Don Winslow's Savages became a breakout hit, spawning a film adaptation by Oliver Stone. The Kings of Cool is a "prequel" that reveals more about Winslow's renegade pot growers, Ben and Chon, and their friend O--including how they met and how Chon got his nickname. Winslow also delves into his characters' parents, giving dimensions to O's mom (previously known only as Paqu--Passive Aggressive Queen of the Universe) and showing how the boys were almost fated to do what they ended up doing.
The Kings of Cool is about choosing your family, but this is no warm and fuzzy (drug) trip into the past. Bullets fly and people die, as Ben and Chon discover that they "make up a collective pacifist." Of sorts, that is: "Ben is the paci," Winslow writes. "Chon is the fist."
As with Savages, this novel begins with a profane two-word first chapter and barrels ahead in a combination of prose, free verse and screenplay format. This might have resulted in a disjointed mess, but Winslow has already proven that he's a master storyteller who knows how to use whatever style best serves each scene. He keeps his dialogue hip and his prose lean, landing each word like one of Chon's roundhouse kicks. Throw in Winslow's trademark wit, blistering violence, razor-sharp social commentary and cameos from characters from his other novels, and The Kings of Cool is one summer read that's as scorching hot as it is cool. --Elyse Dinh-McCrilllis, chief nerd and blogger at Pop Culture Nerd