Customer Reviews

The Death and Life of Bobby Z

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Author Don Winslow wrote this book largely on a train during commutes and without an outline--and it shows. "The Death and Life of Bobby Z" is a story that goes where it wants when it wants at a furious pace. The setup for the story is fairly simple. A big-time loser of a prison inmate kills another inmate in order to prevent the same thing from happening to him. As it happens, he resembles the notorious drug dealer Bobby Z. So the feds offer him a deal. They want to trade the dealer to a Mexican drug kingpin in exchange for an agent, but Bobby Z happens to be dead. So if the loser will take the place of Bobby Z, they'll trade him and let him fend for himself. But the real Bobby Z, it turns out, has fathered a child, whom the imposter Bobby Z takes under his wing while fleeing from just about everybody and fleeing across Mexico and California.

One of the most compelling aspects of "The Death and Life of Bobby Z" is the style in which Winslow writes. The novel is almost conversational, and Winslow includes liberal doses of California surfer and Mexican jargon. To his credit, Winslow aptly pulls off what could have been an abysmal experiment. The style works with the plot to make this novel one of the fastest reads in a long time.

On an unrelated note, there is a Don Winslow who writes what can politely be called "erotic" novels. These are two entirely different people. The Winslow who wrote "The Death and Life of Bobby Z" is the author of the Neal Carey series ("The Trail to Buddha's Mirror," "A Cool Breeze on the Underground," etc.). In addition, he wrote "A Winter Spy" under the name McDonald Lloyd.

This is obviously a younger book than California Fire and Life, but Winslow does have a knack for taking an intriguing situation and pulling it all together somehow. He seems to have lots of good ideas - a love story, a drama, a larger-than-life hero, a loser, a military thriller. Maybe next time he won't try to cram all five of these into one novel. The Life and Death of Bobby Z is pretty good but probably could have been fleshed out 100 pages or so. Seems as if Winslow is in a rush to get to the next scene. The book is 250 pages. Thomas Hardy would've written the story as 2,500 pages (his characters take 12 pages to go from the porch to the mailbox, but you sure know every tree in the yard by the time they get there, as well as the genus and species of every animal in sight), but I'd settle for a nicely done 500-page Winslow novel. I think he's going to be very good as his writing matures.

"Here's how Tim Kearny gets to be the legendary Bobby Z.

How Tim Kearny gets to be Bobby Z is that he sharpens a license plate to a razor's edge and draws it across the throat of a humongous Hell's Angel named Stinkdog, making Stinkdog instantly dead and a DEA agent named Tad Gruzsa instantly happy.

"That'll make him easier to persuade," Gruzsa says when he hears about it, meaning Kearney of course, because Stinkdog is beyond persuasion at this point."

Thus begins The Death and Life of Bobby Z, one of 1997's most entertaining books. Gruzsa is happy because he sees Kearny as the key to his plan to infiltrate the operations of Don Huertero, the biggest drug lord in northern Mexico. Huertero wants to trade captured DEA agent Arthur Moreno for the legendary dope smuggler Bobby Z, an associate of his he has never actually seen. Unknown to Heurtero, Bobby Z has died in custody. Gruzsa, who wants his man back at all costs, wants three time loser Kearny, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Bobby, to impersonate him.

Kearny, not exactly in a position to bargain, agrees. Before arranging the swap, Gruzsa gives Kearny intensive training in all things Bobby, from his mannerisms down to intimate details of his illegal business operations. It looks like Gruzsa's idea will work, but something goes wrong at the swap and people start shooting. When the dust clears, Kearny finds himself in the middle of a luxurious desert compound belonging to Huertero's number two man, Brian Cervier.

Kearny is accepted as Bobby Z, and discovers some remnants of Bobby's past--a former lover, and a six year old boy she claims is Bobby's son. All appears to be going well, until he discovers that Huertero wants to kill Bobby for a wrong perpetrated against Huertero's daughter. Kearny flees into the desert, accompanied by Bobby's son, with whom he has forged a strong bond. The rest of the novel deals with Kearny's to evade Heurtero's flunkies, the DEA, Stinkdog's brother Angels and Bobby Z's Judas of a business partner back in the States. In the process, relying on his wits and Bobby Z's aura, Kearny's adds to the growing legend of Bobby Z.

The Death and Life of Bobby Z is one of those books you feel obligated to pass on to other readers--the first three chapters of the book are about as fast and funny a piece of writing you'll ever read. Winslow, being human, couldn't possibly keep this up through an entire book, but he comes damn close. The novel, which screams to be made into a movie, is defined by its small touches--Kearny and the six year old pretending to be X-Men Cyclops and Wolverine as they fight off a small army in the desert, the Beau Geste motif of Cervier's desert compound, the wino named One Way who plays John the Baptist to Bobby Z's Jesus--all these give this book a special magic. That, combined with Winslow's humorous dialogue and his skill at conveying explosive action, makes this a must read.

Fun, fun, fun, fun, FUN. God, this was so good I didn't want it to end. THIS is how you make good writing look effortless. I'm amazed this guy isn't more popular. I read mysteries and thrillers at a very fast rate, and this guy just hits it out of the park chapter after chapter. He's that good. READ HIM.

This guy can tell a story. He owes a lot to Elmore Leonard but really outdoes most of his books with this funny and exciting tale. I remember reading my first Michael Connelly, and my first DeMille novel in the same way. There is nothing like discovering a great new author and I plan to delve into his other novels immediately. My one complaint is that I did not like one of the characters that he created known as "One Way". His whole bad acid trip induced lifelong psychoses felt unreal and forced, but beyond that it has been a very long time since I have enjoyed a plot as clever as this one. This is a real page turner that I whipped through in two days, and I am not the fastest reader on the planet. I think I heard of him through an Amazon plug, though I simply cannot recall. Whatever the case, I know Winslow is getting more popular with every book and he should soon be as well known as the aforementioned novelists. He certainly deserves it.

The Death and Life of Bobby Z is a fast paced, short chaptered easy to read thrill ride. Although not as surreal a writer as Carl Hiaasen, similar styles of characters make up this novel as in Hiaasen's masterpieces. Dumb and greedy criminals and police get what they deserve as they try to take down Tim Kearney, all for different reasons. Kearney an ex Gulf War marine has just killed Stinkdog with a number plate while spending time in the California Corrections system. Stinkdog was a prominent member of the Hell's Angels and a price is put on Kearney's head. Tad Gursza a sleazy DEA agent offers him a deal. He can become recently departed drug legend Bobby Z who has died in custody and be traded for another DEA agent who is in the hands of ruthless drug lord Don Huertero. With no choice Kearney becomes Bobby Z and suddenly has all the women and respect he could ever want but as things go wrong he soon discovers Bobby Z has lots of enemies who want him dead and think Kearney is Z.

This is a sensational novel, I'll definitely be checking out any other work by Don Winslow that I can find.

Like the great Texas author, Joe R. Lansdale, California writer Don Winslow has to be the best-kept secret in the literary community. Up until a few months ago, I'd never heard of him. Now, I've read four of his novels, The Drawn Patrol, The Winter of Frankie Machine, California Fire & Live, The Death and Life of Bobby Z, and I've just started his five-hundred-page book, The Power of the Dog, which is proving to be one of the best thrillers I've ever read. So far, all of his novels have been excellent books straight across the board, and why this author isn't on everybody's bestseller list with the publication of each new novel is a complete mystery to me. In fact, I consider it to be one of the grand mysteries of the Universe, right up there with super strings and black holes and what the hell happened to the other black sock in the dryer. Since I've already reviewed the first three of the above books, I now want to talk abut Bobby Z, which is certainly one of the fastest reads I've ever encountered and not because it's short in length. As readers are so fond of saying, I literally couldn't put this book down, and I read it in just two days, which is a record at my age and with my poor eyesight and lack of reading time. I also just found out that Bobby Z was turned into a movie and is out on DVD. I don't know if the film is any good or not, but because I enjoyed the novel so much, I'm going to take a chance with the movie and rent it. Now, on to the story!

Tim Kearney considers himself a three-time loser. Well, in fact, he kind of is. He's been in and out of prisoner for minor crimes and is now facing life without parole for killing a Hell's Angel named Stinkdog with a homemade knife in self-defense, that's if the other bikers in the joint don't get to him first in retaliation. Everything unexpectedly turns around for Tim when two DEA agents offer him a way out with the possibility of living a somewhat longer life, if he can pull off what they want him to do. Hell, all Tim has to do in order to get his free pass out of prison is impersonate a Southern Californian drug dealer named Robert Zacharias, who's better known as the legendary Bobby Z. You see, Tim looks a lot like Bobby Z, and no one's seen Bobby in years as he's traveled around Southeast Asia, setting up his drug connections. Bobby's been handling all of his business through cutouts, and there's even a rumor that he might have been betrayed while in Thailand and arrested by the Thai police. The DEA agents want to exchange Tim for one of their own people, whose being held prisoner by Mexican drug-kingpin, Don Huertero. Huertero is willing to trade the agent for Bobby Z because he wants to kill Bobby very slowly and painfully for what the young man did to his daughter. Tim doesn't know any of this. Not having a lot of choices, however, he agrees to be Bobby Z, but everything quickly falls apart the night of the exchange when one of the DEA agents is murdered and Tim finds himself in the hands of Huertero's people, waiting to be tortured and killed. The one thing that nobody seems to know about Tim is that he's not a total loser. In fact, he was a Marine in the Gulf War and won the Navy Cross for saving his recon unit from an Iraqi armored division. These fighting skills are going to be all that stands between Tim and certain death as he tries to figure out how to turn everything around to his advantage and to come out ahead of the game.

Don Winslow has created a thrill ride of action, suspense, and humor in The Death and Life of Bobby Z. He grabs the reader in a chokehold during the first few pages and doesn't let him up for air till the very last sentence. The author has also managed to create a lead character in Tim Kearney, who's more of a hero in the choices that he later makes than an actual bad guy. This is certainly someone that you root for throughout the novel, hoping the he'll get away in the end to start a new life with those he loves. But more than that, this is a book filled with stand-out characters, more action than you hope for, fast-paced writing, a look at the Mexican/United States drug trade, and a man with nothing to lose and everything to gain.

The Death and Life of Bobby Z is what reading for fun and entertainment is all about. This is the type of novel that you can't put down, wanting to finish each chapter as quickly as you can to find out what happens at the end. A fantastic read that clearly displays the utter craftsmanship of Don Winslow. A true winner!

The Cohen brothers could make a great film out of this mile-a-minute roller coaster. I used to marvel at people who had the time or inclination to sit down and read a novel in one or two sittings. I checked this one out of the library and returned it in two days. I was captivated from the start and could not put it down. If you are into crazed-adrenalin-infused-holy-crap books, give this one the once over.

I had the pleasure of meeting the author of this book while I was studying in Cambridge, England last summer, and I was curious to find out if he was as captivating on paper as he was in person. This tale of a three time loser who has a talent for making enemies at every turn and a knack for outliving them is quite possibly the most captivating novel I have ever read. Every character is intriguing and every corner has a surprise behind it. If you want a deeper meaning, read the classics. If you want the most purely entertaining novel in existance, read this book! PS Don't mistake this Don Winslow for the other Don Winslow on this site. One writes brilliant action novels, and the other writes "erotic literature". Just a helpful hint.

Bobby Z, a legend of drug dealing West Coast cool, dies suddenly leaving behind a trail of broken lives and missing pieces, one of which involves a Mexican drug lord and a Federal agent taken hostage. This is the cue for Tim Kearney, lookalike to Bobby Z, to step in and work for the Federal government to get back the agent from the drug lord. Only it's not that simple. Kearney is a three time loser, busted thrice for breaking and entering - can he pull of the Prince/Pauper transformation and trick everyone into thinking he's the king of cool Bobby Z?

What he doesn't realise is how much trouble Bobby Z was in before he died. Not only are the Feds and the Mexican drug cartels after him, but so is a back stabbing Buddhist acquaintance, a morbidly obese crimelord, a ruthless rancher, the Hell's Angels, a bloody minded Indian tracker, and a former colleague from his army days turned assassin for hire. Oh and he finds out Bobby Z has a kid.

Winslow's written another fast paced, interesting, funny, clever story featuring some great characters and even better scenes. The best of these is a siege-like setup where Kearney and kid hole up in a rock formation in the middle of a floral desert bowl while mercenaries and a helicopter try to take him out. I guess this is where the character doesn't jibe with what Winslow repeats throughout the story- if Kearney is such a loser, how come he's so good at outwitting professional assassins and survive exceptionally well in hostile environments and even more hostile situations?

But that's really only a minor complaint. It's so much fun to read, you tend to ignore little things like that and just enjoy the ride. Well written, great fun, "The Death and Life of Bobby Z" is a great read for anyone looking for adventure and action in a novel.