City of Dreams: Don Winslow

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I kept thinking of the movie Goodfellas as I followed Danny and his crew around Providence, Rhode Island. From the shores of Rhode Island to the deserts of California where bodies disappear, from the power corridors of Washington where the real criminals operate to the fabled movie studios of Hollywood where the real money is made, City of Dreams is a sweeping saga of family, love, revenge, survival and the fierce reality behind the dream.

Soon the transformation of Danny from mob underling to a successful businessman dating a beautiful celebrity takes place, much to the amazement of all who’ve known him in the past, but also to those who view him as an enemy from the past.Danny soon learns that his mother has almost unlimited influence in all areas, and eventually warms to her as both mother and benefactor, and she protects him against all enemies which allows him to decide what he wants to make of himself, and where his future should lie. This has him reluctantly back in touch with his mother, the powerful and influential Madeline McKay, who welcomes him and her grandson. She is a woman with her own issues and a dark past, Danny loses his head, allowing the two of them to be pictured regularly in the media. Except that Danny and these remnants of his family, as well as his loyal crew who are riding in cars streaming out behind him, are escaping a mob war — the Italians vs. Second in the 'City' trilogy, which started with the fast paced 'City on Fire' book set in Providence, Rhode Island.

It’s easy to see why this book has been snapped up for film adaptation (with Oscar nominee Austin Butler set to play Danny Ryan). Michaelides seems also to be dipping into the world of Edgar Allan Poe, offering an unreliable narrator who feels more like a literary exercise.What Winslow gets so right with this novel and this series and the pervasive sense of tragedy that overwhelms everything. He and the Irish had lost the gang war and he has decided it’s time to take himself and the remainder of his family out of Providence before it’s too late. Danny and his crew end up in a long-term motel in Burbank and his crew starts working on a former mate who has sold their tale of violence to the movie studios.

Not to be outdone though, back in Providence, the Morretis, winners of the war back there, fall apart in a series of tragedies, essentially taking out each other in an intra-family feud of epic proportions. As a second book in the trilogy it could get stuck in a bridging cup de sac, but you a dragged along - as Danny navigates the LA film world. Winslow nie wymyśla koło na nowo, daje nam znane z literatury mafijnej motywy, a że pisać potrafi, to czyta się Miasto marzeń świetnie, chociaż jak na mój gust żaden człowiek nie przetrwałby takiej nawałnicy dramatów życiowych, jakich przez te dwa tomy doświadczył Danny Ryan, ale kto chciałby czytać o zwykłych ludziach? Though he isn't present in every scene, he conveys each piece of the story leading up to the murder as if he were an omniscient narrator, capable of accessing every character's interior perspective.

City of Fire quickly surprised POTD trilogy to become my new favorite Winslow and upon meeting these characters, I was excited to hear there would be two more books following them. Winslow’s book Savages was made into a 2012 film by Oliver Stone and his 2017 New York cop novel The Force is soon to be a major motion picture.

By the end of the new novel, Danny and the few friends he has left are on the run again, setting the stage for the trilogy’s upcoming conclusion, CITY IN RUINS. Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U. Danny comes face to face with the true grim realities that operate below the city of dreams as he engages in a bitter fight for survival. Before they know it, they are drawn into the world of Hollywood, and Danny finds himself in love with a famous actress playing a role in a movie based on his Dogtown experiences.I., Italian mob, sets in motion a risky plan, in bestseller Winslow’s powerful sequel to 2022’s City on Fire.