Cartel

The Cartel is an epic story of power, corruption, and revenge spanning the past decade of the Mexican-American drug wars, or the 'war on drugs' as it is referred to. The Cartel is a thrilling sequel to The Power Of The Dog. It helps if you have read The Power of The Dog but it is not mandatory. The Cartel features the two main protagonists from The Power of The Dog as they continue on their mission to destroy each other. One is a DEA agent, the other is a drug kingpin or 'patron' of a vast multi-billion dollar empire who will stop at nothing to increase his power.The violence depicted in The Cartel is sickening but is never gratuitous or out of place. Don Winslow does not revel in explicit violence but doesn't shy away from telling the reader how bad the world of narcotics really is. The novel is obviously based on true events and feels like it was plucked from news headlines from real events. This book is one big crime scene that goes on for decades and across borders. The dialogue is excellent, as are the descriptions of how hard life is for the victims and ordinary people forced to live in towns and countries where life is cheap and wholesale random slaughter seems to be a way of life. The characters are well drawn out and the reader feels a sense of dread because trying to survive in the world of drugs is almost impossible. The fate of some of the characters feels well deserved whereas the fate of the innocents is heartrendingly sad and Winslow treats these with respect and care.The pace of the novel is handled expertly and there isn't one boring sentence in the entire book. This is the first book in a long time that I really didn't want to end. It is informative and thrilling in equal measure.The drug dealers and kingpins in the book are media savvy and come across as terrorists. In one scene one of them says: “What good is an atrocity if no one knows you did it?” In this way the book delves into 'The Wire' territory where reporters become central characters and are caught between warring cartels. Similarly the corrupt police are forced to choose between doing evil deeds or being wiped out themselves. There is never a black and white simple solution for the dilemmas these people face every day of their lives. Stay honest and you'll be dead within days. Bend to the dark will of the cartels and you have to figure out how to live with yourself. To me that is the central theme of the book: How to fight evil without losing your soul in the process.

I was a bit hesitant in getting this book as it seemed like the trilogy was spread over too many years and I didn't want to re-read earlier books but this book covers off the past and then moves in this amazing story. So many characters, details, different worlds. Authors like Don are very very rare. A great read even if I did get the feeling it was a repackaging of Netflix narcos

A great read but too long.It was probably a 4 to 5 but I gave 5 stars.Very well written,almost unputdownable,which is highly unusual.But the usual complaint:far too long-615 pages when it should have ended at 500.But anywya,I have just ordered another of Winslow’s books.

Don Winslow is an exceptionally good author although I have found now and again some of his writing style baffling but his Power of the Dog was a great book. To me this is a real Tour de Force but not as a thriller. There are two sides to this book; the documentary detailing the horrific world of the Cartels and their control over all they want including the innocent public and the thriller sequel to the first book, the latter dominated by the detailed world of savagery and heartbreak. I felt the ending was unsatisfactory especially in relation to Chuy but it was so detailed and drew you in to the world of Mexico and the Cartels one could not fail to give it five stars. NOT for the faint hearted.

Don Winslow, for me, is a schizophrenic writer, I can't stand the Savages nonsense but then he writes something like Power of the Dog and he blows me away. So when Cartel came out I was apprehensive as to what it would be. Fortunately it's more of the latter. In more ways than one, being its sequel.It's joy of reading it for me, can in part in the way he has woven such thorough research into a thriller format. I think over time it will be viewed as a classic of the genre along side The Godfather and Trinities.