The Power of the Dog

April 4, 2005
The war on drugs is powerfully dramatized in Winslow's ambitious, dense and gritty latest (after 1999's California Fire and Life
). Art Keller is a brilliant DEA agent who sometimes breaks the rules to serve justice. Adan Barrera is an urbane drug dealer whose charm masks his brutality. Nora Hayden is a high-class call girl whose heart is in the right place. And Sean Callan is a taciturn mob hit man, a stone-cold killer who just wants out of the life. Winslow follows these four characters and assorted extras as they cross paths over three decades in the international drug trade, from Keller's first encounter with Barrera in 1970s Mexico, through the drug cartels' corruption of government officials in the U.S. and Mexico governments, to a final showdown on the U.S. border in 1999. Winslow's depth of research and unflagging attention to detail give the story both heft and immediacy, and his staccato, present-tense prose shifts easily among wildly disparate settings and multiple points of view. A complex plot, well-drawn characters and plenty of double-crossing make this a thinking person's narco-thriller. Agent, Jimmy Vines. Author tour.

December 1, 2004
Lots of people write about PIs, but Winslow actually is one. His new novel, which ranges from the 1970s to today, examines the consequences of the drug wars. With a seven-city tour.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2005
Winslow (" California Fire and Life, "1999) once again offers a crime novel with breakneck pacing, a sardonic worldview, and a teeming cast of superheated characters. He also displays bold ambition as he takes on the war on drugs, moving his extremely violent story between the DEA, the Latin American drug cartels, and the Mob. At the center of the novel is DEA agent Art Keller, who makes a fatal mistake as an idealistic rookie. On his first posting, to Culiacan, Mexico, capital of the drug trade, Art befriends the Barrera brothers. Their friendship will eventually turn into a personal vendetta of epic proportions when it is revealed that their uncle, Miguel, a member of the state police, is a drug kingpin. The cast also features an Irish hit man, a call girl, and a priest, as Winslow feverishly indicts the U.S. war on drugs, tracing flawed policies that have cost DEA agents their lives yet failed to stop the flow of drugs across the border. Intricate plotting and manic energy power this page-turner.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)

Starred review from May 1, 2005
This latest offering by P.I. Winslow (after "The Death and Life of Bobby Z") is an epic tale of the drug culture that harkens back to the 1970s. Honing in on the "production" end of the drug trade, the story connects the dots among the drug lords of Mexico and the U.S. mob and government and tells of the international economics involved in this high-stakes trade. Art Keller is the Gary Cooper -like protagonist and, as the book has it, one of only a handful of honest DEA agents who actually cares about stopping the flow of drugs across the border. Writing in a get-to-the-point, no-nonsense style, Winslow skillfully introduces an astonishingly large cast of characters in an intricate web of plot lines and insider details. This true nail biter will surely captivate readers until the very last page. Recommended for all public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 12/04.] -Caroline Mann, Univ. of Portland Lib., OR

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.