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Savages: A Novel Hardcover – July 13, 2010
| Don Winslow (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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Part-time environmentalist and philanthropist Ben and his ex-mercenary buddy Chon run a Laguna Beach–based marijuana operation, reaping significant profits from their loyal clientele. In the past when their turf was challenged, Chon took care of eliminating the threat. But now they may have come up against something that they can’t handle—the Mexican Baja Cartel wants in, and sends them the message that a "no" is unacceptable. When they refuse to back down, the cartel escalates its threat, kidnapping Ophelia, the boys’ playmate and confidante. O’s abduction sets off a dizzying array of ingenious negotiations and gripping plot twists that will captivate readers eager to learn the costs of freedom and the price of one amazing high.
Following "the best summertime crime novel ever" (San Francisco Chronicle on The Dawn Patrol), bestselling author Winslow offers up a smash hit in the making. Savages is an ingenious combination of adrenaline-fueled suspense and true-crime reportage by a master thriller writer at the very top of his game.
- Print length320 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherSimon & Schuster
- Publication dateJuly 13, 2010
- Dimensions6.13 x 1.1 x 9.25 inches
- ISBN-101439183368
- ISBN-13978-1439183366
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
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From Booklist
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“Savages is Don Winslow’s best book yet—a wickedly funny and smart novel, with a ripped-from-the-headlines story that gets your pulse racing as the action unfolds. Razor-sharp plot twists, a cast of ruthless antiheroes, and of course, Winslow’s superb, adrenaline-fueled prose make this scorching, drug-infused thriller an addictive and entertaining read.” —Janet Evanovich
"A spellbinding, tour de force that is utterly impossible to put down. Savages is, bar none, the finest novel I have read in years." —Christopher Reich, author of Numbered Account and Rules of Deception
“Wake up people—Winslow’s the real deal.” —James Ellroy on The Gentlemen's Hour
“Edgar nominee and Shamus winner Winslow…dispenses short chapters that drive his plot breathlessly forward. He also serves up plenty of savage wit….Riddled with bullets and splattered with blood, Savages is not for the squeamish, but it’s a must for Winslow fans.” —Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“Spare, clipped expository prose and hip, spot-on dialogue propel this visceral crime novel from Winslow....setting the stage for the violent and utterly satisfying ending. Winslow's encyclopedic knowledge of the border drug trade lends authenticity.” —Publishers Weekly
“An ultra-lean, stoner thriller….It packs a dynamic plot, sentences dripping with ``baditude'' and a singular way with language….Winslow's writing has the vigor of action painting….[his] command of vernacular is fabulous, his eye for detail sharp….Winslow's insights into drug wars are provocative, his descriptions of marijuana tantalizing.” —Carlo Wolff, The Boston Globe
About the Author
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Product details
- Publisher : Simon & Schuster; 1st edition (July 13, 2010)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 320 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1439183368
- ISBN-13 : 978-1439183366
- Item Weight : 8.8 ounces
- Dimensions : 6.13 x 1.1 x 9.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #818,884 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4,166 in Fiction Urban Life
- #42,656 in Crime Thrillers (Books)
- #83,968 in American Literature (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Don 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.
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonReviewed in the United States on July 31, 2016
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It's fun - and funny - reading. Fun, that is, between the torture and killings, when two young California pot dealers get hooked up with the Sinaloa Cartel, out of Mexico. What I like is that it shows the gray of it all... the players aren't pure good or pure evil, they're human beings with up and downsides. You see things from their eyes and some pretty unspeakable things are done by people you come to like. That was the world I saw when I was an agent... much grayer than you see in most novels, movies, TV. The evil becomes so much more powerful because of it. It's the banal evil of human society.
Be prepared for brutality and violence. None of it is gratuitous, though. It's a part of the world he writes about.
Winslow's characters are real, too. He develops them through their thoughts and actions, not through exposition. He knows these people. He knows what makes them do and say what they do.
I'm now reading "The Power of the Dog," Winslow's magnum opus about the Mexican cartels. It's a much different book, but every bit as good, if not better. I'm so happy I came across Don Winslow... I highly recommend his stuff, though maybe not while you're eating dinner.
Enter Don Winslow, whose distinctive voice and compelling plot line make for a stay-up-late novel, "Savages." Ben is the Candide of Candides, who thinks raising the best ganja on earth makes it possible for him to help the poor of the world. Standing is stark contrast is his best friend and partner, Chon [great nickname for the blandness of John], whose view of the world is only of its noir underbelly. Give them both the same girlfriend, Ophelia [in some delectable lovemaking scenes] and a vicious Mexican drug cartel and you've got a plot to, um, well, die for.
But what really makes this novel stand out for me is the brilliant writing. There are a few hundred scribblers out there writing similar stories without a shred of literary talent or panache. Winslow has both, in spades. "Savages" has been crafted, word by word, sentence by sentence, to create a vivid, sexy, sometimes humorous, often sardonic, at times brutal, but always compelling story. I loved reading this novel as much for the great story as for the great writing. Like when he refers to Richard Nixon's town, San Clemente, as "sans clemency." There are great lines and word plays on nearly every page.
I lived in SoCal for a number of years. I loved it. I loved it for its bright hope and I loved it for its cool irony, its seeming ability to take itself seriously. Winslow never for a moment takes it seriously and for me, his sense of that carries this book to the top of the list of SoCal Noir Existential Novels.
Winslow did make one mistake, though. In my opinion, it wasn't a good idea for O to become friends with her captors and convince them to give her internet and food she likes. It may be the sort of thing that might happen in real life, but it caused all the conflict to drain away. Because the main source of conflict is the fact that O is in danger and that she's frightened and her guys want to do everything in their power to get her out, but while they're hustling and trying to get money, she's eating pizza with Esteban and watching The Bachelorette. In these circumstances, could she not, in fact, endure the whole three years of her captivity with the Baja Cartel? Do Ben and Chon really need to bust their butts to free her? For just a moment in the middle of it, I felt like I could take or leave the whole book. But then the action escalates and real danger returns and the story is exciting again. And then everyone is in danger, and the story ends in a way that I didn't expect, but that didn't necessarily surprise me when I thought about it later.
So it was awesome to get to know these characters who are so different from myself, and to watch Winslow bend or break so many literary rules in such interesting ways. I would recommend it to people who enjoy action thrillers, who are literature geeks, and who are not offended by graphic sex, violence, and drug use.
Top reviews from other countries
I didn't find any of the characters relatable or interesting enough to find any jeopardy in their situation, they all felt a little two dimensional. I've enjoyed a lot of Douglas Coupland's work and I feel this is the vibe the author was aiming for but didn't quite pull off.
It may well of course be that my tastes have changed as I get older, and it's a decent enough story that's zips along with some good turns of dark humour along the way.
Not a bad read by any stretch, but not for me.
Savages is a distillation of all that and all the better for it.
With younger protagonists and terse pacing, Winslow makes Savages into a smooth and intense read, laced with a laconic humour and a slightly ironic, campy pace that makes the inevitable scenes of violence all the more visceral. It also follows the basic premise of all great writing - no one is an idiot, or to be precise, no one is an idiot for the purposes of narrative.
The nihilism is followed through to the logical conclusion that surprised me with it's tenderness and poetry. I have long believed that crime fiction contains some of the most insightful and beautiful writing beneath it's gruff exterior and Don Winslow is clearly an exponent of that.









