The Cartel

Set amid a splintered Mexican drug trade, The Cartel is Don Winslow's ambitious sequel to his critically acclaimed The Power of the Dog, and that ambition pays dividends on every page.

Art Keller, the hard-driving federal agent, and Adan Barrera, the lethally savage drug lord, return from The Power of the Dog. Barrera was imprisoned and seemingly powerless at the end of the previous novel. Keller has also lost a great deal, he's been marginalized at his agency due to sins of the past, and his fellow agents may have ordered a hit on him. Barrera and Keller's malevolent dance of one-upmanship as they attempt to reestablish their respective powers is at the heart of Winslow's novel, serving as both incisive insight into their particular psychologies and a demonstration of how ludicrously over-the-top both the drug traffickers and the men who hunt them have become. Winslow depicts the corrupting influences at play in the "war on drugs," on both sides of the law and both sides of the border. And he develops seamless plots, truly cinematic action and effortless, flowing dialogue.

In the last 10 years, Winslow has become a master of the American novel, and he ranks alongside current luminaries like James Ellroy or past masters like Raymond Chandler or Ross Macdonald. The Cartel is worthy of careful, uninterrupted reading, enjoyable though harrowing and violent, and it will stick with you like a bad but illuminating dream. --Donald Powell, freelance writer

Powered by: Xtenit