
It was an okay read, but what it really makes me want to do is grab another Hap & Leonard book. I missed the easy familiarity and humor that is so enjoyable with those two. Was hoping for something of that nature here.
On the upside, the characters were drawn quite well. I liked Chon and O, and especially gentle Ben, the one genuinely concerned with karma. A good point is made to not fall into the 'bad habit of having a habit.' Paranoia is noted as a perfectly good survival technique. I liked the references that were made to the Godfather movies.
It was an okay read, but what it really makes me want to do is grab another Hap & Leonard book. I missed the easy familiarity and humor that is so enjoyable with those two. Was hoping for something of that nature here.
July 16, 2013
One of my favorite books of the last several years was Savages, by the incomparable Don Winslow. It was hip, cool, very funny and enormously engrossing. The trio at the heart of the book included three early-twenty-something Southern Californians: Ben and Chon, two life-long friends-turned-drug producers who grew the best weed available, and O, the enormously beautiful and appealing woman who loved both of them. The book was not only a great read, it was a compelling meditation on the nature of friendship, family and love.
Winslow now returns with The Kings of Cool, a prequel to Savages that shows how Ben, Chon and O came to know each other and how they grew into the people they would ultimately become. It is at least as good, if not better, than Savages.
As the book opens, Chon, who is still a Navy Seal, is headed back to Afghanistan. Ben has just received a visit from a mysterious man who wants to cut in on the profitable dope business that Ben and Chon have established. Ben, a pacifist at heart, chooses to deal with this problem in his own way and does not to tell Chon about this threat to their livelihood. He figures that Chon has enough on his plate as it is. Meanwhile, O's mother PAQU (Passive Aggressive Queen of the Universe) is on O's case, insisting that she either get a job or go back to school.
From that point, the book bounces back and forth between the present day and the counter-culture SOCAL of the 1960s. As Ben, Chon and O deal with their respective problems, we meet a group of surfer dudes, hippies and people involved in the early days of the dope business, which at that point, simply involved moving grass into Southern California and selling it.
Over time, of course, the early days of the counter culture will evolve into something entirely different while back in the present day, the threats to Ben, Chon and O will grow increasingly complicated. Winslow weaves his way through these narratives brilliantly and you simply cannot put the book down as one surprise after another unfolds. The writing itself is inventive, as it was in Savages, and ultimately, the book ends way too soon.
I'm not a huge fan of the movie that was made from Savages and I sincerely hope that people who were not all that thrilled with the movie will still give the book a chance;it's a great read, infinitely better than the film, and I can't imagine that anyone who thrilled to the book will not want to read The Kings of Cool as well.
Winslow now returns with The Kings of Cool, a prequel to Savages that shows how Ben, Chon and O came to know each other and how they grew into the people they would ultimately become. It is at least as good, if not better, than Savages.
As the book opens, Chon, who is still a Navy Seal, is headed back to Afghanistan. Ben has just received a visit from a mysterious man who wants to cut in on the profitable dope business that Ben and Chon have established. Ben, a pacifist at heart, chooses to deal with this problem in his own way and does not to tell Chon about this threat to their livelihood. He figures that Chon has enough on his plate as it is. Meanwhile, O's mother PAQU (Passive Aggressive Queen of the Universe) is on O's case, insisting that she either get a job or go back to school.
From that point, the book bounces back and forth between the present day and the counter-culture SOCAL of the 1960s. As Ben, Chon and O deal with their respective problems, we meet a group of surfer dudes, hippies and people involved in the early days of the dope business, which at that point, simply involved moving grass into Southern California and selling it.
Over time, of course, the early days of the counter culture will evolve into something entirely different while back in the present day, the threats to Ben, Chon and O will grow increasingly complicated. Winslow weaves his way through these narratives brilliantly and you simply cannot put the book down as one surprise after another unfolds. The writing itself is inventive, as it was in Savages, and ultimately, the book ends way too soon.
I'm not a huge fan of the movie that was made from Savages and I sincerely hope that people who were not all that thrilled with the movie will still give the book a chance;it's a great read, infinitely better than the film, and I can't imagine that anyone who thrilled to the book will not want to read The Kings of Cool as well.
August 3, 2024
Y otro de Winslow que no me decepciona. Cierto, no voy a ser imparcial, me encanta como escribe este autor.
Me ha gustado mucho conocer no solo los orígenes del trio protagonista del libro salvajes
Valoración: 8/10
Sinopsis: En Salvajes, Don Winslow nos presentaba a Ben y a Chon, dos amigos capaces de arriesgarlo todo para salvar a O[felia], su chica multiorgásmica, a quien aman al extremo. Salvajes fue, sin duda, uno de los thrillers más trepidantes de los últimos años; prueba de ello es que el oscarizado director de cine Oliver Stone no dudó en comprar los derechos y adaptarla al cine.
En Los reyes de lo cool, la precuela de Salvajes , Don Winslow recupera los personajes de aquella novela para reconstruir su pasado, y nos transporta a una California casi mítica en la que somos testigos de los orígenes del tráfico de drogas y sus conexiones con los cárteles de la droga mexicanos.
Estamos en 2005. Ben, Chon y O viven a tope en Laguna Beach, al sur de California. Aparte de disfrutar del sexo, las cervezas y el voleibol, no saben muy bien qué hacer con sus vidas. Hasta el día en que Chon vuelve de permiso de Afganistán con una semilla de Viuda Blanca y la clave de su futuro. La Viuda Blanca es una variedad de cannabis tan exquisita y cargada de THC que es solo cuestión de tiempo que su negocio de cultivo y venta de marihuana florezca. También es solo cuestión de tiempo que empiecen los problemas.
Rápida, provocativa y divertida, Los reyes de lo cool es una fascinante historia de amor de nuestro tiempo surgida de la pluma de un novelista en todo su esplendor. En Los reyes de lo cool Don Winslow hace gala de un talento para los personajes caleidoscópicos, los diálogos agudos y la crítica social que le ha acercado a miles de lectores en todo el mundo. El resultado es un libro que resonará en tu mente mucho después de haberlo acabado.
Me ha gustado mucho conocer no solo los orígenes del trio protagonista del libro salvajes
Valoración: 8/10
Sinopsis: En Salvajes, Don Winslow nos presentaba a Ben y a Chon, dos amigos capaces de arriesgarlo todo para salvar a O[felia], su chica multiorgásmica, a quien aman al extremo. Salvajes fue, sin duda, uno de los thrillers más trepidantes de los últimos años; prueba de ello es que el oscarizado director de cine Oliver Stone no dudó en comprar los derechos y adaptarla al cine.
En Los reyes de lo cool, la precuela de Salvajes , Don Winslow recupera los personajes de aquella novela para reconstruir su pasado, y nos transporta a una California casi mítica en la que somos testigos de los orígenes del tráfico de drogas y sus conexiones con los cárteles de la droga mexicanos.
Estamos en 2005. Ben, Chon y O viven a tope en Laguna Beach, al sur de California. Aparte de disfrutar del sexo, las cervezas y el voleibol, no saben muy bien qué hacer con sus vidas. Hasta el día en que Chon vuelve de permiso de Afganistán con una semilla de Viuda Blanca y la clave de su futuro. La Viuda Blanca es una variedad de cannabis tan exquisita y cargada de THC que es solo cuestión de tiempo que su negocio de cultivo y venta de marihuana florezca. También es solo cuestión de tiempo que empiecen los problemas.
Rápida, provocativa y divertida, Los reyes de lo cool es una fascinante historia de amor de nuestro tiempo surgida de la pluma de un novelista en todo su esplendor. En Los reyes de lo cool Don Winslow hace gala de un talento para los personajes caleidoscópicos, los diálogos agudos y la crítica social que le ha acercado a miles de lectores en todo el mundo. El resultado es un libro que resonará en tu mente mucho después de haberlo acabado.
September 27, 2017
"The truth always come home..."
- Don Winslow, Kings of Cool
I actually preferred Winslow's 'Kings of Cool' to Savages. Both are slick and sexy Southern California crime novels, but KoC (the prequel to Savages) is structurally a more complicated novel. Backstory on the genesis of the Savages/Kings of Cool was interesting and allowed Winslow to explore the rise and changes in Southern California drug culture. And, I know. I know. Steven King LOVED Savages. What's my problem then? It might just be me. I just found both Savages and Kings of Cool to be a little too slick and superficial. It was MTV it wasn't jazz. It hit all the notes and technically hit them well, but I just wasn't changed or altered by the books.
Again, this goes back to judging these books using the knowledge that Winslow CAN write 'The Cartel' and 'The Power of the Dog'. These seem like the product of a skilled crime writer who knows exactly what he's doing, but is mailing it in. Or, perhaps, not mailing it in, but softening the edges and polishing it to a point it is shell with no heart. It seems like a well-designed Apple product. Slick, pretty, sexy even, but... some grit or friction is missing. But again, I find myself over criticizing it because I KNOW the powerful writing Winslow CAN produce. Perhaps, it is my problem and it is an expectation problem. As cotton candy, this stuff is great. As a book that can easily transfer to celluloid, this book is perfect. Hell, Oliver Stone MADE Savages into a movie and the movie made money.
- Don Winslow, Kings of Cool
I actually preferred Winslow's 'Kings of Cool' to Savages. Both are slick and sexy Southern California crime novels, but KoC (the prequel to Savages) is structurally a more complicated novel. Backstory on the genesis of the Savages/Kings of Cool was interesting and allowed Winslow to explore the rise and changes in Southern California drug culture. And, I know. I know. Steven King LOVED Savages. What's my problem then? It might just be me. I just found both Savages and Kings of Cool to be a little too slick and superficial. It was MTV it wasn't jazz. It hit all the notes and technically hit them well, but I just wasn't changed or altered by the books.
Again, this goes back to judging these books using the knowledge that Winslow CAN write 'The Cartel' and 'The Power of the Dog'. These seem like the product of a skilled crime writer who knows exactly what he's doing, but is mailing it in. Or, perhaps, not mailing it in, but softening the edges and polishing it to a point it is shell with no heart. It seems like a well-designed Apple product. Slick, pretty, sexy even, but... some grit or friction is missing. But again, I find myself over criticizing it because I KNOW the powerful writing Winslow CAN produce. Perhaps, it is my problem and it is an expectation problem. As cotton candy, this stuff is great. As a book that can easily transfer to celluloid, this book is perfect. Hell, Oliver Stone MADE Savages into a movie and the movie made money.
July 26, 2016
Honestly, after reading this, I can't believe this book was anywhere near as good as it was. In fact, it was down right awesome.
Savages is a tremendous novel. It was my first exposure to Winslow and I immediately fell for his razor sharp prose. It's just so.. cool. Is that word OK to use or does it make me look uninspired and boring? I don't care. Whatever. That being said, I didn't know what to expect with this prequel. Could this be something Winslow wrote to capitalize on the motion picture adaptation of Savages or did he really have something interesting to say here?
Turns out Winslow had a lot to tell us and at no point did it feel unnecessary.
Traveling back into Southern California during the drug trade in the 1960s, Winslow plants the seeds for the conflict that arises roughly 40 years later following Ben and Chon's entry into growing and selling of some pretty exceptional pot.
He adds depth to the characters we met in Savages. He adds a history and an origin to the friendship - the almost brotherly bond - between Ben and Chon that only makes you appreciate these guys even more. He even lets you in on the ties between Chon and "O" (Ophelia) - with sexy results.
Overall, I was blown away. Not sure I've ever enjoyed a prequel as much in any form. Do yourself a favor and pick this up. Well, if you've read Savages. Go read Savages and then read this. Actually, it is a prequel so you could probably read this first. No, read Savages first.
What?
Savages is a tremendous novel. It was my first exposure to Winslow and I immediately fell for his razor sharp prose. It's just so.. cool. Is that word OK to use or does it make me look uninspired and boring? I don't care. Whatever. That being said, I didn't know what to expect with this prequel. Could this be something Winslow wrote to capitalize on the motion picture adaptation of Savages or did he really have something interesting to say here?
Turns out Winslow had a lot to tell us and at no point did it feel unnecessary.
Traveling back into Southern California during the drug trade in the 1960s, Winslow plants the seeds for the conflict that arises roughly 40 years later following Ben and Chon's entry into growing and selling of some pretty exceptional pot.
He adds depth to the characters we met in Savages. He adds a history and an origin to the friendship - the almost brotherly bond - between Ben and Chon that only makes you appreciate these guys even more. He even lets you in on the ties between Chon and "O" (Ophelia) - with sexy results.
Overall, I was blown away. Not sure I've ever enjoyed a prequel as much in any form. Do yourself a favor and pick this up. Well, if you've read Savages. Go read Savages and then read this. Actually, it is a prequel so you could probably read this first. No, read Savages first.
What?
July 25, 2012
We once again visit the bad-ass trio Ben, Chon and O.
Contained within these pages you'll find sun, surfers, hippies and W.D, standing for war on drugs, wars with drugs and wars and drugs.
Surfers and hippies take you back to the origins of Chon and his family, back to when he wasn't given this oriental sounding name that has nothing to do with his ethnicity but just a funny moment in his life.
There are plenty of humorous moments delivered with sharp dialog and blistering social commentary.
The famous characters Frankie Machine and Booby Z make an appearance in here from Don Winslow's other novels. Bobby Z is featured more in the past than Frankie Machine who is just mentioned briefly.
We visit their becoming men and one first love.
With Chon we visit the sins of his father.
His father has an important role and significance to who he is now, love him or hate him.
We taken back to the bygone days in California where the dealing and using of weed shifted to harder drugs and more dangerous drugs.
We are also taken through Chon's time in the armed forces and his leaving of it.
We learn of how Ben and Chon met.
How O fell in love with Chon
In the present Ben finds himself in a jam with the progressing war on drugs and in a tight spot. This happens while Chon is away in the battlefield but they soon find themselves reunited and Ben in need of Chon's help.
The whole cartel is under a watchful eye and when push comes to shove scarifies need to be made in California.
This story never let up for me in pace and the characters were large in character.
The sentences where slick and straight to the point, all this trademarks left in this novel and Savages cements Don Winslow further in the literary hall of fame as a no-nonsense blistering writer of modern day noir.
With the movie adaptation of Savages coming out in the summer of 2012, Ben Chon and O is going to be a household name and great time in the authors career.
Once you've read this if you haven't already read Savages by Don Winslow rush out buy it and read it, a must!
This one will definitely be on my list of best released in 2012!
Simon and Schuster bring it on!
There are many great stories coming out of their publishing house.
A thrill ride full-loaded with humor, drugs, love, family and wars.
Reads with sharp dialog and sentences that keep you hanging over the last word with page turning awesomeness and smartness.
"Okay with Chon.
But he knows
The past isn't the past.
It's always with us.
In our history.
Our minds, our blood."
"And who is this guy?
Whoever he is, he gave Ben one of those old-school stares until Ben actually had to laugh.
OGR stood up and said,"You Mouth*****s think you're the kings of cool, right? You know everything, no one can tell you anything? Well, let me tell you something-you don't know shit."
OGR gave Ben one more Bobby Badass look and then walked out.
The kings of cool. Ben thought.
He kind of liked it.
Now he turns his attention back to the game."
"It's an age-old debate, not be rehashed here, but basically-Ben believes that to answer violence with violence only begets more violence, while Chon believes that to answer violence with nonviolence only begets more violence, his evidence being the entire history of humanity.
Oddly enough, they both believe in karma- what goes around comes around-except with Chon it comes around in a freaking hurry and usually with ill intent.
What Chon calls "microwave karma."
Together, Ben and Chon make up a collective pacifist.
Ben is the paci
Chon is the fist."
"Now you have Republican Orange County's baddest nightmare-the worst antisocial elements (surfers and hippies) gathered on one combination plate in a demonic, drug-induced love fest.
And planning to institutionalize it, because..."
For Savages Movie trailer, this review and Don Winslow profile video visit my web-page http://more2read.com/review/the-kings-of-cool-by-don-winslow/
May 12, 2020
"The Kings of Cool" is an amazing tour-de-force. It is an absolute blast to read and your immediate reaction after finishing this book is to scope out whatever else this author has published. "Kings of Cool" is billed as a prequel to "Savages," Winslow's most well-known book. There is no reason not to read this one first - I did.
It is a full-length novel with a broad sweep of recent social history. The storyline darts back and forth between the hippies and surfers of Laguna Beach in the sixties and their offspring now grown up in the mid-2000's.
On the way, the reader is taken on a ride through the flower children world of the sixties and their living in caves and panhandling and free love which then descends into disillusionment as it enters the seventies and, instead of a free taco for everyone, it was now a world of who could bank the most cash and fill their garage with the sexiest Sportscars. First marijuana and then coke fuels these excesses.
The characters are fleshed out perfectly from the pseudo hippie couple running a bookstore and then becoming therapists after living through their own marital troubles to the trailer park girl waiting tables until she can appear at a debutante ball and cash in on her looks. Then there's the kid who serves multiple tours of duty in Afghanistan and the girl who wants to meet her father, that is, if mom has a clue who he is.
yes, this is about drug dealers and drug wars and informers and snitches, but there is just so much more here, so much more of modern cultural history.
There are over three hundred chapters, some very very short. Some of it is straight ahead action sequences, but there is also lots of stream of consciousness. Despite all that, it is not a difficult read and hard as hell to put down.
It is a full-length novel with a broad sweep of recent social history. The storyline darts back and forth between the hippies and surfers of Laguna Beach in the sixties and their offspring now grown up in the mid-2000's.
On the way, the reader is taken on a ride through the flower children world of the sixties and their living in caves and panhandling and free love which then descends into disillusionment as it enters the seventies and, instead of a free taco for everyone, it was now a world of who could bank the most cash and fill their garage with the sexiest Sportscars. First marijuana and then coke fuels these excesses.
The characters are fleshed out perfectly from the pseudo hippie couple running a bookstore and then becoming therapists after living through their own marital troubles to the trailer park girl waiting tables until she can appear at a debutante ball and cash in on her looks. Then there's the kid who serves multiple tours of duty in Afghanistan and the girl who wants to meet her father, that is, if mom has a clue who he is.
yes, this is about drug dealers and drug wars and informers and snitches, but there is just so much more here, so much more of modern cultural history.
There are over three hundred chapters, some very very short. Some of it is straight ahead action sequences, but there is also lots of stream of consciousness. Despite all that, it is not a difficult read and hard as hell to put down.
August 2, 2018
this book taught me so many things (not only how to grow weed lol) and i love that. i don't usually learn anything from a fiction novel so this is great. don winslow can write anything with Chon, Ben and O. and i'll buy it.
these characters are my all time favorites. I can relate so much to Ophelia, it even scares me a little.
oh, and this is not a review... just some things i wanted to say. sorry.
these characters are my all time favorites. I can relate so much to Ophelia, it even scares me a little.
oh, and this is not a review... just some things i wanted to say. sorry.
April 19, 2021
As others have noted, the prequel to Savages is better than its predecessor. The story jumps back and forth between the early 2000s to the 1960s-90s of Laguna Beach, exploring the history of the drug trade in south Orange County and its ties to the surfing and hippie communities. Winslow's slick prose, whipped to an uber-cool magnitude here, is always fun to read and his story and characters are inspired by first hand research on some of the main players and events in the era portrayed. Those who have read Winslow's other books will enjoy appearances by Bobby Z (The Death and Life of Bobby Z) and Frankie Machine The Winter of Frankie Machine) from the southern California Winslowverse.
September 24, 2020
Figli di un Winslow minore
Al di fuori dell’eccellente trilogia “Power of the Dog” (“Il Potere del cane”, Il Cartello” e “Il Confine”) che rappresenta il vertice della sua produzione e (per me) del genere poliziesco/thriller contemporaneo, Winslow porta avanti altri progetti in cui pare non riesca a trovare un livello di ispirazione adeguato.
Gli ingredienti sono simili e l’ambientazione resta ancorata ai confini fra California e Messico, luoghi in cui peraltro l’autore risiede (a San Diego) e che conosce molto bene, nella topografia delle località e nella storia recente di questa regione: una territorio di grande bellezza naturale ma tormentato e penalizzato dal trovarsi nell’epicentro e nello snodo dell’attività di generazioni di narcotrafficanti.
Ma in romanzi come questo “I re del mondo” sembra che l’autore, alla costruzione di un racconto compatto e suggestivo con personaggi disegnati a tutto tondo, preferisca dedicarsi a sfoggiare le sue conoscenze sull’evoluzione (involuzione, di fatto) dei costumi della California del sud, terra di sole e mare, paradiso di artisti, hippies e surfisti oggi precipitata nel grumo di violenza e corruzione che ormai conosciamo se non altro per gli innumerevoli film, serie tv, romanzi che vi sono stati ambientati.
A rincarare la dose, l’autore ha scelto di articolare la narrazione, tramite lunghi flashback, nell’arco temporale di un quarantennio andando quindi ad esplorare, con dovizia di dettagli e annotazioni, anche gli albori dell’ideologia hippie, le utopie e le speranze riposte dalla generazione cresciuta nei sixties e qua confluita seguendo l’ammaliante aroma della marijuana migliore al mondo.
Tale prolungato spazio temporale genera (o forse è stato ideato proprio per generare…) un profluvio di riconoscimenti di genitorialità (figli abbandonati, figli naturali, padri fuggiti e ritornati, padri creduti morti, madri snaturate e tutta la restante gamma di possibilità) che Winslow governa malamente risultando a dir poco eccessivo il fatto che alla fine tutti, proprio tutti, si scoprano figli o genitori di qualche altro personaggio, ai limiti della parodia e al punto di sospendere ogni possibile plausibilità al racconto.
Quanto allo stile di questo romanzo, basti solo il dato che vede racchiudere 306 capitoli in circa 350 pagine per immaginarne l’andatura a spot e flash… (direi come un fumetto, pur consapevole che per qualche lettore questo può costituire un valore aggiunto anziché un limite…)
Comunque, si legge…
Al di fuori dell’eccellente trilogia “Power of the Dog” (“Il Potere del cane”, Il Cartello” e “Il Confine”) che rappresenta il vertice della sua produzione e (per me) del genere poliziesco/thriller contemporaneo, Winslow porta avanti altri progetti in cui pare non riesca a trovare un livello di ispirazione adeguato.
Gli ingredienti sono simili e l’ambientazione resta ancorata ai confini fra California e Messico, luoghi in cui peraltro l’autore risiede (a San Diego) e che conosce molto bene, nella topografia delle località e nella storia recente di questa regione: una territorio di grande bellezza naturale ma tormentato e penalizzato dal trovarsi nell’epicentro e nello snodo dell’attività di generazioni di narcotrafficanti.
Ma in romanzi come questo “I re del mondo” sembra che l’autore, alla costruzione di un racconto compatto e suggestivo con personaggi disegnati a tutto tondo, preferisca dedicarsi a sfoggiare le sue conoscenze sull’evoluzione (involuzione, di fatto) dei costumi della California del sud, terra di sole e mare, paradiso di artisti, hippies e surfisti oggi precipitata nel grumo di violenza e corruzione che ormai conosciamo se non altro per gli innumerevoli film, serie tv, romanzi che vi sono stati ambientati.
A rincarare la dose, l’autore ha scelto di articolare la narrazione, tramite lunghi flashback, nell’arco temporale di un quarantennio andando quindi ad esplorare, con dovizia di dettagli e annotazioni, anche gli albori dell’ideologia hippie, le utopie e le speranze riposte dalla generazione cresciuta nei sixties e qua confluita seguendo l’ammaliante aroma della marijuana migliore al mondo.
Tale prolungato spazio temporale genera (o forse è stato ideato proprio per generare…) un profluvio di riconoscimenti di genitorialità (figli abbandonati, figli naturali, padri fuggiti e ritornati, padri creduti morti, madri snaturate e tutta la restante gamma di possibilità) che Winslow governa malamente risultando a dir poco eccessivo il fatto che alla fine tutti, proprio tutti, si scoprano figli o genitori di qualche altro personaggio, ai limiti della parodia e al punto di sospendere ogni possibile plausibilità al racconto.
Quanto allo stile di questo romanzo, basti solo il dato che vede racchiudere 306 capitoli in circa 350 pagine per immaginarne l’andatura a spot e flash… (direi come un fumetto, pur consapevole che per qualche lettore questo può costituire un valore aggiunto anziché un limite…)
Comunque, si legge…
March 16, 2013
Winslow’s Bruen-like delivery of Ben, Chon, and O’s story prior to SAVAGES is sparse, lean, and subtle yet not without substance. It’s a style that leads the reader deep into their own imagination while still populating the written landscape with enough direction and keynotes to maintain a consistent yet vividly well rendered train of thought. Spanning past and present crimes, THE KINGS OF COOL encompasses the lives of Ben, Chon and O in a beautiful interlocking plot that not only binds their friendship but unearths their family lineage and path towards their present day involvement in the drug business.
This one has a bit of everything in it. From O’s love and hero-worship of Chon, drug wars, shady cops, to family drama and close encounters with death. The exploration of the Southern California drug trade through the 60’s to early 2000’s paints a culture of violence handed down by generation starting from some unlikely sources. Ben emerges as a serious player despite an adversity to violence, while on the other hand, Chon rules the streets with an iron first – but what happens when that fists lands square in the face of someone he least expected?
The dialogue is witty and humorous, reminiscent of Elmore Leonard at his best. It’s instantly readable and at once addictive. Fans of Winslow will appreciate the flashback sequences where characters Frankie Machine and Bobby Z make cameo appearances. THE KINGS OF COOL goes a long way to establishing interconnectivity with other Winslow titles – now I have to go back and re-read them all, first up SAVAGES.
An extended look at the characters of Ben, Chon, and O through SAVAGES and the movie adaptation is posted on my blog: http://justaguythatlikes2read.blogspo...
This one has a bit of everything in it. From O’s love and hero-worship of Chon, drug wars, shady cops, to family drama and close encounters with death. The exploration of the Southern California drug trade through the 60’s to early 2000’s paints a culture of violence handed down by generation starting from some unlikely sources. Ben emerges as a serious player despite an adversity to violence, while on the other hand, Chon rules the streets with an iron first – but what happens when that fists lands square in the face of someone he least expected?
The dialogue is witty and humorous, reminiscent of Elmore Leonard at his best. It’s instantly readable and at once addictive. Fans of Winslow will appreciate the flashback sequences where characters Frankie Machine and Bobby Z make cameo appearances. THE KINGS OF COOL goes a long way to establishing interconnectivity with other Winslow titles – now I have to go back and re-read them all, first up SAVAGES.
An extended look at the characters of Ben, Chon, and O through SAVAGES and the movie adaptation is posted on my blog: http://justaguythatlikes2read.blogspo...
July 25, 2016
Show of hands: how many of you thought we really, really needed a prequel to
Savages
? Yeah, me neither. Don Winslow obviously did, and here it is, carrying with it both the good and the bad from the original along with its own virtues and vices.
This is actually two stories mashed together. One is a slice of Ben's, Chon's and O's earlier careers, before they were the kings of the Laguna Beach artisanal pot world. The other is an origins story -- not for our trio of future savages (except in a very abstract way) but instead the saga of the organized drug trade's birth on the SoCal coast. These interwoven stories could, with some fleshing out, stand on their own, which could ultimately have been a better choice for readers and author alike.
This is because the origins story is by far the more interesting, both to read and (evidently) to write. The author imbues his motley collection of 1960s/1970s Laguna Beach surfers and hippies ("The Association") with the kind of humanity that we've come to expect from later Winslow. We watch as the ramshackle supply and distribution networks -- surfers dragging bales of pot north from Mexican surf safaris, street kids hustling joints taped to the bottoms of their skateboards -- become larger, more professional, and more dangerous to interlopers. We see the mellow vibe of pot trafficking turn paranoid and mean when it switches to coke during the Reagan years, and watch the so-called War on Drugs, like Prohibition before it, encourage rather than stop crime, especially the hard-core, organized variety. Surfer/dealers swap their Woodies for Lamborghinis, and suddenly we've moved from Jan and Dean to The Eagles to Glenn Frey and Miami Vice, West Coast edition. The atmosphere is just so, the dialog right on. This is the good part -- I wish there was more of it.
The Ben/Chon/O part seems, in a way, pro forma compared to the backstory. They're not significantly different from their personas in Savages (which, by the way, I liked a bit), and their problems are much the same here as there. Their character arcs don't move much. O, in particular, remains more a fantasy than a real live girl. The backstory tells us about their wayward parents and the various random couplings that produced these three, but did we really need to know that? Does it change anything?
The things that made Savages stand out are present here, too -- the attitude, the language, the way the text breaks into blank verse or screenplay format, the two-word chapters, the sheer speed. It reads like a rocket sled; I finished it in one evening.
The Kings of Cool may have been a device to hook readers into the story the author really wanted to tell by tying it to the success of Savages. , he had to go for a prequel. Too bad. I'd have given this four stars had it been the fully developed, standalone origins of The Association; the dispensable prequel story drags it down to three.
This is actually two stories mashed together. One is a slice of Ben's, Chon's and O's earlier careers, before they were the kings of the Laguna Beach artisanal pot world. The other is an origins story -- not for our trio of future savages (except in a very abstract way) but instead the saga of the organized drug trade's birth on the SoCal coast. These interwoven stories could, with some fleshing out, stand on their own, which could ultimately have been a better choice for readers and author alike.
This is because the origins story is by far the more interesting, both to read and (evidently) to write. The author imbues his motley collection of 1960s/1970s Laguna Beach surfers and hippies ("The Association") with the kind of humanity that we've come to expect from later Winslow. We watch as the ramshackle supply and distribution networks -- surfers dragging bales of pot north from Mexican surf safaris, street kids hustling joints taped to the bottoms of their skateboards -- become larger, more professional, and more dangerous to interlopers. We see the mellow vibe of pot trafficking turn paranoid and mean when it switches to coke during the Reagan years, and watch the so-called War on Drugs, like Prohibition before it, encourage rather than stop crime, especially the hard-core, organized variety. Surfer/dealers swap their Woodies for Lamborghinis, and suddenly we've moved from Jan and Dean to The Eagles to Glenn Frey and Miami Vice, West Coast edition. The atmosphere is just so, the dialog right on. This is the good part -- I wish there was more of it.
The Ben/Chon/O part seems, in a way, pro forma compared to the backstory. They're not significantly different from their personas in Savages (which, by the way, I liked a bit), and their problems are much the same here as there. Their character arcs don't move much. O, in particular, remains more a fantasy than a real live girl. The backstory tells us about their wayward parents and the various random couplings that produced these three, but did we really need to know that? Does it change anything?
The things that made Savages stand out are present here, too -- the attitude, the language, the way the text breaks into blank verse or screenplay format, the two-word chapters, the sheer speed. It reads like a rocket sled; I finished it in one evening.
The Kings of Cool may have been a device to hook readers into the story the author really wanted to tell by tying it to the success of Savages. , he had to go for a prequel. Too bad. I'd have given this four stars had it been the fully developed, standalone origins of The Association; the dispensable prequel story drags it down to three.
July 22, 2014
I'm reviewing Winslow's Savages and the prequel, Kings of Cool, as one entity since I read the novels consecutively and separate reviews seem excessive. Also, both earn three stars, maybe three and a half, as I'd probably read more Winslow but I'm not pushing elderly women and jogger-stroller moms aside in a barefoot sprint toward the local library to snag more of his books.
Both novels read quick, noir, and pulp-y, mostly in a good way. Each contains about twelve thousand chapters but some contain as few as two words along with prodigious blank space. Winslow's strengths emerge around a three-headed protagonist in the form of Ben, Chon, and O's non-traditional but fiercely loyal relationship. Ben and Chon loosely represent reason vs. instinct, respectively, with O providing an id bridge/release for both. They sell high-quality pot and embrace a system in which, ideally, the trio could thrive financially without interference but, in both books, other dealers want their product and territory. The whip-quick dialogue and dizzying storylines reminded me of a Tarantino movie in which the characters jigsaw-puzzle toward the shootout climaxes. I struggled to keep people straight, especially the cops and Association dealers, as they started to sound the same, especially in Kings of Cool, and I found myself paging back through the text to make sure I understood the implications. Savages is the superior of the pair because Kings of Cool pivoted on a few dues ex machina connections that stretched the narrative perhaps a bit too far. Also, O's Kings of Cool scenes seem to exist only because Winslow couldn't leave O alone in a bedroom or whatever for the entire novel. But put those minor concerns aside and have fun. Both novels read smart and tight, and I devoured them fast because I wanted to see what happened at the end. Worth a read when you're in the mood.
Both novels read quick, noir, and pulp-y, mostly in a good way. Each contains about twelve thousand chapters but some contain as few as two words along with prodigious blank space. Winslow's strengths emerge around a three-headed protagonist in the form of Ben, Chon, and O's non-traditional but fiercely loyal relationship. Ben and Chon loosely represent reason vs. instinct, respectively, with O providing an id bridge/release for both. They sell high-quality pot and embrace a system in which, ideally, the trio could thrive financially without interference but, in both books, other dealers want their product and territory. The whip-quick dialogue and dizzying storylines reminded me of a Tarantino movie in which the characters jigsaw-puzzle toward the shootout climaxes. I struggled to keep people straight, especially the cops and Association dealers, as they started to sound the same, especially in Kings of Cool, and I found myself paging back through the text to make sure I understood the implications. Savages is the superior of the pair because Kings of Cool pivoted on a few dues ex machina connections that stretched the narrative perhaps a bit too far. Also, O's Kings of Cool scenes seem to exist only because Winslow couldn't leave O alone in a bedroom or whatever for the entire novel. But put those minor concerns aside and have fun. Both novels read smart and tight, and I devoured them fast because I wanted to see what happened at the end. Worth a read when you're in the mood.
July 20, 2020
The usual 5-star platinum quality that comes standard with most of Winslow's books.
Despite having read Savages and knowing who features in that storyline, this is definitely an awesome prequel. It fleshed out the backgrounds of the 3 mains plus some of the supporting characters.
I am not usually a fan of prequels but this was just a treat.
Despite having read Savages and knowing who features in that storyline, this is definitely an awesome prequel. It fleshed out the backgrounds of the 3 mains plus some of the supporting characters.
I am not usually a fan of prequels but this was just a treat.
May 30, 2020
The Kings of Cool Don Winslow
Don Winslow’s dynamite prequel to the explosive “Savages” manages to be both funny and scary with dialogue so sharp you could cut a line of coke with it.
Don Winslow’s dynamite prequel to the explosive “Savages” manages to be both funny and scary with dialogue so sharp you could cut a line of coke with it.
With its present-tense verbs, high-octane cinematic scenes, and bite-sized chapters, the writing is as vivid as a lightning storm. The year is 2005, and we meet the younger versions of the inseparable best buds: Laguna Beach nice guy drug dealers Chon and John and their platonic best girl, O, short for Ophelia. (Think Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and schoolteacher Etta Place).
Winslow makes us root for these rootless and criminal characters. But hold on: it’s gets better. The book cuts to the late 1960's and the early 1980's, and we zip from the laid back days of dealing weed to the dark nights and dangers of selling coke. We also “meet the parents” of our heroes, though paternity is sketchy when young hippies are exercising free love in a cave.
Sure, there’s violence, but it’s the wry humor that will keep you engaged. Elmore Leonard would have loved both the title and the book. (I’m thinking that Winslow is paying homage to Leonard’s 1999 Chili Palmer novel, “Be Cool.”)
My advice: read “Savages,” Savagesif you missed it, and “The Kings of Cool.” You’ll be hipper for it.
October 14, 2021
El que haya leído los libros más conocidos de Don Winslow, este "reyes de lo cool" le parecerá una obra menor. Y así lo creo yo también. La precuela de "Savages", con los tres fantásticos, es un entretenimiento de serie Z.
Pero ojo, que no por éso es un mal libro. No. Simplemente no tiene la carga de profundidad y complejidad de sus obras maestras.
Este libro tiene un ritmo vertiginoso, una trama bien tejida, con flashbacks temporales que convergen al final y unos personajes muy logrados. Pero sigue siendo serie Z, de la buena, con unos protagonistas exageradamente perfectos que sabes que van a salir de las enormes dificultades que les pone el autor, tan campantes. Me recuerda algo a los libros que Boris Vian escribía como Vernon Sullivan. Y es que el que sabe escribir, lo sabe hacer en todos los registros. A todos nos gusta comer en un restaurante de tres estrellas michelín, pero yo no le hago ascos a un buen bocadillo casero del bar de la esquina.
También hay cabida, como no, para la crítica política, y una revisión de cómo se pasó en California de lo hippie, a la marihuana y finalmente a la coca.
Así que si quieres sumergirte en un tinglado familiar tipo Falcon Crest, pero con drogas, en vez de viñedos, éste es tu libro.
Y por hoy ya está bien. Que mi vecino me ha traído unas hierbas aromáticas de su pueblo para echar en la comida, y están las almejas a la marinera dando palmas.
Pero ojo, que no por éso es un mal libro. No. Simplemente no tiene la carga de profundidad y complejidad de sus obras maestras.
Este libro tiene un ritmo vertiginoso, una trama bien tejida, con flashbacks temporales que convergen al final y unos personajes muy logrados. Pero sigue siendo serie Z, de la buena, con unos protagonistas exageradamente perfectos que sabes que van a salir de las enormes dificultades que les pone el autor, tan campantes. Me recuerda algo a los libros que Boris Vian escribía como Vernon Sullivan. Y es que el que sabe escribir, lo sabe hacer en todos los registros. A todos nos gusta comer en un restaurante de tres estrellas michelín, pero yo no le hago ascos a un buen bocadillo casero del bar de la esquina.
También hay cabida, como no, para la crítica política, y una revisión de cómo se pasó en California de lo hippie, a la marihuana y finalmente a la coca.
Así que si quieres sumergirte en un tinglado familiar tipo Falcon Crest, pero con drogas, en vez de viñedos, éste es tu libro.
Y por hoy ya está bien. Que mi vecino me ha traído unas hierbas aromáticas de su pueblo para echar en la comida, y están las almejas a la marinera dando palmas.
July 3, 2023
Wanneer een boek succes heeft bij je leespubliek, maar het verhaal zodanig is dat een vervolg bijna onmogelijk is, wel dan schrijf je gewoon toch een prequel.
Dat is wat Winslow gedaan heeft : The Kings of Cool vertelt de voorgeschiedenis van de protagonisten uit Savages.
Dat is wat Winslow gedaan heeft : The Kings of Cool vertelt de voorgeschiedenis van de protagonisten uit Savages.
July 27, 2012
Wow! I read this book in two days. I just could not put it down. It’s definitely my idea of a page turner. In the crime/mystery/thriller genre this is one of my favorites. Be forewarned there’s lots of sex, drugs and violence. I haven’t read Savages yet but I’ll go buy it this afternoon. The author doesn’t seem to want to use any words that aren’t necessary. Many passages are in single words or short phrases. Chapters can start or end in the middle of a thought or even in the middle of a sentence. Chapters can be a couple of lines or, in one case, a single word. Some passages are written like lines of poetry and others are written in the form of a screen play (all ready for Hollywood). It’s very important to pay attention. The chapters jump between story lines, places and decades. All the characters reappear and are a little hard to keep track of. The story is very clever, cynical, sarcastic, very hip and often funny. Maybe I shouldn’t give it 5 stars because it isn’t great literature but, for me, it was very entertaining.
October 3, 2013
Let me preface this review by stating that I haven't read or seen the film The Savages or anything else by Don Wilson. That being said this prequel starring a trio of drug dealing characters was vaguely interesting. The story jumped around a bit through time, which was okay, but what really drove me batty
was its style; chopped
sentences
and poetry like
with some
randomly
It actually detracted from the book and I felt there was no good reason for it. Maybe he writes all his books this way, I don't know, but for me it served absolutely no purpose. Overall this book was average at best and I have no further interest in reading any of Winslow's other books if they are anything like this bland read.
was its style; chopped
sentences
and poetry like
paragraphs
with some
SCREENPLAY FORMAT
randomly
thrown in.
It actually detracted from the book and I felt there was no good reason for it. Maybe he writes all his books this way, I don't know, but for me it served absolutely no purpose. Overall this book was average at best and I have no further interest in reading any of Winslow's other books if they are anything like this bland read.
September 2, 2016
Extremely fragmented. The jump to time period to time period confusing. Felt like an overly long prologue than a prequel. I am wondering if you needed to read Savages first in order to fully understand it, in which case, it should be book 2 not book 2
September 9, 2017
4.5/5. This book was awesome - a smart, sharp, badass page-turner that never felt cheap. I was surprised by how much I liked Savages when I read it a couple summers ago and this book cemented that I need to immediately read all of Don Winslow's work. He really is the king of cool.
June 28, 2012
SAVAGES was one of my favorite books of the last 10 years. This is a prequel, and it is fantastic. It is a crime novel told like a lyric poem in many parts. Don Winslow is amazing.
April 5, 2019
One of my many reasons for hating Savages was the idyllic nature of the relationship between the protagonists Ben, Chon and O (short for Ophelia). There was absolutely nothing in that book to justify why the men would take that many risks for O who seemed nothing more than their common fuck buddy. So I mainly read its prequel The Kings of Cool to see if Winslow can somehow ensure the internal dynamics between the three of them make any sense. It succeeds to a certain extent really deepening the bond between Ben and Chon but O if anything seems even more superfluous to them.
The writing enraged me in Savages and continues to do so here. There are 300+ chapters and their average length is two pages with a lot of them being less than a page long. Every now and then one of them is written in form of a screenplay, while others resemble an entry from a dictionary!
After reading the second book written in this vein, I am pretty sure this is not just a questionable stylistic choice but it is pretty much bad writing. It is disjointed in the worst way possible with chapters often cutting off at weird places mid conversation and the perspective shifting. The too cool for school style could work in short doses but a whole book of it is like listening to a drunk nihilistic teenager for hours. There are some excellent digs against all forms of authority but they are lost in what is essentially a meandering rant.
The ambitious plot works in spite of the writing. It captures the devil may care attitude of the hedonistic hippie culture and gives what feels like an authentic account of how the drug trade became the growth industry on the beaches of California. There are two timelines, one tracing the rise of Ben and Chon's drug empire and another one set in the sixties that focuses on their parents.
Winslow writes about people's worst excesses and qualities quite well but he ruins his themes by often giving his protagonists a forced redemptive ending. I liked the sixties timeline much more because he doesn't do anything like that with those characters. Their edges are not softened and mistakes not glossed over like he did with Ben and Chon in Savages.
Savages had one of the worst and most melodramatic of endings that I have ever read in a gritty crime book. The Kings of Cool ends on a much more satisfying note. It works as a prequel by adding depth to most of Savage's characters except O. So better characters and better ending will translate to a better rating though the writing still irritates me. Rating - 3/5
PS. My review for Savages https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The writing enraged me in Savages and continues to do so here. There are 300+ chapters and their average length is two pages with a lot of them being less than a page long. Every now and then one of them is written in form of a screenplay, while others resemble an entry from a dictionary!
After reading the second book written in this vein, I am pretty sure this is not just a questionable stylistic choice but it is pretty much bad writing. It is disjointed in the worst way possible with chapters often cutting off at weird places mid conversation and the perspective shifting. The too cool for school style could work in short doses but a whole book of it is like listening to a drunk nihilistic teenager for hours. There are some excellent digs against all forms of authority but they are lost in what is essentially a meandering rant.
The ambitious plot works in spite of the writing. It captures the devil may care attitude of the hedonistic hippie culture and gives what feels like an authentic account of how the drug trade became the growth industry on the beaches of California. There are two timelines, one tracing the rise of Ben and Chon's drug empire and another one set in the sixties that focuses on their parents.
Winslow writes about people's worst excesses and qualities quite well but he ruins his themes by often giving his protagonists a forced redemptive ending. I liked the sixties timeline much more because he doesn't do anything like that with those characters. Their edges are not softened and mistakes not glossed over like he did with Ben and Chon in Savages.
Savages had one of the worst and most melodramatic of endings that I have ever read in a gritty crime book. The Kings of Cool ends on a much more satisfying note. It works as a prequel by adding depth to most of Savage's characters except O. So better characters and better ending will translate to a better rating though the writing still irritates me. Rating - 3/5
PS. My review for Savages https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
April 22, 2019
I think this book is aptly named because it oozes cool. Ok- now that I got that off my chest.
Don Winslow wrote his masterpiece of a prequel to Savages. O, Chon, and Ben are an inseparable trio, something we learned in Savages. Any details I thought were missing from Savages, exists in this book. These two need to go together because any place that Savages fell short, Kings of Cool filled it in.
Kings of Cool is the story of how O, Chon, and Ben came to be. From how their parents met each other, to how they met each other. There are two stories going on in this book, the one that takes place in the 70s and the one that takes place in the 2000s. They complement each other well, and the back story of these guys is fascinating. The way that these characters are all so interwoven becomes clear as you untangle all the questions that you find in the pages.
This book blew me away and would recommend it to anyone whos looking for a different kind of thrill. Because it truly is thrilling, just not in anyway you would expect.
Don Winslow wrote his masterpiece of a prequel to Savages. O, Chon, and Ben are an inseparable trio, something we learned in Savages. Any details I thought were missing from Savages, exists in this book. These two need to go together because any place that Savages fell short, Kings of Cool filled it in.
Kings of Cool is the story of how O, Chon, and Ben came to be. From how their parents met each other, to how they met each other. There are two stories going on in this book, the one that takes place in the 70s and the one that takes place in the 2000s. They complement each other well, and the back story of these guys is fascinating. The way that these characters are all so interwoven becomes clear as you untangle all the questions that you find in the pages.
This book blew me away and would recommend it to anyone whos looking for a different kind of thrill. Because it truly is thrilling, just not in anyway you would expect.
December 3, 2019
What a great book! Maybe as good as Savages, I don't know. It's hard to be objectif when it comes to O Chon and Ben.
It was really interesting to know the story behind Savages, where everything began and how.
The plot was powerful and successful. Until the end the suspense was there and what a revelation when you begin to understand that everything and everyone are connected to each other.
There was only two things missing for me:
- The story behind Chon and Ben = How they have meet? When? Why?
- And how they become a threesome? When how O decided to fuck Ben too? What Chon thought about it ?
(- maybe an other threesome sex scene haha).
So yes, there is enough material left to write a second prequel, because some questions are far away from answered when we start to read "Savages".
This quote : "Sad fact of Life - Smart people sometimes get stupid, but stupid people never get smart. Never. Ever." (p. 19)"
I think I found a mistake page 169 : "In front of my apartment? Where I live? (Where my wife sleeps and my children play with their toys?)" = which is wrong because Ben isn't married and does not have kids. So wtf?
It was really interesting to know the story behind Savages, where everything began and how.
The plot was powerful and successful. Until the end the suspense was there and what a revelation when you begin to understand that everything and everyone are connected to each other.
There was only two things missing for me:
- The story behind Chon and Ben = How they have meet? When? Why?
- And how they become a threesome? When how O decided to fuck Ben too? What Chon thought about it ?
(- maybe an other threesome sex scene haha).
So yes, there is enough material left to write a second prequel, because some questions are far away from answered when we start to read "Savages".
This quote : "Sad fact of Life - Smart people sometimes get stupid, but stupid people never get smart. Never. Ever." (p. 19)"
I think I found a mistake page 169 : "In front of my apartment? Where I live? (Where my wife sleeps and my children play with their toys?)" = which is wrong because Ben isn't married and does not have kids. So wtf?
December 25, 2017
This is the prequel to Savages and while not quite as powerful this was still a very good look at the California drug trade. I loved the writing style of both books, the humor, and thought the narration of the audio by Holter Graham was quite good.
August 17, 2021
Quirky is a very good way. I love Don Winslow
October 23, 2012
Returning to his biggest success in years, “Savages”, Don Winslow makes the trip backwards from that book to tell the story of how Ben, Chon and O got together in the first place, how they began their business, and a history of the Southern California (SoCal) drug trade starting in the 60s and which inexplicably involves all of their parents.
While I’m excited whenever Winslow puts out a new novel, I was surprised to see he had written a prequel to “Savages” rather than a sequel. What needed to be established prior to that novel? It seemed fairly contained. Having now read it, I’m again struck with the question – why? And then another thought appeared: he’s run out of ideas.
“The Kings of Cool” is basically a greatest hits summary of Winslow’s writing career. The drugs trade in SoCal has been covered in his far better novel “The Power of the Dog”; the surfer elements in the book have been written about in “The Gentlemen’s Hour” and “The Dawn Patrol”; there are cameos by both Frank Machianno (from “The Winter of Frankie Machine”) and Bobby Z (from “The Death and Life of Bobby Z”); and the protagonists are from “Savages”.
Nobody writes SoCal fiction better than Winslow – he’s got the drugs scene from the latter half of the 20th century down cold and he’s a surfer himself so he gets that culture – but doing it again in “The Kings of Cool” feels uninspired and pointless. Why go backwards? Why not write a sequel to “Savages” and go into territory he hasn’t written about before – the drugs trade and the War on Drugs in 2012? It feels cowardly and lazy to fall back on material he knows about well because he’s spent years writing that same material over and over again, only to rehash (pun intended) it again in a “new” novel. Not to mention cynical as “Savages” sold well and was turned into a film – he’s probably hoping that success carries over onto this book too so he can get more Hollywood dough.
Like “Savages”, the writing style is frenetic and imaginative, some “chapters” are a few words long (there are almost as many pages as there are chapters) with some chapters taking the form of poetry or appearing across the page in arbitrary places; some scenes are presented as if lifted from a shooting script. It makes for a fast read and I do appreciate when an author tries – and succeeds - at combining style with story, even if you have heard the story before.
I liked “The Kings of Cool”, it was enjoyable for the most part even if I thought that reading about Ben, Chon and O’s parents’ lives was pointless. The story is a bit weak in places, it’s basically about hippies slowly becoming more involved in drug dealing – it isn’t nearly as thrilling as “Savages” where there were warring cartels and a hostage plot. Plus you know Ben, Chon and O make it through any obstacles in this book because this is a prequel and they’re alive and well in the next book so there’s no real tension. If you want to read a book about the SoCal drugs scene in the 1960s onwards, give this a go, though I recommend Winslow’s more accomplished novel “The Power of the Dog” which is about the same thing. Overall I feel “The Kings of Cool” was a bit of a wasted opportunity on Winslow’s part – he could’ve gone forward with something new but decided to go back with something old.
While I’m excited whenever Winslow puts out a new novel, I was surprised to see he had written a prequel to “Savages” rather than a sequel. What needed to be established prior to that novel? It seemed fairly contained. Having now read it, I’m again struck with the question – why? And then another thought appeared: he’s run out of ideas.
“The Kings of Cool” is basically a greatest hits summary of Winslow’s writing career. The drugs trade in SoCal has been covered in his far better novel “The Power of the Dog”; the surfer elements in the book have been written about in “The Gentlemen’s Hour” and “The Dawn Patrol”; there are cameos by both Frank Machianno (from “The Winter of Frankie Machine”) and Bobby Z (from “The Death and Life of Bobby Z”); and the protagonists are from “Savages”.
Nobody writes SoCal fiction better than Winslow – he’s got the drugs scene from the latter half of the 20th century down cold and he’s a surfer himself so he gets that culture – but doing it again in “The Kings of Cool” feels uninspired and pointless. Why go backwards? Why not write a sequel to “Savages” and go into territory he hasn’t written about before – the drugs trade and the War on Drugs in 2012? It feels cowardly and lazy to fall back on material he knows about well because he’s spent years writing that same material over and over again, only to rehash (pun intended) it again in a “new” novel. Not to mention cynical as “Savages” sold well and was turned into a film – he’s probably hoping that success carries over onto this book too so he can get more Hollywood dough.
Like “Savages”, the writing style is frenetic and imaginative, some “chapters” are a few words long (there are almost as many pages as there are chapters) with some chapters taking the form of poetry or appearing across the page in arbitrary places; some scenes are presented as if lifted from a shooting script. It makes for a fast read and I do appreciate when an author tries – and succeeds - at combining style with story, even if you have heard the story before.
I liked “The Kings of Cool”, it was enjoyable for the most part even if I thought that reading about Ben, Chon and O’s parents’ lives was pointless. The story is a bit weak in places, it’s basically about hippies slowly becoming more involved in drug dealing – it isn’t nearly as thrilling as “Savages” where there were warring cartels and a hostage plot. Plus you know Ben, Chon and O make it through any obstacles in this book because this is a prequel and they’re alive and well in the next book so there’s no real tension. If you want to read a book about the SoCal drugs scene in the 1960s onwards, give this a go, though I recommend Winslow’s more accomplished novel “The Power of the Dog” which is about the same thing. Overall I feel “The Kings of Cool” was a bit of a wasted opportunity on Winslow’s part – he could’ve gone forward with something new but decided to go back with something old.
September 28, 2012
Bisher hat mich das Äußere eines Buches nur selten verleitet, darüber etwas zu schreiben. Aber in diesem Fall ist die Aufmachung so ungewöhnlich, dass ich einfach einige Worte dazu verlieren muss. Eckig und völlig schwarz kommt das Buch daher, inclusive aller Seitenschnitte; Titel, Autor usw. sind hingegen in weißen, schnörkellosen Buchstaben dargestellt. Wer die Hardcoverausgabe von 'Unendlicher Spaß' von David Foster Wallace kennt, hat hier nun die Negativform vor sich liegen.
Doch ein Buch nur wegen seiner äußeren Erscheinung zu kaufen, machen wohl nur Wenige :-) Aber der Inhalt steht der Aufmachung in nichts nach. Erzählt wird die Geschichte von drei jungen Menschen, die mehr verbindet als nur Freundschaft. Sie sind sich die Familie, die alle drei nicht oder nur wenig hatten. Chon ist der Kämpfer, Ben der Humanist und O die Schöne. Ben und Chon sind im Marihuanageschäft, mit dem sie ihren Lebensunterhalt finanzieren, ohne jedoch weitere Ansprüche zu erheben wie Machtzuwachs oder mehr Gewinn. Sie genießen ihr Leben im sonnigen Kalifornien und so könnte es für sie weitergehen bis ans Ende ihrer Tage. Es ist eine Idylle, die jedoch nicht von Dauer ist. Denn es gibt Andere, die wollen ihren Anteil an dem gutgehenden Geschäft der Beiden. Ein Krieg bricht aus und alle Drei erkennen, dass nicht nur sie, sondern auch ihre Eltern darin verstrickt sind.
Wer wie mit wem zusammenhängt, wird in einem zweiten Erzählstrang ganz von hinten aufgerollt. Hippiezeit, peace, love - man experimentiert mit Drogen und noch basiert alles auf Vertrauen und Freundschaft. Doch die Zeiten ändern sich, es geht ums Geld, um Macht und alle versuchen, so viel wie möglich vom Kuchen abzuhaben. Auch wenn von vornherein klar ist, dass die Wurzeln der drei Freunde hier ihren Ursprung haben, bleiben die Details vorborgen (zumindest für mich). Die Auflösung kommt recht überraschend, aber wirklich unerwartet und hart ist die Nüchternheit und fast schon Kälte, mit der dies berichtet wird. Cool, einfach cool.
Winslow hat einen ungewöhnlichen Stil (zumindest in diesem Buch, ich kenne seine anderen nicht). Es wirkt, als ob die handelnden Personen einem direkt die Geschichte selbst erzählen: immer wieder kurze, auch unvollständige Sätze, die zu Beginn eher holpernd anmuten. Doch schon nach kurzer Zeit zieht einen diese Schreibweise in ihren Bann und man steckt mittendrin in dem Geschehen. Auch der atypische Satzspiegel trägt vermutlich dazu bei, dass man das Gefühl bekommt, das Tempo wird immer schneller. Es sind kurze, zum Teil sehr kurze Kapitel, die insbesondere gegen Ende immer wieder aus einer anderen Sicht berichtet werden. Dieser schnelle Perspektivenwechsel steigert die Geschwindigkeit noch zusätzlich und man rennt dem Showdown buchstäblich entgegen.
Richtig klasse gemacht und ich bin mir sicher: Dies war nicht mein letzer Winslow, den ich gelesen habe!
Doch ein Buch nur wegen seiner äußeren Erscheinung zu kaufen, machen wohl nur Wenige :-) Aber der Inhalt steht der Aufmachung in nichts nach. Erzählt wird die Geschichte von drei jungen Menschen, die mehr verbindet als nur Freundschaft. Sie sind sich die Familie, die alle drei nicht oder nur wenig hatten. Chon ist der Kämpfer, Ben der Humanist und O die Schöne. Ben und Chon sind im Marihuanageschäft, mit dem sie ihren Lebensunterhalt finanzieren, ohne jedoch weitere Ansprüche zu erheben wie Machtzuwachs oder mehr Gewinn. Sie genießen ihr Leben im sonnigen Kalifornien und so könnte es für sie weitergehen bis ans Ende ihrer Tage. Es ist eine Idylle, die jedoch nicht von Dauer ist. Denn es gibt Andere, die wollen ihren Anteil an dem gutgehenden Geschäft der Beiden. Ein Krieg bricht aus und alle Drei erkennen, dass nicht nur sie, sondern auch ihre Eltern darin verstrickt sind.
Wer wie mit wem zusammenhängt, wird in einem zweiten Erzählstrang ganz von hinten aufgerollt. Hippiezeit, peace, love - man experimentiert mit Drogen und noch basiert alles auf Vertrauen und Freundschaft. Doch die Zeiten ändern sich, es geht ums Geld, um Macht und alle versuchen, so viel wie möglich vom Kuchen abzuhaben. Auch wenn von vornherein klar ist, dass die Wurzeln der drei Freunde hier ihren Ursprung haben, bleiben die Details vorborgen (zumindest für mich). Die Auflösung kommt recht überraschend, aber wirklich unerwartet und hart ist die Nüchternheit und fast schon Kälte, mit der dies berichtet wird. Cool, einfach cool.
Winslow hat einen ungewöhnlichen Stil (zumindest in diesem Buch, ich kenne seine anderen nicht). Es wirkt, als ob die handelnden Personen einem direkt die Geschichte selbst erzählen: immer wieder kurze, auch unvollständige Sätze, die zu Beginn eher holpernd anmuten. Doch schon nach kurzer Zeit zieht einen diese Schreibweise in ihren Bann und man steckt mittendrin in dem Geschehen. Auch der atypische Satzspiegel trägt vermutlich dazu bei, dass man das Gefühl bekommt, das Tempo wird immer schneller. Es sind kurze, zum Teil sehr kurze Kapitel, die insbesondere gegen Ende immer wieder aus einer anderen Sicht berichtet werden. Dieser schnelle Perspektivenwechsel steigert die Geschwindigkeit noch zusätzlich und man rennt dem Showdown buchstäblich entgegen.
Richtig klasse gemacht und ich bin mir sicher: Dies war nicht mein letzer Winslow, den ich gelesen habe!
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