Don Winslow takes a break from drug-war epics

Don Winslow

When Don Winslow needs a break from writing crime epics, he writes crime novellas, said Barry Hertz in The Globe and Mail (Canada). A year after the publication of The Border completed his acclaimed Cartel trilogy with 700 intense, deeply researched, and bloody pages about the war on drugs, the 66-year-old former New York City private eye has a comparatively breezy new collection out. Broken packs six stories into a mere 350 pages, brings back a few signature characters, and even rolls out a mini rom-com set at the San Diego Zoo and featuring a revolver-wielding chimpanzee. “I’ve never wanted to be sort of pinned down to just writing in one voice or on one topic,” says the California-based author. “I also wanted to write stories that were a little lighter, that had more humor, that harkened back to some of my earlier inspirations, like Elmore Leonard and other folk.”

Winslow isn’t just going for laughs, though, said Jordan Riefe in the Los Angeles Times. The book opens with a police thriller and closes with “The Last Ride,” about a U.S. border agent who is trying to see that a Salvadoran child detainee is reunited with her mother. The title also speaks to a shared theme. “All the stories are about characters that have experienced a broken society that in one way or another has left them a little broken,” Winslow says. His attraction to such stories might make you think he’d be tempted to address the pandemic next. But no. “I cannot help but think of what the late Michael Crichton would’ve done with this,” he says. “But it’s just too close right now. I’m writing now, but certainly not about this.”