A couple of years ago Don Winslow announced he was retiring from writing (to spend more time excoriating Donald Trump, if I remember right). Turns out he only retired from writing novels. Short novels, which is what he calls the six pieces here, he still writes and publishes.
I am an enormous fan - but lost a little faith with The Force and couldn't get on with the City trilogy. But the Cartel trilogy is unsurpassed in modern crime literature. I loved Savages and the surfer crew in The Gentlemen's Hour. More recently I thoroughly enjoyed his masterly continuation of Trevanian's Shibumi (Satori). All of these, I believe, are reviewed on this blog. So I was never not going to pick up The Final Score on the offchance it was more like the Winslow who had once blown me away.
And boy, is it just! Every single one of the six a winner. Even better, 'The Lunch Break' is a return for Boone and his surfer crew. For me the sextet starts really well with 'The Final Score' itself and gets better with each story thereafter. 'The Lunch Break' is fifth of the six and the final, longest story, 'Collision', is so good, it could be an outtake from The Cartel. In case I have inferred there is something retrospective going on here, let me be clear: these six short novels are fresh, entirely original, in some instances going further in technique than Winslow has gone before. 'True Story', for example, is a dualogue between two wise guys who aren't even given names, who nevertheless bring the mob world to life in banter alone and deliver a powerful twist in the tail.
An absolute treat from start to finish. Thank you, Don.
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