Yesterday, I got a terrific, unexpected surprise when I arrived home:
I'd heard for some time that Don Winslow was working on a sequel to -- or excuse me, a continuation of -- his great 2005 novel, The Power of the Dog. For those unfamiliar with that book, it's a superb novel about the drug wars that consume so many lives and so much money in Mexico and the United States. When I interviewed Winslow ten years ago, I told him if that 10 percent of the novel was true, it was beyond frightening.
"Flip it," he said.
Meaning, 90 percent of the novel was based on a reality that we should all hope never visits our doorsteps. If you've not read The Power of the Dog, it's well worth your time.
Maybe this will persuade you:
If early reviews are any indication, The Cartel is going to be riveting. James Ellroy, author of The Black Dahlia and LA Confidential, is calling it the War and Peace of dope war books. Good enough for me.
Also on the bookshelf, awaiting my attention: Martin Clark's new novel, The Jezebel Remedy. Clark is responsible for my favorite book title: The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living, his debut novel from 2000. I'd call Clark, a circuit court judge from Patrick County, Virginia, a Southern Gothic writer, but that doesn't seem to fit, although there are Gothic elements and his stories are set in the South. But Clark's wickedly clever humor sets him apart from Faulkner and McCullers impressionists. He writes as if he's channeling the Marx Brothers by way of Harper Lee.
Finally, Thomas McGuane's short-story collection, Crow Fair. I've been reading McGuane since an ex-girlfriend gave me copies of his novels Panama and Ninety-Two in the Shade thirty years ago. Those books started me on a path to where I am today as (hopefully) a more discerning and perceptive reader.
McGuane's stories are filled with cowboys and ranchers, con artists and laborers, all residents of Montana's Big Sky country. They are usually throwbacks to simpler times, often at odds with progress, but always drawn with dignity and compassion. McGuane's prose can be dazzling, but it's the humanity of his work that is makes him one of our best writers.
