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Power of the Dog #3
The Border
The explosive, highly anticipated conclusion to the epic Cartel trilogy from the New York Times bestselling author of The Force
What do you do when there are no borders? When the lines you thought existed simply vanish? How do you plant your feet to make a stand when you no longer know what side you’re on?
The war has come home.
For over forty years, Art Keller has been on the front lines of America’s longest conflict: The War on Drugs. His obsession to defeat the world’s most powerful, wealthy, and lethal kingpin?the godfather of the Sinaloa Cartel, Adán Barrera?has left him bloody and scarred, cost him the people he loves, even taken a piece of his soul.
Now Keller is elevated to the highest ranks of the DEA, only to find that in destroying one monster he has created thirty more that are wreaking even more chaos and suffering in his beloved Mexico. But not just there.
Barrera’s final legacy is the heroin epidemic scourging America. Throwing himself into the gap to stem the deadly flow, Keller finds himself surrounded by enemies?men who want to kill him, politicians who want to destroy him, and worse, the unimaginable?an incoming administration that’s in bed with the very drug traffickers that Keller is trying to bring down.
Art Keller is at war with not only the cartels, but with his own government. And the long fight has taught him more than he ever imagined. Now, he learns the final lesson?there are no borders.
In a story that moves from deserts of Mexico to Wall Street, from the slums of Guatemala to the marbled corridors of Washington, D.C., Winslow follows a new generation of narcos, the cops who fight them, street traffickers, addicts, politicians, money-launderers, real-estate moguls, and mere children fleeing the violence for the chance of a life in a new country.
A shattering tale of vengeance, violence, corruption and justice, this last novel in Don Winslow’s magnificent, award-winning, internationally bestselling trilogy is packed with unforgettable, drawn-from-the-headlines scenes. Shocking in its brutality, raw in its humanity, The Border is an unflinching portrait of modern America, a story of—and for—our time.
What do you do when there are no borders? When the lines you thought existed simply vanish? How do you plant your feet to make a stand when you no longer know what side you’re on?
The war has come home.
For over forty years, Art Keller has been on the front lines of America’s longest conflict: The War on Drugs. His obsession to defeat the world’s most powerful, wealthy, and lethal kingpin?the godfather of the Sinaloa Cartel, Adán Barrera?has left him bloody and scarred, cost him the people he loves, even taken a piece of his soul.
Now Keller is elevated to the highest ranks of the DEA, only to find that in destroying one monster he has created thirty more that are wreaking even more chaos and suffering in his beloved Mexico. But not just there.
Barrera’s final legacy is the heroin epidemic scourging America. Throwing himself into the gap to stem the deadly flow, Keller finds himself surrounded by enemies?men who want to kill him, politicians who want to destroy him, and worse, the unimaginable?an incoming administration that’s in bed with the very drug traffickers that Keller is trying to bring down.
Art Keller is at war with not only the cartels, but with his own government. And the long fight has taught him more than he ever imagined. Now, he learns the final lesson?there are no borders.
In a story that moves from deserts of Mexico to Wall Street, from the slums of Guatemala to the marbled corridors of Washington, D.C., Winslow follows a new generation of narcos, the cops who fight them, street traffickers, addicts, politicians, money-launderers, real-estate moguls, and mere children fleeing the violence for the chance of a life in a new country.
A shattering tale of vengeance, violence, corruption and justice, this last novel in Don Winslow’s magnificent, award-winning, internationally bestselling trilogy is packed with unforgettable, drawn-from-the-headlines scenes. Shocking in its brutality, raw in its humanity, The Border is an unflinching portrait of modern America, a story of—and for—our time.
768 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 26, 2019
3,389 people are currently reading
11.8k people want to read
About the author
Don Winslow
118books7,059followersDon Winslow is the author of twenty-one acclaimed, award-winning international bestsellers, including the New York Times bestsellers The Force and The Border, the #1 international bestseller The Cartel, The Power of the Dog, Savages, and The Winter of Frankie Machine. Savages was made into a feature film by three-time Oscar-winning writer-director Oliver Stone. The Power of the Dog, The Cartel and The Border sold to FX in a major multimillion-dollar deal to air as a weekly television series beginning in 2020.
A former investigator, antiterrorist trainer and trial consultant, Winslow lives in California and Rhode Island.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. .
A former investigator, antiterrorist trainer and trial consultant, Winslow lives in California and Rhode Island.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. .
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April 2, 2019
They have not yet invented a sufficient number of superlatives to describe how much I loved this book. It's an absolute masterpiece and a very worthy conclusion to the trilogy that Winslow began with in 2005. It's a sweeping epic with a huge cast that clocks in at 720 pages, and there's not a single wasted word in the entire book.
At the center of the story again is Art Keller who, in one capacity or another, has been fighting the war on drugs for forty years. It's taken a very heavy toll on Keller--physically, psychologically, mentally, emotionally and morally. It's also clearly been a losing battle, and for all the money and effort expended, the scourge of drugs plaguing the United States and its southern neighbors has only gotten worse instead of better. By now, though, too many players from the cartels, to the dealers, to the politicians, to the people owning and running the corrections system, et al., have too big a stake in the "war" and are making far too much money and other capital from it, to give it up.
Art Keller has seen this war up close and personal from literally every angle, and as the book opens, he realizes that it's time to fight it on another front. As long as there's a huge demand for illegal drugs in the U.S., and as long as there's so much money to be made from trafficking those drugs, the flow will never stop. And a border wall is certainly no answer, given that ninety percent of the drugs entering the U.S. from Mexico come through legal ports of entry.
Keller gets his chance when he's appointed Director of the DEA, and he determines that, instead of going after the drugs, he will go after the money, assuming that if the profit disappears, so will the drugs. Keller now mounts his own war, with a few trusted confederates and mostly in secret, to take down those who profit most from the profits of illegal drug sales. It's a new front in the war that poses grave dangers to those who would wage it, Art Keller perhaps most of all.
Keller's efforts play out against a huge increase in the violence associated with the drug trade and at a time when a new scourge--heroin--is exploding into the marketplace. The Sinaloa Cartel, which had imposed at least a rough order on the drug trade with the tacit cooperation of both the Mexican and American governments, is breaking up. Several factions are now struggling to dominate all or at least a part of the trade, and the violence associated with the trade has increased significantly, which will make Keller's task all that much more difficult.
While Keller is the main protagonist, Winslow tells this story through the eyes of drug lords, undercover cops, crooked politicians, drug users, financiers, money-launderers and reporters, as well as the immigrants who are struggling to make their way from Central America to a better life in the United States and who often become collateral damage in the drug war.
The story is beautifully written and the cast of characters, though large, contains many individuals who will remain with the reader for a long time to come. It also has a great deal to say about the country we've become in the first quarter of the Twenty-First Century, and Americans from across the political spectrum could learn a great deal from it. This is a book, along with its two predecessors, that I will be returning to, at least occasionally, for as long as I'm still able to read books--one of the best I've read in a very long time.
At the center of the story again is Art Keller who, in one capacity or another, has been fighting the war on drugs for forty years. It's taken a very heavy toll on Keller--physically, psychologically, mentally, emotionally and morally. It's also clearly been a losing battle, and for all the money and effort expended, the scourge of drugs plaguing the United States and its southern neighbors has only gotten worse instead of better. By now, though, too many players from the cartels, to the dealers, to the politicians, to the people owning and running the corrections system, et al., have too big a stake in the "war" and are making far too much money and other capital from it, to give it up.
Art Keller has seen this war up close and personal from literally every angle, and as the book opens, he realizes that it's time to fight it on another front. As long as there's a huge demand for illegal drugs in the U.S., and as long as there's so much money to be made from trafficking those drugs, the flow will never stop. And a border wall is certainly no answer, given that ninety percent of the drugs entering the U.S. from Mexico come through legal ports of entry.
Keller gets his chance when he's appointed Director of the DEA, and he determines that, instead of going after the drugs, he will go after the money, assuming that if the profit disappears, so will the drugs. Keller now mounts his own war, with a few trusted confederates and mostly in secret, to take down those who profit most from the profits of illegal drug sales. It's a new front in the war that poses grave dangers to those who would wage it, Art Keller perhaps most of all.
Keller's efforts play out against a huge increase in the violence associated with the drug trade and at a time when a new scourge--heroin--is exploding into the marketplace. The Sinaloa Cartel, which had imposed at least a rough order on the drug trade with the tacit cooperation of both the Mexican and American governments, is breaking up. Several factions are now struggling to dominate all or at least a part of the trade, and the violence associated with the trade has increased significantly, which will make Keller's task all that much more difficult.
While Keller is the main protagonist, Winslow tells this story through the eyes of drug lords, undercover cops, crooked politicians, drug users, financiers, money-launderers and reporters, as well as the immigrants who are struggling to make their way from Central America to a better life in the United States and who often become collateral damage in the drug war.
The story is beautifully written and the cast of characters, though large, contains many individuals who will remain with the reader for a long time to come. It also has a great deal to say about the country we've become in the first quarter of the Twenty-First Century, and Americans from across the political spectrum could learn a great deal from it. This is a book, along with its two predecessors, that I will be returning to, at least occasionally, for as long as I'm still able to read books--one of the best I've read in a very long time.
September 12, 2021
SOLO I MORTI HANNO VISTO LA FINE DELLA GUERRA
Cosi disse Platone.
Ma questa guerra non finisce mai, è la più lunga di tutte, più di quella del Vietnam, più lunga di quella in Afghanistan: è la guerra alla droga. Che si combatte su un confine lungo tremilaseicento chilometri.
Nel corso dei dieci anni successivi, quella guerra tra cartelli costò la vita a oltre centomila messicani, quasi tutti innocenti. È stato il conflitto più sanguinoso su questo continente dopo la guerra civile americana, e si è svolto praticamente al confine con gli Stati Uniti: Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California�
Art Keller ha trascorso la maggior parte della sua vita combattendo una guerra dall’altro lato del confine, e ora è tornato a casa. Ma la guerra lo ha seguito.
Art Keller e Adán Barrera mi hanno fatto compagnia per duemilacinquecento pagine: Il potere del cane, poi Il cartello e ora questo. Insieme a un mondo cosmo di altri personaggi, uno smisurato numero di madri, mogli, amanti, figli, parenti vari, amici, poliziotti, soldati, agenti, pistoleri, cecchini, killer, pusher, narcotrafficanti, tossici. Al di là del bene e del male.
Un lungo, ungo viaggio al di là del bene e del male. In raffinata compagnia.
In realtà Keller non aveva visto la testa di Quaranta, ma solo la faccia, staccata dal cranio e cucita sopra un pallone da calcio.
Ma Winslow non si limita a raccontare, con dovizia di dettagli e informazioni, come se conoscesse quella realtà dall’interno, per contatto diretto, il mondo dello spaccio e del traffico, i produttori, i trasportatori, gli spacciatori, i consumatori, gli intermediari.
Sale di livello, alza l’obiettivo: questa volta il lungo racconto include il contatto diretto, e iper interessato, tra finanza e droga, tra banche d’investimento e/o istituti finanziari e/o fondi speculativi da una parte e cartelli dall’altro, cifre colossali di denaro da riciclare.
Denaro che è quasi tutto in contante. Denaro che viaggia come viaggia la merce, il prodotto. La droga.
La storia copre il periodo 2014 - 2017: gli anni che chiusero il secondo mandato di Obama, Trump (qui chiamato John Dennison) che si presenta alle elezioni, promette il muro col Messico, promette che lo farà pagare a loro, i messicani, promette inasprimenti durezza, mari & monti, vince le primarie, viene eletto presidente, i suoi primi mesi in carica, la sua twitter addiction�
E suo genero Jared Kushner, qui chiamato Jason Lerner, che è in alta posizione nella “lavanderia� finanziaria dove viene riciclato il contante della droga, milioni di milioni di dollari da ripulire: al punto che i cartelli si comprano la Casa Bianca:
In pratica, se metti in circolazione dieci dollari di droga in un quartiere popolare, vai in galera. Se metti in circolazione trecento milioni di proventi della droga a Wall Street, sei invitato a cena alla Casa Bianca.
E se ancora ci fossero dubbi su come la pensa Art Keller, il grande protagonista di tutti e tre i romanzi:
Gli brucia che la sua nazione abbia votato per un razzista, un fascista, un gangster, un narcisista che ama solo pavoneggiarsi, un uomo che si vanta di aggredire le donne, che prende in giro un disabile, che stringe amicizia con i dittatori.
Un mentitore certificato.
E il quadro è ancora peggiore.
Winslow conferma la sua competenza sulla materia che racconta: al punto che sembra avere un passato da membro di un cartello, esperienza diretta di narcotraffico.
Poi, all’improvviso, un capitolo che è un racconto a sé nel romanzo: a Citta del Guatemala un bambino di dieci anni vive di quello che la discarica offre (regala?). è costretto a scappare, se resta è un uomo morto (un bambino morto). Prende al volo (letteralmente) il treno per el Norte, punta a New York dove ha uno zio. Il treno è soprannominato la Bestia: a sottintendere tutto quello che è facile succeda a bordo (tetto) e nelle immediate vicinanze. Un racconto straziante, e terrorizzante, che si trasforma in una robusta stoccata a quel pazzesco sistema “correzionale� americano che affida le carceri ai privati, i quali ricevono dallo stato un compenso per ciascun giorno che ciascun detenuto rimane dentro, e quindi il profitto cresce più le carceri sono piene.
Magnifico anche il rapporto tra il poliziotto di origine greca infiltrato nel narcotraffico newyorchese e il suo boss afroamericano ex galeotto: la fiducia che si costruisce man mano, la stima, l’amicizia. Ma sotto è tutto un pulsare in attesa del momento in cui l’operazione si concluderà col suo “tradimento�. Impossibile non ripensare a Donnie Brasco-Johnny Depp e Lefty-Al Pacino.
La guerra americana alla droga dura da cinquant’anni, mezzo secolo: è già costata più di mille miliardi di dollari, ha riempito le carceri statunitensi di neri, latini, poveri. La più grande popolazione carceraria del mondo.
È una guerra persa per tutti tranne che per chi ci si arricchisce da una parte e dall’altra del confine: non solo i narcos, ma anche a chi, riciclando i miliardi dei narcotrafficanti, fa affari d’oro.
Le vittime della droga sul suolo americano sono ben maggiori di quelle da incidenti o violenza.
Gli oppiacei sono una risposta al dolore: di quale dolore soffre la società americana che la spinge a cercare droghe con questa caparbietà e quantità?
L’INFERNO È LA VERITÀ VISTA TROPPO TARDI
Thomas Hobbes: Leviatano
Cosi disse Platone.
Ma questa guerra non finisce mai, è la più lunga di tutte, più di quella del Vietnam, più lunga di quella in Afghanistan: è la guerra alla droga. Che si combatte su un confine lungo tremilaseicento chilometri.
Nel corso dei dieci anni successivi, quella guerra tra cartelli costò la vita a oltre centomila messicani, quasi tutti innocenti. È stato il conflitto più sanguinoso su questo continente dopo la guerra civile americana, e si è svolto praticamente al confine con gli Stati Uniti: Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California�
Art Keller ha trascorso la maggior parte della sua vita combattendo una guerra dall’altro lato del confine, e ora è tornato a casa. Ma la guerra lo ha seguito.
Art Keller e Adán Barrera mi hanno fatto compagnia per duemilacinquecento pagine: Il potere del cane, poi Il cartello e ora questo. Insieme a un mondo cosmo di altri personaggi, uno smisurato numero di madri, mogli, amanti, figli, parenti vari, amici, poliziotti, soldati, agenti, pistoleri, cecchini, killer, pusher, narcotrafficanti, tossici. Al di là del bene e del male.
Un lungo, ungo viaggio al di là del bene e del male. In raffinata compagnia.
In realtà Keller non aveva visto la testa di Quaranta, ma solo la faccia, staccata dal cranio e cucita sopra un pallone da calcio.
Ma Winslow non si limita a raccontare, con dovizia di dettagli e informazioni, come se conoscesse quella realtà dall’interno, per contatto diretto, il mondo dello spaccio e del traffico, i produttori, i trasportatori, gli spacciatori, i consumatori, gli intermediari.
Sale di livello, alza l’obiettivo: questa volta il lungo racconto include il contatto diretto, e iper interessato, tra finanza e droga, tra banche d’investimento e/o istituti finanziari e/o fondi speculativi da una parte e cartelli dall’altro, cifre colossali di denaro da riciclare.
Denaro che è quasi tutto in contante. Denaro che viaggia come viaggia la merce, il prodotto. La droga.
La storia copre il periodo 2014 - 2017: gli anni che chiusero il secondo mandato di Obama, Trump (qui chiamato John Dennison) che si presenta alle elezioni, promette il muro col Messico, promette che lo farà pagare a loro, i messicani, promette inasprimenti durezza, mari & monti, vince le primarie, viene eletto presidente, i suoi primi mesi in carica, la sua twitter addiction�
E suo genero Jared Kushner, qui chiamato Jason Lerner, che è in alta posizione nella “lavanderia� finanziaria dove viene riciclato il contante della droga, milioni di milioni di dollari da ripulire: al punto che i cartelli si comprano la Casa Bianca:
In pratica, se metti in circolazione dieci dollari di droga in un quartiere popolare, vai in galera. Se metti in circolazione trecento milioni di proventi della droga a Wall Street, sei invitato a cena alla Casa Bianca.
E se ancora ci fossero dubbi su come la pensa Art Keller, il grande protagonista di tutti e tre i romanzi:
Gli brucia che la sua nazione abbia votato per un razzista, un fascista, un gangster, un narcisista che ama solo pavoneggiarsi, un uomo che si vanta di aggredire le donne, che prende in giro un disabile, che stringe amicizia con i dittatori.
Un mentitore certificato.
E il quadro è ancora peggiore.
Winslow conferma la sua competenza sulla materia che racconta: al punto che sembra avere un passato da membro di un cartello, esperienza diretta di narcotraffico.
Poi, all’improvviso, un capitolo che è un racconto a sé nel romanzo: a Citta del Guatemala un bambino di dieci anni vive di quello che la discarica offre (regala?). è costretto a scappare, se resta è un uomo morto (un bambino morto). Prende al volo (letteralmente) il treno per el Norte, punta a New York dove ha uno zio. Il treno è soprannominato la Bestia: a sottintendere tutto quello che è facile succeda a bordo (tetto) e nelle immediate vicinanze. Un racconto straziante, e terrorizzante, che si trasforma in una robusta stoccata a quel pazzesco sistema “correzionale� americano che affida le carceri ai privati, i quali ricevono dallo stato un compenso per ciascun giorno che ciascun detenuto rimane dentro, e quindi il profitto cresce più le carceri sono piene.
Magnifico anche il rapporto tra il poliziotto di origine greca infiltrato nel narcotraffico newyorchese e il suo boss afroamericano ex galeotto: la fiducia che si costruisce man mano, la stima, l’amicizia. Ma sotto è tutto un pulsare in attesa del momento in cui l’operazione si concluderà col suo “tradimento�. Impossibile non ripensare a Donnie Brasco-Johnny Depp e Lefty-Al Pacino.
La guerra americana alla droga dura da cinquant’anni, mezzo secolo: è già costata più di mille miliardi di dollari, ha riempito le carceri statunitensi di neri, latini, poveri. La più grande popolazione carceraria del mondo.
È una guerra persa per tutti tranne che per chi ci si arricchisce da una parte e dall’altra del confine: non solo i narcos, ma anche a chi, riciclando i miliardi dei narcotrafficanti, fa affari d’oro.
Le vittime della droga sul suolo americano sono ben maggiori di quelle da incidenti o violenza.
Gli oppiacei sono una risposta al dolore: di quale dolore soffre la società americana che la spinge a cercare droghe con questa caparbietà e quantità?
L’INFERNO È LA VERITÀ VISTA TROPPO TARDI
Thomas Hobbes: Leviatano
August 7, 2023
5 🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞
Vayan 5 estrellas como cinco soles a esta magnífica conclusión de la trilogía del poder del perro. Una trilogía que no hubiera sido tal de no haber ascendido Trump a la presidencia americana. Su discurso racista y anti mexicano (amén del famoso muro que tendrían que pagar los propios locales) indujo a Winslow a embarcarse de nuevo en una novela que para él no tendría que haberse escrito. Pero lo hizo, y yo que me alegro infinitamente.
¿Qué todo lo que nos cuenta el autor ya lo hemos leído en novelas anteriores o visto en series sobre este tema? Vale, ¿y qué? ¿Acaso la mayoría de las lecturas actuales no son una copia de cosas que hemos leído anteriormente por activa y por pasiva? Y no hablemos de series y películas, donde tampoco nada (o casi nada) nuevo se ha inventado. Pero esta novela tenía que ser escrita. Y el autor no podía ser otro que Winslow.
“La frontera� vuelve a ser un vehículo de denuncia pública, una denuncia que no abarca sólo el ámbito del narco tráfico, aunque se nutre básicamente de él. Y sí, tiene muchos “actores secundarios�. Pero, en mi opinión, estos enriquecen de forma sublime una trama ya de por sí magnífica, donde todo está bien contado, es creíble, y da tanto asco como la realidad a la que asistimos diariamente en las noticias. Que la podredumbre ha llegado hasta lo más alto (ojo, que Trump no ha inventado nada nuevo, es, simplemente, un fiel discípulo de la religión dominante). Que no hay remedio para este mal. Y, que, si matas al padrino de turno, otros 15 estarán dispuestos a ocupar su lugar, con lo que el remedio puede ser peor que la enfermedad. Menos unión, más caos. Más muertes. O sea, que es mejor dejar al capo carismático y negociador, que vérselas con varios jefecillos locales. Una lección que Art Keller tarda en aprender.
Personalmente, me ha encantado la historia de los secundarios de lujo (Nico, Jacqui, Bobby Cirello, Hugo Hidalgo, Sean Callan, etc). Que Keller sea más o menos creíble al final quizás sea lo de menos, aunque yo prefiero creérmelo. Aquí el que brilla por encima de todos es el propio Winslow, que está a la altura de Ellroy y similares. Por la forma en la que nos lo ha contado. Por no cortarse un pelo en llamar a las cosas por su nombre (aunque para el presidente americano utilice a un tal Dennison y para Jared a Lerner). Y el que sea en formato novela lo hace más digerible que si todo esto lo hubiéramos leído por la prensa. La mierda es la misma, pero ¡qué subidón de lectura!
March 13, 2019
THE BORDER is the last book in the POWER OF THE DOG trilogy. All I can say is WOW.
It was everything I hoped for and more. Brutal criminals, sometimes even more brutal law enforcement, international drug wars, politics, and the absolutely fabulous Ray Porter relating it all in that powerful voice of his.
At this point I feel like Don Winslow and Ray Porter are a part of my life. I've spent dozens of hours with them both and to be honest? I'm going to miss them.
Does Art Keller finally get somewhere in the drug war he's fought his entire life? Will he get to settle down and live a quiet life with Marisol? What about Eddie Ruiz? Callen and Nora? Hell, will any of them even survive? I recommend you read this ASAP so you can find out!
Winslow delivered the goods here and Ray Porter performed the hell out of it.
My highest recommendation!
It was everything I hoped for and more. Brutal criminals, sometimes even more brutal law enforcement, international drug wars, politics, and the absolutely fabulous Ray Porter relating it all in that powerful voice of his.
At this point I feel like Don Winslow and Ray Porter are a part of my life. I've spent dozens of hours with them both and to be honest? I'm going to miss them.
Does Art Keller finally get somewhere in the drug war he's fought his entire life? Will he get to settle down and live a quiet life with Marisol? What about Eddie Ruiz? Callen and Nora? Hell, will any of them even survive? I recommend you read this ASAP so you can find out!
Winslow delivered the goods here and Ray Porter performed the hell out of it.
My highest recommendation!
August 17, 2024
Fin de la famosa y fastuosa trilogía sobre el narcotráfico de Don Winslow. Dos mil quinientas páginas de una narración que es puro diálogo solo interrumpido por palabras sueltas, sentencias o breves párrafos construidos a base de ráfagas de metralletas en forma de frases en las que se relatan atrocidades sin cuento (mención especial al suceso real, como casi todo lo aquí escrito, en el que más de cuarenta estudiantes mexicanos fueron asesinados por el cártel y tirados y quemados en un basurero).
“Ella tenía cuatro años cuando un escuadrón de las PAC entró en su pueblo, en plena región maya, buscando insurgentes comunistas. Rabiosos al no encontrarlos, agarraron a los campesinos, calentaron cables al fuego y se los metieron al rojo vivo por la garganta. Obligaron a las mujeres a prepararles el desayuno y a mirar mientras ordenaban a padres matar a sus hijos y a hijos matar a sus padres. A los que se negaban los rociaban con gasolina y los prendían fuego. Luego violaron a las mujeres. Cuando acabaron con las mujeres, empezaron con las niñas.�En el comentario al segundo de los tomos, «El cártel», me quejaba de que la parte de culpa que el autor reservaba a EE.UU. en toda esta historia, amén de su participación en la sangrienta represión de las guerrillas centroamericanas para las que utilizó el narcotráfico como medio de financiar a grupos paramilitares como el PAC de la cita, se circunscribía a la de ser consumidor, y comentaba “No parece haber policías americanos corruptos, no parecen existir políticos relacionados con el narcotráfico, no hay empresarios norteamericanos colaboradores…�. Bien, esta falla se repara en esta tercera entrega, y de qué forma.
Por supuesto, el papel de EE.UU. como gran consumidor se mantiene y el autor hace una reflexión interesante:
“Tenemos que preguntarnos qué clase de corrupción es la que afecta a nuestro espíritu colectivo como nación para que seamos el mayor consumidor de drogas ilegales del mundo� ¿Qué dolor sufre en su seno la sociedad americana que nos impulsa a buscar drogas para aliviarlo, para mitigarlo? ¿Es la pobreza? ¿La injusticia? ¿El aislamiento?�Todo esto puede ser parte de la explicación, pero quizás la respuesta esté más relacionada con la adoración al dios todopoderoso que domina a este país, ya de por sí extremadamente religioso: el dinero, y, junto a él, el ansia de poder y de éxito, en la peor de sus acepciones.
“¿De veras crees que alguien tiene verdadero interés en ganar esta guerra? Nadie quiere ganarla. Lo que les interesa es que siga. No puedes ser tan ingenuo. Decenas de miles de millones al año en policía, equipamiento, prisiones... Es un negocio. La guerra contra las droga es un gran negocio.�Y a continuación añade: “Y eso implica comprar influencia en los niveles más altos del gobierno de Estados Unidos�. ¿Cómo de altos? A ver si reconocen a la persona de la que se queja este personaje de la novela:
“Lo que le deprime es la pérdida de un ideal, una identidad, una imagen de lo que es este país. O era. Que esté país vote a un racista, a un fascista, a un gángster, a un narcisista fanfarrón y jactancioso, a un fantoche. A un hombre que presume de agredir a mujeres, que se burla de un discapacitado, que se cierra con dictadores. A un mentiroso redomado�En efecto, el mismo que quiso hacer un muro en la frontera, el mismo que tiene un yerno al que Winslow acusa de ser el enlace de su suegro con los cárteles de México y de ser un elemento importante en el lavado del dinero procedente de la droga. Nada más y nada menos.
“Ha estado cuarenta años en guerra con los cárteles mexicanos. Ahora está en guerra con su propio gobierno. Y son lo mismo. El sindicato.�Pero, qué sé yo, solo puedo decir que llevaba a cuestas dos gruesos libros y quizás este me llevó muy cerca de la frontera con la muerte por sobredosis de crueldades, traiciones, egos desmedidos, atrocidades, injusticias y mierdas infinitas. No me parece que desmerezca como fin de la trilogía, pero me encontró cansado.
April 9, 2019
They say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result. So maybe America should start questioning its ‘war on drugs� which is almost 50 years old now?
Nah. Let’s just keep doing the same thing we always have. It’s gotta work eventually.
Art Keller’s story began in The Power of the Dog when he was a young DEA agent dispatched to Mexico in the �70s. There he got into a feud with Adán Barrera who becomes one of the most powerful cartel kingpins, and their bloody fight would go on for years. Keller’s efforts to bring him to justice were complicated by the US’s covert support of the drug trade to fund anti-communist operations in Central and South America. The war between Keller and Barrera goes on past the turn of the century in The Cartel when a power struggle in Mexico leads to stunning levels of violence and corruption.
Now America’s dependence on opioids has created an expanding market for heroin and fentanyl, and Keller has been appointed head of the DEA to try and stem the tide. Keller’s strategy is to adopt a more tolerant attitude to low-level users and dealers while going after the high level money men profiting from the trade. Unfortunately, a loud-mouthed presidential candidate accuses him of being soft on crime while pointing the finger at illegal immigration and Mexican government corruption, and Keller has to beware of right wingers in his own agency trying to sabotage him.
Then Keller gets evidence indicating that the candidate’s son-in-law is about to launder hundreds of millions of dollars in cartel money under the guise of a real estate deal, but just trying to investigate it will mean being smeared by the alt-right even as he fears that the cartels have just bought the White House. Meanwhile, there’s another vicious war for control of the drug trade going on in Mexico, and host of people like a small time junkie, an undercover cop, the son of a slain DEA agent, a young boy fleeing gang violence in his own country, and a retired hit man are all caught up in the chaos in various ways.
Don Winslow has been researching and writing about the Mexican drug trade for years now, and he’s got a lot to say about the ultimate futility of trying to stop it with cops. He’s also not shy about pointing out the hypocrisy of how America is the biggest customer of this trade while blaming other countries like Mexico for it. Winslow’s trilogy makes these social and political points while also delivering an epic crime tale with Art Keller at its center. These aren’t just entertaining books, they feel like important books.
Unfortunately, this one was a little hard for me to read because it all too accurately mirrors current events with the character of John Dennison, a liar/ racist/ fraud/ criminal/ asshole who somehow becomes president of the United States that was obviously created as a stand-in for the real thing. For the purposes of this book Winslow has shifted the dirty dealings from Russian oligarchs to Mexican drug lords, but honestly, if we found out that the orange shitbag had taken cartel money, would anyone really be surprised?
Since reality is such a bummer these days it made reading this even more depressing than the other books. It’s relevant and good, but it is tough to read a fictional version of America destroying itself in ways that are really happening.
Nah. Let’s just keep doing the same thing we always have. It’s gotta work eventually.
Art Keller’s story began in The Power of the Dog when he was a young DEA agent dispatched to Mexico in the �70s. There he got into a feud with Adán Barrera who becomes one of the most powerful cartel kingpins, and their bloody fight would go on for years. Keller’s efforts to bring him to justice were complicated by the US’s covert support of the drug trade to fund anti-communist operations in Central and South America. The war between Keller and Barrera goes on past the turn of the century in The Cartel when a power struggle in Mexico leads to stunning levels of violence and corruption.
Now America’s dependence on opioids has created an expanding market for heroin and fentanyl, and Keller has been appointed head of the DEA to try and stem the tide. Keller’s strategy is to adopt a more tolerant attitude to low-level users and dealers while going after the high level money men profiting from the trade. Unfortunately, a loud-mouthed presidential candidate accuses him of being soft on crime while pointing the finger at illegal immigration and Mexican government corruption, and Keller has to beware of right wingers in his own agency trying to sabotage him.
Then Keller gets evidence indicating that the candidate’s son-in-law is about to launder hundreds of millions of dollars in cartel money under the guise of a real estate deal, but just trying to investigate it will mean being smeared by the alt-right even as he fears that the cartels have just bought the White House. Meanwhile, there’s another vicious war for control of the drug trade going on in Mexico, and host of people like a small time junkie, an undercover cop, the son of a slain DEA agent, a young boy fleeing gang violence in his own country, and a retired hit man are all caught up in the chaos in various ways.
Don Winslow has been researching and writing about the Mexican drug trade for years now, and he’s got a lot to say about the ultimate futility of trying to stop it with cops. He’s also not shy about pointing out the hypocrisy of how America is the biggest customer of this trade while blaming other countries like Mexico for it. Winslow’s trilogy makes these social and political points while also delivering an epic crime tale with Art Keller at its center. These aren’t just entertaining books, they feel like important books.
Unfortunately, this one was a little hard for me to read because it all too accurately mirrors current events with the character of John Dennison, a liar/ racist/ fraud/ criminal/ asshole who somehow becomes president of the United States that was obviously created as a stand-in for the real thing. For the purposes of this book Winslow has shifted the dirty dealings from Russian oligarchs to Mexican drug lords, but honestly, if we found out that the orange shitbag had taken cartel money, would anyone really be surprised?
Since reality is such a bummer these days it made reading this even more depressing than the other books. It’s relevant and good, but it is tough to read a fictional version of America destroying itself in ways that are really happening.
May 23, 2019
This was one of the most epic reading experiences I've had in a very long time. This is the massive conclusion to Don Winslow's Border Trilogy, THE definitive piece of fiction that focuses on the War on Drugs. Throughout these three big books, Winslow leaves no stone unturned in this subject and passionately challenges what you know about the Border Crisis and the American/Mexican Drug War. But even more importantly, he tells the great story of the tumultuous, decades-long personal war between DEA agent Art Keller and Sinaloa Cartel patrón Adan Barrera.
After the big turning point in the finale of the previous book, The Cartel, Art Keller is now the head of the DEA and is trying to fight the Drug War from the very top levels of government. But at the same time, a new breed of cartel leaders are threatening a new level of violence in Mexico.
With this book, Winslow expands his focus ten-fold, the same way The Wire did with each of it's episodes, and begins to focus on every conceivable corner of the Drug War and all its players: from the cartel leaders, to a NYPD undercover officer, an aging hitman who comes out of hiding, a 10-year-old Guatemalan illegal immigrant, a tormented young Staten Island junkie, and finally a reality-show host and real estate mogul running for president with a love of Twitter and a desire to build a bigger wall along the Mexican border. This large cast of characters shows how far reaching this war is and helps give the story it's epic scope. Winslow also brings back storylines from the previous novels and brings it all to a satisfying end.
There's no other writer quite like Don Winslow. This book shouldn't have worked for me. It's filled with documentary-style focus on detail and sometimes feels like a political essay. But it's so goddammned entertaining that it never bothered me. His writing is so readable that I could've kept reading happily for 500 more pages. I don't want to talk too much about the story but there are so many exciting moments, and even one moment that made me actually shout and clap, and then stop in embarrassment because I shouldn't be cheering at an inanimate object.
The book isn't the most subtle, with it's blatant and inelegant, but spot-on Trump avatar character and a final speech that's basically Winslow's Drug War dissertation, but I had such a great time reading this and was so engaged by the riveting, horrifying, sometimes amusing, and always important story that I can't give it anything but 5 stars. This was fantastic and exhilarating and would recommend it to anyone who's enjoyed the previous books, except maybe sensitive Trump fans.
After the big turning point in the finale of the previous book, The Cartel, Art Keller is now the head of the DEA and is trying to fight the Drug War from the very top levels of government. But at the same time, a new breed of cartel leaders are threatening a new level of violence in Mexico.
With this book, Winslow expands his focus ten-fold, the same way The Wire did with each of it's episodes, and begins to focus on every conceivable corner of the Drug War and all its players: from the cartel leaders, to a NYPD undercover officer, an aging hitman who comes out of hiding, a 10-year-old Guatemalan illegal immigrant, a tormented young Staten Island junkie, and finally a reality-show host and real estate mogul running for president with a love of Twitter and a desire to build a bigger wall along the Mexican border. This large cast of characters shows how far reaching this war is and helps give the story it's epic scope. Winslow also brings back storylines from the previous novels and brings it all to a satisfying end.
There's no other writer quite like Don Winslow. This book shouldn't have worked for me. It's filled with documentary-style focus on detail and sometimes feels like a political essay. But it's so goddammned entertaining that it never bothered me. His writing is so readable that I could've kept reading happily for 500 more pages. I don't want to talk too much about the story but there are so many exciting moments, and even one moment that made me actually shout and clap, and then stop in embarrassment because I shouldn't be cheering at an inanimate object.
The book isn't the most subtle, with it's blatant and inelegant, but spot-on Trump avatar character and a final speech that's basically Winslow's Drug War dissertation, but I had such a great time reading this and was so engaged by the riveting, horrifying, sometimes amusing, and always important story that I can't give it anything but 5 stars. This was fantastic and exhilarating and would recommend it to anyone who's enjoyed the previous books, except maybe sensitive Trump fans.
March 6, 2019
The Final Book of the Trilogy
The Border is the final concluding chapter to Winslow’s magnum opus, his trilogy about the long-running drug war. Like the first two lengthy chapters in the trilogy, The Power the Dog and the Cartel, The Border is a broad, sweeping epic telling multiple storylines. However, unlike the first two books, along with the glorious rich characters and history, Winslow included thinly-veiled political smear attacks which were unnecessary to the story and cheapened his art.
In any event, the Border continues the decades-long sweeping epic begun in the first two books. It is the story of the drug cartels, their formation, their evolution, and the seemingly insurmountable and insidious problem they have become, eating away at both American life and life south of the border. If anything, the rise of the drug cartels has had a far more devastating effect in Mexico and Guatemala than here in the States as wars between the different factions have resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths, brutality on a scale barely imaginable, corruption, and devastation.
What Winslow does so skillfully in this book and the previous two is he personalizes the drug war both in the person of Art Keller, the DEA agent and the that of the warring drug kingpins.
Adan Barrera is now dead and gone and the young Turks, the young Hijos are now rising. It’s a new generation born in drug wealth and power who all party together and are best friends. But, power and money corrupt. And, there’s no way out. They either have to claw their way up or go down in a blaze of glory. The young princes are trapped no different than the kid in the Barrio. And eventually even Art Keller sees that taking out one drug kingpin, even Adan Barrera, only leaves an empty seat for another to fill. Taking down one cartel only leaves an opening for another cartel to move in. The result is an endless war with no end in sight.
Winslow is a master at diagnosing the problem but not much at prescribing a solution. He uses the trilogy to argue that meeting the cartels with force will not work and that legalization of drugs - not just marijuana- will take the profit motive out it. And he argues that a wall will not stem the tide. But, he offers no solutions to why so many want to drown themselves in drugs. Why so many want to drop out of modern life. And, in places where hard drugs are legal, don’t we just end up with an army of zombies? Surrendering to despair is no Solution. And, the extraordinary violence coming over the border - no matter its ultimate roots - is unacceptable.
The Border is the final concluding chapter to Winslow’s magnum opus, his trilogy about the long-running drug war. Like the first two lengthy chapters in the trilogy, The Power the Dog and the Cartel, The Border is a broad, sweeping epic telling multiple storylines. However, unlike the first two books, along with the glorious rich characters and history, Winslow included thinly-veiled political smear attacks which were unnecessary to the story and cheapened his art.
In any event, the Border continues the decades-long sweeping epic begun in the first two books. It is the story of the drug cartels, their formation, their evolution, and the seemingly insurmountable and insidious problem they have become, eating away at both American life and life south of the border. If anything, the rise of the drug cartels has had a far more devastating effect in Mexico and Guatemala than here in the States as wars between the different factions have resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths, brutality on a scale barely imaginable, corruption, and devastation.
What Winslow does so skillfully in this book and the previous two is he personalizes the drug war both in the person of Art Keller, the DEA agent and the that of the warring drug kingpins.
Adan Barrera is now dead and gone and the young Turks, the young Hijos are now rising. It’s a new generation born in drug wealth and power who all party together and are best friends. But, power and money corrupt. And, there’s no way out. They either have to claw their way up or go down in a blaze of glory. The young princes are trapped no different than the kid in the Barrio. And eventually even Art Keller sees that taking out one drug kingpin, even Adan Barrera, only leaves an empty seat for another to fill. Taking down one cartel only leaves an opening for another cartel to move in. The result is an endless war with no end in sight.
Winslow is a master at diagnosing the problem but not much at prescribing a solution. He uses the trilogy to argue that meeting the cartels with force will not work and that legalization of drugs - not just marijuana- will take the profit motive out it. And he argues that a wall will not stem the tide. But, he offers no solutions to why so many want to drown themselves in drugs. Why so many want to drop out of modern life. And, in places where hard drugs are legal, don’t we just end up with an army of zombies? Surrendering to despair is no Solution. And, the extraordinary violence coming over the border - no matter its ultimate roots - is unacceptable.
March 4, 2021
Mr. Winslow knows how to write action! Somewhat unfortunately, there are at least several stories here combined into one. For sure, two stories would have been better as stand alones. We need more joy. Finally, the ending could use more positivity. 7 of 10 stars
June 14, 2020
Último libro de la trilogía del "Perro". Esta vez Winslow nos traslada a la selva americana (Nueva York, Las Vegas, Washington, San Diego, etc) sin dejar de lado la selva del sur.
Es una trilogía para tener a la vista en todo momento, en un estante de privilegio, para que, cuando venga alguien de visita y vea los tres tomos, les puedas decir: "sí, los he leído y haz el puto favor de hacer lo mismo". Uno no puede leer estos libros y quedar indiferente. Enseñan. Enseñan mucho. Sobre todo, enseñan un hecho: la vida está llena de matices. No hay un solo color para todo. Lo que, a priori, puede resultar bueno, tal vez, después, sea malo y viceversa. Cada acción desencadena sus consiguientes consecuencias en una catarata imparable.
Si alguien estaba buscando al héroe moderno que deje de hacerlo. Ha sido encontrado. Yo quiero ser como Art (Arturo) Keller. Killer Keller.
Last book of the "Dog" trilogy. This time Winslow takes us to the American jungle (New York, Las Vegas, Washington, San Diego, etc.) without neglecting the southern jungle.
It is a trilogy to keep in view at all times, on a privileged shelf, so that, when someone comes to visit and see the three volumes, you can tell them: "yes, I have read them and do the fucking favor of doing the same". One cannot read these books and remain indifferent. They teach. They teach a lot. Above all, they teach a fact: life is full of nuances. There is no one color for everything. What, a priori, can be good, perhaps, later, is bad and vice versa. Each action triggers its consequent consequences in an unstoppable waterfall.
If someone was looking for the modern hero, stop doing it. He has been found. I want to be like Art (Arturo) Keller. Killer Keller.
Es una trilogía para tener a la vista en todo momento, en un estante de privilegio, para que, cuando venga alguien de visita y vea los tres tomos, les puedas decir: "sí, los he leído y haz el puto favor de hacer lo mismo". Uno no puede leer estos libros y quedar indiferente. Enseñan. Enseñan mucho. Sobre todo, enseñan un hecho: la vida está llena de matices. No hay un solo color para todo. Lo que, a priori, puede resultar bueno, tal vez, después, sea malo y viceversa. Cada acción desencadena sus consiguientes consecuencias en una catarata imparable.
Si alguien estaba buscando al héroe moderno que deje de hacerlo. Ha sido encontrado. Yo quiero ser como Art (Arturo) Keller. Killer Keller.
Last book of the "Dog" trilogy. This time Winslow takes us to the American jungle (New York, Las Vegas, Washington, San Diego, etc.) without neglecting the southern jungle.
It is a trilogy to keep in view at all times, on a privileged shelf, so that, when someone comes to visit and see the three volumes, you can tell them: "yes, I have read them and do the fucking favor of doing the same". One cannot read these books and remain indifferent. They teach. They teach a lot. Above all, they teach a fact: life is full of nuances. There is no one color for everything. What, a priori, can be good, perhaps, later, is bad and vice versa. Each action triggers its consequent consequences in an unstoppable waterfall.
If someone was looking for the modern hero, stop doing it. He has been found. I want to be like Art (Arturo) Keller. Killer Keller.
March 6, 2019
4.5 stars. The first two books in this trilogy were perfection, I removed a half star from this one because there were two or three chapters that I felt did not fit into the overall flow and were a bit unnecessary. That being said I feel that these books deserve a place amongst the very best of crime fiction. More happens in any given thirty pages of these books than in most four hundred page books by anyone else. Gigantic cast of characters, non-stop action and drama, and real life tie-ins to actual events, although the names have been changed in some instances. I raced through this one and read it during most of my free time and while I was bummed it ended, it's good to know that Winslow is a pretty young guy and probably has a lot more good books in him because I love reading his work. He has a way of keeping everything in focus and even with all the characters and locations I was able to keep who was who and where they were clear in mind even though it had been years since I read the first two novels. I recommend these books to anyone and everyone because of how entertaining and informative they are as well as being relevant to the current status of our communities, rich or poor.
P.S.- I'm a substance abuse counselor so the topic hits close to home.
P.S.- I'm a substance abuse counselor so the topic hits close to home.
March 30, 2019
This was so disappointing.
Power of the dog & Cartel are pure brilliance and they place on the top of my favourite all time books, therefore I was very excited and bought The Border as soon as it came out.
Then the cold shower hit, to put it simple The border is un-interesting, boring and almost unreadable. The obsession with Trump is an absolute non-sense, it ruins the story and its credibility.
It seems like Don Winslow blinded by his personal political views has lost his sense of balance and nuance that were so present in the two first books.
Sad, very sad this series deserved something so much better than this.
Power of the dog & Cartel are pure brilliance and they place on the top of my favourite all time books, therefore I was very excited and bought The Border as soon as it came out.
Then the cold shower hit, to put it simple The border is un-interesting, boring and almost unreadable. The obsession with Trump is an absolute non-sense, it ruins the story and its credibility.
It seems like Don Winslow blinded by his personal political views has lost his sense of balance and nuance that were so present in the two first books.
Sad, very sad this series deserved something so much better than this.
March 12, 2019
Twice now, Don Winslow believed he was out.
After finishing 2005’s The Power of the Dog, he’d felt he said his piece on the war on drugs. Then, nearly a decade later, he sat down at a keyboard and started typing what would become his follow-up to The Power of the Dog, The Cartel. After that, he was positive he was finished.
Then came Trump. All the talk about walls. Mexicans as rapists and the never-ending opioid epidemic pushed Winslow back into the world he swore he’d left behind.
Hello darkness my old friend.. I’ve come to talk with you again..
The Border takes place everywhere but the novel’s namesake. We’re all over the map in this story. Some of it takes place in Washington, DC as it follows Art Keller and his new role as head of the DEA. Other parts of the story take us to New York City, where we follow an undercover operation to stop the flow of heroin into the Big Apple. We’re also taken to Mexico as the power structure of the drug cartels has fractured following the death of undisputed overlord, El Patron, Adan Barrera. Other smaller stories make up the overreaching story including revisiting former mob hit man Sean Callan as well as a look into the journey of a boy from Guadalajara as he makes his trek to the United States.
There’s a lot more I could go into, but I’m fearful of spoilers.
Unlike its predecessors, The Border is more focused on the inner workings of the drug trade rather than the heavy focus on violence you saw in both The Power of the Dog and The Cartel. Don’t get me wrong, there are still scenes that will blow you away but they’re more to do with the unimaginable depth of corruption on Wall Street and inside Washington, DC. I found this endlessly fascinating. Winslow basically swaps out Russia for the drug cartels in Mexico and ties them up with the current administration. He cleverly swaps out Donald Trump and Jared Kushner for “John Dennison� and “Jason Lerner� but changes very little about the way they operate and speak (at least for Trump). I absolutely loved this � the last one hundred pages or so belong strictly in the “un-put-downable� category.
As for the other aspects of the story, Winslow spotlights the very real impact of the drug trade on the vulnerable. This includes both addicts as well as impressionable youth who get caught up in dealing through street gangs. I can’t go too deep into this without giving away some major plot points, but there are more than a few thrilling moments along with some heartbreaking ones as well.
In closing, Don Winslow’s Cartel Trilogy is an achievement. It is a trilogy of pulse-pounding action and unflinching violence coupled with deep, intense research showcasing an uncompromising look at the widespread effect of the never-ending war on drugs.
And he saved the best for last.
After finishing 2005’s The Power of the Dog, he’d felt he said his piece on the war on drugs. Then, nearly a decade later, he sat down at a keyboard and started typing what would become his follow-up to The Power of the Dog, The Cartel. After that, he was positive he was finished.
Then came Trump. All the talk about walls. Mexicans as rapists and the never-ending opioid epidemic pushed Winslow back into the world he swore he’d left behind.
Hello darkness my old friend.. I’ve come to talk with you again..
The Border takes place everywhere but the novel’s namesake. We’re all over the map in this story. Some of it takes place in Washington, DC as it follows Art Keller and his new role as head of the DEA. Other parts of the story take us to New York City, where we follow an undercover operation to stop the flow of heroin into the Big Apple. We’re also taken to Mexico as the power structure of the drug cartels has fractured following the death of undisputed overlord, El Patron, Adan Barrera. Other smaller stories make up the overreaching story including revisiting former mob hit man Sean Callan as well as a look into the journey of a boy from Guadalajara as he makes his trek to the United States.
There’s a lot more I could go into, but I’m fearful of spoilers.
Unlike its predecessors, The Border is more focused on the inner workings of the drug trade rather than the heavy focus on violence you saw in both The Power of the Dog and The Cartel. Don’t get me wrong, there are still scenes that will blow you away but they’re more to do with the unimaginable depth of corruption on Wall Street and inside Washington, DC. I found this endlessly fascinating. Winslow basically swaps out Russia for the drug cartels in Mexico and ties them up with the current administration. He cleverly swaps out Donald Trump and Jared Kushner for “John Dennison� and “Jason Lerner� but changes very little about the way they operate and speak (at least for Trump). I absolutely loved this � the last one hundred pages or so belong strictly in the “un-put-downable� category.
As for the other aspects of the story, Winslow spotlights the very real impact of the drug trade on the vulnerable. This includes both addicts as well as impressionable youth who get caught up in dealing through street gangs. I can’t go too deep into this without giving away some major plot points, but there are more than a few thrilling moments along with some heartbreaking ones as well.
In closing, Don Winslow’s Cartel Trilogy is an achievement. It is a trilogy of pulse-pounding action and unflinching violence coupled with deep, intense research showcasing an uncompromising look at the widespread effect of the never-ending war on drugs.
And he saved the best for last.
July 12, 2022
La frontera
Enorme conclusión de la trilogía sobre el narcotráfico mexicano comenzada con El poder del perro.
Cronológicamente se puede decir que este libro cuenta la lucha por el poder de los diferentes cárteles después de que el Chapo fuese encarcelado.
Winslow no se contenta con esto y centra la lucha contra los narcos desde donde está el dinero. Así, el agente Keller dispondrá una estrategia para atrapar a las organizaciones que ayudan a lavar el dinero de los narcos, lo que supondrá llegar hasta personas influyentes.
Llena de capítulos memorables, la novela no baja en ningún momento su intensidad. Mientras los líderes de los cárteles se disputan el liderazgo a su manera, tenemos apariciones míticas como la de "Billy el niño" Callan que vuelve de su retiro, un personaje que, como se diría en el mundo del cine: él solo llena la pantalla. Aquí vuelan las páginas con él.
Tenemos historias paralelas para hacernos una idea de cómo lo viven otras personas, que son como daños colaterales de las drogas y este mundo: drogadictos, pandilleros, o el viaje desde centroamerica hasta la frontera con Estados Unidos.
Y qué decir de Keller, un personaje incorruptible, representante de la justicia, muchas veces divina. Un tipo en el que, yo creo, se ve reflejado el mismo Winslow, un escritor muy implicado en redes sociales como activista contra la extrema derecha.
Para mí, la novela es de cinco estrellas. No obstante creo que el final se le ha ido un poco de las manos. Presentar un supuesto Trump de hacendado como la super corrupción después de 50 años de lucha contra el narcotráfico me ha parecido una sobrada.
Pero esto es una mezcla de realidad y ficción, el autor ordena la novela a su conveniencia para lograr un resultado coherente y en esta tenía que finalizar la trilogía que le ha llevado veinte años de investigación. Historia que abarca desde 1975 hasta 2018 y donde Winslow ha puesto toda su rabia con un lenguaje explícito para ser lo más convincente posible.
Como dice Keller, no hay droga si no hay dinero. No se puede cargar toda la responsabilidad en el pueblo mexicano y como dice El Canelo Álvarez después de un combate:
¡VIVA MEXICO CABRONES!
Enorme conclusión de la trilogía sobre el narcotráfico mexicano comenzada con El poder del perro.
Cronológicamente se puede decir que este libro cuenta la lucha por el poder de los diferentes cárteles después de que el Chapo fuese encarcelado.
Winslow no se contenta con esto y centra la lucha contra los narcos desde donde está el dinero. Así, el agente Keller dispondrá una estrategia para atrapar a las organizaciones que ayudan a lavar el dinero de los narcos, lo que supondrá llegar hasta personas influyentes.
Llena de capítulos memorables, la novela no baja en ningún momento su intensidad. Mientras los líderes de los cárteles se disputan el liderazgo a su manera, tenemos apariciones míticas como la de "Billy el niño" Callan que vuelve de su retiro, un personaje que, como se diría en el mundo del cine: él solo llena la pantalla. Aquí vuelan las páginas con él.
Tenemos historias paralelas para hacernos una idea de cómo lo viven otras personas, que son como daños colaterales de las drogas y este mundo: drogadictos, pandilleros, o el viaje desde centroamerica hasta la frontera con Estados Unidos.
Y qué decir de Keller, un personaje incorruptible, representante de la justicia, muchas veces divina. Un tipo en el que, yo creo, se ve reflejado el mismo Winslow, un escritor muy implicado en redes sociales como activista contra la extrema derecha.
Para mí, la novela es de cinco estrellas. No obstante creo que el final se le ha ido un poco de las manos. Presentar un supuesto Trump de hacendado como la super corrupción después de 50 años de lucha contra el narcotráfico me ha parecido una sobrada.
Pero esto es una mezcla de realidad y ficción, el autor ordena la novela a su conveniencia para lograr un resultado coherente y en esta tenía que finalizar la trilogía que le ha llevado veinte años de investigación. Historia que abarca desde 1975 hasta 2018 y donde Winslow ha puesto toda su rabia con un lenguaje explícito para ser lo más convincente posible.
Como dice Keller, no hay droga si no hay dinero. No se puede cargar toda la responsabilidad en el pueblo mexicano y como dice El Canelo Álvarez después de un combate:
¡VIVA MEXICO CABRONES!
March 10, 2019
Disappointing
I couldn't wait for this to come out. I sped through the first 2 books. This is way too California anti Trump syndrome to ignore. I hate paying to have politics rammed down my throat.
I couldn't wait for this to come out. I sped through the first 2 books. This is way too California anti Trump syndrome to ignore. I hate paying to have politics rammed down my throat.
October 31, 2022
An excellent conclusion to this series! Though it's long, I was not bored for a minute. A truly talented author!
August 4, 2019
Dall’altro lato del confine
Terzo e teoricamente* ultimo capitolo dell’eccellente trilogia iniziata con “Il potere del cane� (2005), The Border � il confine(2018) non può competere con la folgorante originalità del capostipite, se non altro perché dopo 13 anni il tema narcotraffico ha saturato l’immaginario collettivo con un’infinità di libri, film, serie tv e inchieste giornalistiche.
Forse consapevole di questo rischio, Winslow ha (parzialmente) modificato il tiro introducendo nuovi temi rispetto ai precedenti due romanzi concentrati sulla lotta infinita e cruenta fra i cartelli per il predominio del mercato in tutte le sue fasi e sul confronto impari col potere politico messicano, a sua volta marcio, corrotto e colluso con gli stessi narcotrafficanti.
La correzione di rotta origina dalla consapevolezza che coglie il protagonista Keller, agente e poi direttore della D.E.A. americana dopo l’ennesima frustrazione nel vedere risorgere la piovra, appena decapitata dei suoi capi e già ereditata da los hijos, i figli, una nuova generazione se possibile ancora più avida e feroce di quella dei padri: “per cinquant’anni il nostro sforzo principale è stato diretto a fermare il flusso di droga da sud a nord. La mia idea è di rovesciare le priorità e provare a fermare il flusso di denaro da nord a sud. Se smettono di ricevere soldi, la motivazione per inviare droga al Nord diminuirà. Non possiamo distruggere i cartelli in Messico. Forse possiamo farli morire di fame lavorando negli Stati Uniti�
Questa considerazione sposta l’obiettivo dell’Agenzia (e il fulcro della narrazione di Winslow) sulle attività “legali� attraverso le quali devono passare le enormi quantità di contanti prodotti dal narcotraffico per essere riciclati prima di potere essere spesi.
Data la gran mole del romanzo (quasi 1000 pagine!) e l’articolazione in decine di personaggi, restano ancora interi capitoli, soprattutto nella prima parte, dedicati allo scontro mortale fra cartelli e famiglie. Ma l’orientamento delle indagini mirato alla ricerca della confluenza (per distruggerla�!) fra il narcotraffico che viene dal basso e il denaro che viene dall’alto porta nuovi scenari e nuove tipologie di personaggio (banchieri senza scrupoli, speculatori edilizi in cerca di foraggio, intermediari politici) in una progressiva e criptata caccia al pesce sempre più grosso che arriva alle soglie del pesce più grosso che si possa immaginare, un candidato Presidente che nel corso del romanzo arriverà a vincere inaspettatamente le elezioni, un magnate sbruffone e ricchissimo che vuole “costruire un vero muro sul confine fra Usa e Messico� (vi ricorda qualcuno�?).
Un’altra positiva novità de “Il confine� rispetto ai precedenti è l’assunzione nella trama di due personaggi “qualunque� (una tossica da strada di Staten Island e un bambino guatemalteco in fuga dalla discarica in cui è vissuto) che contribuiscono a fornire una visione a 360° del narcotraffico in tutte le sue atroci conseguenze e implicazioni.
*”teoricamente ultimo� perché le vicende di diversi personaggi, anche importanti, non sembrano trovare una conclusione definitiva: spero che ciò non preluda ad un forzato prolungamento della trilogia, perfetta così com’�.
Terzo e teoricamente* ultimo capitolo dell’eccellente trilogia iniziata con “Il potere del cane� (2005), The Border � il confine(2018) non può competere con la folgorante originalità del capostipite, se non altro perché dopo 13 anni il tema narcotraffico ha saturato l’immaginario collettivo con un’infinità di libri, film, serie tv e inchieste giornalistiche.
Forse consapevole di questo rischio, Winslow ha (parzialmente) modificato il tiro introducendo nuovi temi rispetto ai precedenti due romanzi concentrati sulla lotta infinita e cruenta fra i cartelli per il predominio del mercato in tutte le sue fasi e sul confronto impari col potere politico messicano, a sua volta marcio, corrotto e colluso con gli stessi narcotrafficanti.
La correzione di rotta origina dalla consapevolezza che coglie il protagonista Keller, agente e poi direttore della D.E.A. americana dopo l’ennesima frustrazione nel vedere risorgere la piovra, appena decapitata dei suoi capi e già ereditata da los hijos, i figli, una nuova generazione se possibile ancora più avida e feroce di quella dei padri: “per cinquant’anni il nostro sforzo principale è stato diretto a fermare il flusso di droga da sud a nord. La mia idea è di rovesciare le priorità e provare a fermare il flusso di denaro da nord a sud. Se smettono di ricevere soldi, la motivazione per inviare droga al Nord diminuirà. Non possiamo distruggere i cartelli in Messico. Forse possiamo farli morire di fame lavorando negli Stati Uniti�
Questa considerazione sposta l’obiettivo dell’Agenzia (e il fulcro della narrazione di Winslow) sulle attività “legali� attraverso le quali devono passare le enormi quantità di contanti prodotti dal narcotraffico per essere riciclati prima di potere essere spesi.
Data la gran mole del romanzo (quasi 1000 pagine!) e l’articolazione in decine di personaggi, restano ancora interi capitoli, soprattutto nella prima parte, dedicati allo scontro mortale fra cartelli e famiglie. Ma l’orientamento delle indagini mirato alla ricerca della confluenza (per distruggerla�!) fra il narcotraffico che viene dal basso e il denaro che viene dall’alto porta nuovi scenari e nuove tipologie di personaggio (banchieri senza scrupoli, speculatori edilizi in cerca di foraggio, intermediari politici) in una progressiva e criptata caccia al pesce sempre più grosso che arriva alle soglie del pesce più grosso che si possa immaginare, un candidato Presidente che nel corso del romanzo arriverà a vincere inaspettatamente le elezioni, un magnate sbruffone e ricchissimo che vuole “costruire un vero muro sul confine fra Usa e Messico� (vi ricorda qualcuno�?).
Un’altra positiva novità de “Il confine� rispetto ai precedenti è l’assunzione nella trama di due personaggi “qualunque� (una tossica da strada di Staten Island e un bambino guatemalteco in fuga dalla discarica in cui è vissuto) che contribuiscono a fornire una visione a 360° del narcotraffico in tutte le sue atroci conseguenze e implicazioni.
*”teoricamente ultimo� perché le vicende di diversi personaggi, anche importanti, non sembrano trovare una conclusione definitiva: spero che ciò non preluda ad un forzato prolungamento della trilogia, perfetta così com’�.
December 21, 2022
Fin a una trilogía que recordaré siempre.
No sé muy bien que añadir que no haya dicho ya, porque La Frontera mantiene las mismas virtudes que sus predecesoras.
Quizá, en esta ocasión la novela se desgaja en más subtramas, y aunque los capítulos que transcurren en México siempre van a tener más frescura, Winslow se mueve bien en todos los registros y la tensión nunca decae.
Pero no solo es acción y entretenimiento. La frontera, y en general, toda la trilogía, representan un visión lucida sobre el problema de la droga, y su compleja, o prácticamente imposible, erradicación. Que no todos los malos están en la misma trinchera, y que los intereses en esta guerra salpican en todas las direcciones.
Que de tanto mirar al origen del mal, que está muy localizado, nos hemos olvidado del destino. Quizá, la clave de todo esté en la respuesta a esos interrogantes que lanza Winslow "¿Qué dolor sufre en su seno la sociedad americana que nos impulsa a buscar drogas para aliviarlo, para mitigarlo? ¿Es la pobreza? ¿La injusticia? ¿El aislamiento?"
Por eso tienen que leer a Don Winslow.
"Siempre ha habido especulaciones filosóficas en torno a la cuestión "¿Y si no existiera Dios?" [...]Pero nadie ha formulado de verdad la pregunta "¿Y si no existiera Satán?"[...].
La respuesta a la primera es que se desataría el caos en el cielo y en la tierra. Pero la respuesta a la segunda es que se desataría el caos en el infierno: todos los demonios menores se lanzarían a una lucha amoral por convertirse en el nuevo Príncipe de las tinieblas."
No sé muy bien que añadir que no haya dicho ya, porque La Frontera mantiene las mismas virtudes que sus predecesoras.
Quizá, en esta ocasión la novela se desgaja en más subtramas, y aunque los capítulos que transcurren en México siempre van a tener más frescura, Winslow se mueve bien en todos los registros y la tensión nunca decae.
Pero no solo es acción y entretenimiento. La frontera, y en general, toda la trilogía, representan un visión lucida sobre el problema de la droga, y su compleja, o prácticamente imposible, erradicación. Que no todos los malos están en la misma trinchera, y que los intereses en esta guerra salpican en todas las direcciones.
Que de tanto mirar al origen del mal, que está muy localizado, nos hemos olvidado del destino. Quizá, la clave de todo esté en la respuesta a esos interrogantes que lanza Winslow "¿Qué dolor sufre en su seno la sociedad americana que nos impulsa a buscar drogas para aliviarlo, para mitigarlo? ¿Es la pobreza? ¿La injusticia? ¿El aislamiento?"
Por eso tienen que leer a Don Winslow.
"Siempre ha habido especulaciones filosóficas en torno a la cuestión "¿Y si no existiera Dios?" [...]Pero nadie ha formulado de verdad la pregunta "¿Y si no existiera Satán?"[...].
La respuesta a la primera es que se desataría el caos en el cielo y en la tierra. Pero la respuesta a la segunda es que se desataría el caos en el infierno: todos los demonios menores se lanzarían a una lucha amoral por convertirse en el nuevo Príncipe de las tinieblas."
May 13, 2021
-Remate a la saga.-
Género. Novela.
Lo que nos cuenta. El libro La frontera (publicación original: The Border, 2019) nos muestra a Art Keller justo después de una operación secreta e ilegal que ha descabezado a los Zetas y ha terminado con su némesis de Sinaloa, una acci��n que lo deja en una posición extraña frente a los diferentes actores que protagonizan la guerra contra el narcotráfico desde diferentes bandos. Los acontecimientos hacen que Art termine, de manera inesperada, al frente de la DEA y dispuesto a ejecutar unas estrategias algo diferentes a las que la agencia ha llevado a cabo anteriormente, mientras los diferentes cárteles mexicanos se reorganizan para continuar con su tarea. Tercer y último volumen de la trilogía El cártel.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
Género. Novela.
Lo que nos cuenta. El libro La frontera (publicación original: The Border, 2019) nos muestra a Art Keller justo después de una operación secreta e ilegal que ha descabezado a los Zetas y ha terminado con su némesis de Sinaloa, una acci��n que lo deja en una posición extraña frente a los diferentes actores que protagonizan la guerra contra el narcotráfico desde diferentes bandos. Los acontecimientos hacen que Art termine, de manera inesperada, al frente de la DEA y dispuesto a ejecutar unas estrategias algo diferentes a las que la agencia ha llevado a cabo anteriormente, mientras los diferentes cárteles mexicanos se reorganizan para continuar con su tarea. Tercer y último volumen de la trilogía El cártel.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
December 22, 2020
“Mexico is a country where the temples of the new gods are built on the gravesites of the old.�
� Don Winslow, The Border
A fantastic ending to the "Power of the Dog" trilogy. Dickens-level story telling (well, perhaps not Dickens). I'll write more later, but these three books are almost at le Carré level in literary indignation. The writing is not always literary, but G-d, Winslow was firing on all his cylinders with this book. Winslow writes very good crime fiction under normal circumstances, but piss him off and he writes fantastic crime fiction.
I delayed reading this for a couple reasons. First, I loved and so much I felt the Border was bound to disappoint, just statistically. Second, I delayed because Winslow's previous "big" novel, , was good but kinda still a disappointment. Not top shelf Winslow. But the book sucked me in and wouldn't let me go until the ride was over.
One of my only quibbles was Winslow's use of Trump/Kushner-like characters (barely veiled) in this book. I was certain it wouldn't work and on a couple occasions it surfed right up to the edge of useful fiction, but Winslow knew where that line was and might graze it but never crossed it (or if he did, he snuck back without getting caught).
Anyway, I can't recommend the trilogy highly enough. I would still put the Karla trilogy higher, but I'm not sure there is another trilogy in the last 50 years that got as close to John le Carré as this one by Winslow.
� Don Winslow, The Border
A fantastic ending to the "Power of the Dog" trilogy. Dickens-level story telling (well, perhaps not Dickens). I'll write more later, but these three books are almost at le Carré level in literary indignation. The writing is not always literary, but G-d, Winslow was firing on all his cylinders with this book. Winslow writes very good crime fiction under normal circumstances, but piss him off and he writes fantastic crime fiction.
I delayed reading this for a couple reasons. First, I loved and so much I felt the Border was bound to disappoint, just statistically. Second, I delayed because Winslow's previous "big" novel, , was good but kinda still a disappointment. Not top shelf Winslow. But the book sucked me in and wouldn't let me go until the ride was over.
One of my only quibbles was Winslow's use of Trump/Kushner-like characters (barely veiled) in this book. I was certain it wouldn't work and on a couple occasions it surfed right up to the edge of useful fiction, but Winslow knew where that line was and might graze it but never crossed it (or if he did, he snuck back without getting caught).
Anyway, I can't recommend the trilogy highly enough. I would still put the Karla trilogy higher, but I'm not sure there is another trilogy in the last 50 years that got as close to John le Carré as this one by Winslow.
March 30, 2019
Quite possibly the best trilogy I have ever read. Truly outstanding in every way.
March 23, 2019
This is the concluding book of Don Winslow's well-researched trilogy on America's longest-running war: the war on drugs, with a primary focus on Mexico, and especially, the Sinaloa cartel. For maximum enjoyment, read The Power of the Dog [2005] and The Cartel [2015] first, and be prepared for anti-Trump bias: not for the faint-hearted.
After a brief introduction to an active shooting situation at Maya Lin's Vietnam War memorial in Washington D.C., the book goes back in time to events following The Cartel and the disappearance of the Mexican drug kingpin, Adán Barrera, following a truce meeting in Guatemala with the rival Zeta gang. The main character, Art Keller, is waging his personal war on the drug trade, and is recruited by a U.S. Senator (from Texas) to become head of the DEA, where he worked as an operative for many years. Keller leaves Juarez, onetime murder capital of Mexico, marries the activist Marisol, who had been badly injured in an attack by the cartel, and moves to Washington. With no interest in politics, he decides to attack the problem north of the southern border, aligning himself with major city law enforcement (primarily NY City) and the money men profiting from the drug trafficking. One of the great storylines, among many, is the undercover NYC detective, seeking to topple a rising black drug dealer, who is a puppet for the Mexicans.
Meanwhile, things in Mexico are seriously deteriorating, in the void left by Adán Barrera. Turf wars are everywhere, led by some members of Adán's generation and to a large extent, the younger generation, dubbed Los Hijos, who partied together when united and are now at each other's throats. Recently released from Supermax, after 20 years, is Rafael Caro, who seems to be the only one able to broker peace. In fact, he is the Lord of Chaos, and is manipulating the various rivals to kill each other.
The 720 pages breeze by, with memorable characters and stories, the good, the bad, the manipulators, the manipulated. Every time Art Keller gets close to toppling the U.S. power infrastructure, he loses a key witness or a prosecutor gets cold feet, until he is forced to put himself on the line to get some closure.
After a brief introduction to an active shooting situation at Maya Lin's Vietnam War memorial in Washington D.C., the book goes back in time to events following The Cartel and the disappearance of the Mexican drug kingpin, Adán Barrera, following a truce meeting in Guatemala with the rival Zeta gang. The main character, Art Keller, is waging his personal war on the drug trade, and is recruited by a U.S. Senator (from Texas) to become head of the DEA, where he worked as an operative for many years. Keller leaves Juarez, onetime murder capital of Mexico, marries the activist Marisol, who had been badly injured in an attack by the cartel, and moves to Washington. With no interest in politics, he decides to attack the problem north of the southern border, aligning himself with major city law enforcement (primarily NY City) and the money men profiting from the drug trafficking. One of the great storylines, among many, is the undercover NYC detective, seeking to topple a rising black drug dealer, who is a puppet for the Mexicans.
Meanwhile, things in Mexico are seriously deteriorating, in the void left by Adán Barrera. Turf wars are everywhere, led by some members of Adán's generation and to a large extent, the younger generation, dubbed Los Hijos, who partied together when united and are now at each other's throats. Recently released from Supermax, after 20 years, is Rafael Caro, who seems to be the only one able to broker peace. In fact, he is the Lord of Chaos, and is manipulating the various rivals to kill each other.
The 720 pages breeze by, with memorable characters and stories, the good, the bad, the manipulators, the manipulated. Every time Art Keller gets close to toppling the U.S. power infrastructure, he loses a key witness or a prosecutor gets cold feet, until he is forced to put himself on the line to get some closure.
April 23, 2019
Very disappointing. The Cartel is one of my Top 10. He should have kept his politics out of this one.
April 19, 2019
My review of can be found at .
Thanks to political connections made during the Guatemala raid at the climax of The Cartel, Art Keller is named head of the Drug Enforcement Agency to combat America’s burgeoning heroin epidemic. His efforts at combating the flow of opioids opens an investigation that takes Keller, his agents, and a host of author Don Winslow’s secondary and tertiary characters from the poppy fields of Mexico to the financial barons of Wall Street, and into the heart of the darkest corridors of power in Washington, D.C. As the 2016 presidential election campaign heats up, Keller soon learns that despite now being nearly two thousand miles away from Mexico, the border � and the influence of notorious drug cartels � is closer than ever.
As with the prior two novels, this final book in Winslow’s Power of the Dog series is a labyrinthine crime epic, one that approaches its subject in a mosaic style, offering a large number of subplots, points of view, and characters that weave in and out of the narrative and intersect in surprising ways. The Border closes out Winslow’s examination of the last forty years of America’s War on Drugs, fictionalizing plenty of dramatic real-world occurrences and high profile figures as he tackles a broad view of the illegal drug trade and its various players. Winslow takes us from Keller’s office as director of the DEA to the junkies on the street, exploring the connections between federal and local police forces as an undercover investigation is launched to connect local drug traffickers to their Mexican cartel suppliers, and the money laundering that occurs on either end. With an investigation focused on following the money, Keller eventually finds himself mired in an unholy level of corruption that could not only destroy him, but the country as well.
Casting a large shadow over Keller’s investigation is in-coming president, John Dennison. Dennison is transparently the Donald Trump figure of The Border, to the point that Winslow had to do very little creative juggling to develop this character and simply transcribed Trump speeches and tweets. In short, then, Dennison is every bit the amoral, loudmouthed, obstructive, and corruptive influence as his real-life counterpart, only with Mexican drug cartels swapped out with the Russians as the primary colluding figures. As Keller’s investigation heats up, Dennison takes to Twitter to call him weak and decry the DEA’s work as a witch hunt, in between demands to Build The Wall.
The November 2016 election results propels Keller to stand against not just the Mexican cartels but against his country as well, turning him into a patriotic pariah. Winslow absolutely nails the feelings of depression and despair that washed over the majority of American voters in immediate wake of Trump’s election as we helplessly watched as our country was handed over to a repugnant, immoral racist, sexist, bigot and con artist who rode into the highest office in our land on a wave of hatred and fascist rhetoric. Keller wakes up November 9, 2016 to the disheartening realization that his country is far different than the one he thought he knew.
Winslow is on record as having thought he was finished with his story on the War on Drugs with The Cartel, and in so many ways that book felt like a definite conclusion. Of course, the story dictated otherwise, and the result is The Border, the definitive conclusion to a story that began with The Power of the Dog in 2005. Winslow has been writing about the American War on Drug and all the various facets such an operation has entailed for more than decade, fictionalizing so much of reality, the good, the bad, and the ugly of it all. The resulting books are absolute must-reads, and Winslow has created a powerful and necessary trilogy about one of the US’s longest, bloodiest, and most morally compromised wars in its relatively short history as a nation. The Border is an epic of its time, and it just so happens that its time is so heavily influenced by the orange, idiotic, 800-pound tweeting gorilla in the room, Donald Trump. It’s impossible to avoid a figure like Trump in a contemporary American crime novel about US drug policy, drug trafficking, and the porous nature of the Mexican border and US ports, particularly a figure that routinely shoots his mouth off about building a wall, dehumanizing Mexican immigrants, and belittling Mexicans as nothing more than rapists and murderers. Winslow, and Art Keller, are left with little choice but to face all this head-on.
It would be unfair to characterize Winslow’s depiction of Keller’s investigation as little more than wish-fulfillment, because let’s face it � if it were actually wish-fulfillment, the manchild Trump/Dennison would have never been made president in the first place. Instead, any wish-fulfillment is left to the readers hoping for a lone American patriot to win against a corrupt government and a twisted, morally bankrupt leader. Those who have read Winslow’s prior two Power of the Dog novels know full well that any such victories are not easily won. They come at a cost, and never without deeply personal loss. And Winslow, master that he is, makes you feel each and every inch of this grueling, challenging, hard-fought war.
Thanks to political connections made during the Guatemala raid at the climax of The Cartel, Art Keller is named head of the Drug Enforcement Agency to combat America’s burgeoning heroin epidemic. His efforts at combating the flow of opioids opens an investigation that takes Keller, his agents, and a host of author Don Winslow’s secondary and tertiary characters from the poppy fields of Mexico to the financial barons of Wall Street, and into the heart of the darkest corridors of power in Washington, D.C. As the 2016 presidential election campaign heats up, Keller soon learns that despite now being nearly two thousand miles away from Mexico, the border � and the influence of notorious drug cartels � is closer than ever.
As with the prior two novels, this final book in Winslow’s Power of the Dog series is a labyrinthine crime epic, one that approaches its subject in a mosaic style, offering a large number of subplots, points of view, and characters that weave in and out of the narrative and intersect in surprising ways. The Border closes out Winslow’s examination of the last forty years of America’s War on Drugs, fictionalizing plenty of dramatic real-world occurrences and high profile figures as he tackles a broad view of the illegal drug trade and its various players. Winslow takes us from Keller’s office as director of the DEA to the junkies on the street, exploring the connections between federal and local police forces as an undercover investigation is launched to connect local drug traffickers to their Mexican cartel suppliers, and the money laundering that occurs on either end. With an investigation focused on following the money, Keller eventually finds himself mired in an unholy level of corruption that could not only destroy him, but the country as well.
Casting a large shadow over Keller’s investigation is in-coming president, John Dennison. Dennison is transparently the Donald Trump figure of The Border, to the point that Winslow had to do very little creative juggling to develop this character and simply transcribed Trump speeches and tweets. In short, then, Dennison is every bit the amoral, loudmouthed, obstructive, and corruptive influence as his real-life counterpart, only with Mexican drug cartels swapped out with the Russians as the primary colluding figures. As Keller’s investigation heats up, Dennison takes to Twitter to call him weak and decry the DEA’s work as a witch hunt, in between demands to Build The Wall.
The November 2016 election results propels Keller to stand against not just the Mexican cartels but against his country as well, turning him into a patriotic pariah. Winslow absolutely nails the feelings of depression and despair that washed over the majority of American voters in immediate wake of Trump’s election as we helplessly watched as our country was handed over to a repugnant, immoral racist, sexist, bigot and con artist who rode into the highest office in our land on a wave of hatred and fascist rhetoric. Keller wakes up November 9, 2016 to the disheartening realization that his country is far different than the one he thought he knew.
Winslow is on record as having thought he was finished with his story on the War on Drugs with The Cartel, and in so many ways that book felt like a definite conclusion. Of course, the story dictated otherwise, and the result is The Border, the definitive conclusion to a story that began with The Power of the Dog in 2005. Winslow has been writing about the American War on Drug and all the various facets such an operation has entailed for more than decade, fictionalizing so much of reality, the good, the bad, and the ugly of it all. The resulting books are absolute must-reads, and Winslow has created a powerful and necessary trilogy about one of the US’s longest, bloodiest, and most morally compromised wars in its relatively short history as a nation. The Border is an epic of its time, and it just so happens that its time is so heavily influenced by the orange, idiotic, 800-pound tweeting gorilla in the room, Donald Trump. It’s impossible to avoid a figure like Trump in a contemporary American crime novel about US drug policy, drug trafficking, and the porous nature of the Mexican border and US ports, particularly a figure that routinely shoots his mouth off about building a wall, dehumanizing Mexican immigrants, and belittling Mexicans as nothing more than rapists and murderers. Winslow, and Art Keller, are left with little choice but to face all this head-on.
It would be unfair to characterize Winslow’s depiction of Keller’s investigation as little more than wish-fulfillment, because let’s face it � if it were actually wish-fulfillment, the manchild Trump/Dennison would have never been made president in the first place. Instead, any wish-fulfillment is left to the readers hoping for a lone American patriot to win against a corrupt government and a twisted, morally bankrupt leader. Those who have read Winslow’s prior two Power of the Dog novels know full well that any such victories are not easily won. They come at a cost, and never without deeply personal loss. And Winslow, master that he is, makes you feel each and every inch of this grueling, challenging, hard-fought war.
Want to read
February 7, 2019Stephen King recommended series. He tweeted: “These books are coolness.�
He tweeted: "Reading THE BORDER, by Don Winslow (out next month). Man is a balls-to-the-wall storyteller. A harsh, important book. Favorite line so far: "The difference between a hedge fund manager and a [drug] cartel boss? Wharton Business School."
And another tweet: "THE BORDER, by Don Winslow: Everyone in America--left, right, and center--should read this book. It's social fiction to rival Tom Wolfe and John Steinbeck. Focused, angry, suspenseful, occasionally hilarious, always hugely entertaining."
He tweeted: "Reading THE BORDER, by Don Winslow (out next month). Man is a balls-to-the-wall storyteller. A harsh, important book. Favorite line so far: "The difference between a hedge fund manager and a [drug] cartel boss? Wharton Business School."
And another tweet: "THE BORDER, by Don Winslow: Everyone in America--left, right, and center--should read this book. It's social fiction to rival Tom Wolfe and John Steinbeck. Focused, angry, suspenseful, occasionally hilarious, always hugely entertaining."
August 17, 2020
Correcto cierre para la trilogía narco de Winslow : El poder del Perro � El cártel � La frontera.
No deja cabos sueltos, consigue mantenerte con el libro bien sujeto durante casi 1000 páginas y nos da la dosis adecuada de información sobre el mundo del narcotráfico mexicano a la par que tensión narrativa suficiente. Eso sí, mejor no perderse con los nombres desde el comienzo (hay muuuuchos) o te haces un lío, cuando la gracia del libro es seguir precisamente a las distintas ramas del cártel de Sinaloa, escisiones, competidores y demás.
Mejor no hablo mucho sobre la trama porque los spoiler en esta novela jorobarían mucho. Si te adelantan quien/quienes mueren pues te han matado a ti. Solo decir si acaba “bien� o “mal� sería igualmente chungo.
Bueno, que no me enrollo mucho: si habéis leído los otros dos, leeréis este y no os defraudará. Si no habéis leído esos dos primeros ni se os ocurra acercaros a este.
La impresión que me dejo “El poder del perro� tampoco la ha superado esta tercera entrega, pero las cuatro estrellas ya dicen que no decepciona.
P.D: Ya sabéis que los nombres de jefes de cártel no son reales pero todos sabemos de quien habla. Jajajaja, y el presidente tuitero que sale en la novela y que quiere construir un muro con México tampoco es muy difícil de adivinar, no.
No deja cabos sueltos, consigue mantenerte con el libro bien sujeto durante casi 1000 páginas y nos da la dosis adecuada de información sobre el mundo del narcotráfico mexicano a la par que tensión narrativa suficiente. Eso sí, mejor no perderse con los nombres desde el comienzo (hay muuuuchos) o te haces un lío, cuando la gracia del libro es seguir precisamente a las distintas ramas del cártel de Sinaloa, escisiones, competidores y demás.
Mejor no hablo mucho sobre la trama porque los spoiler en esta novela jorobarían mucho. Si te adelantan quien/quienes mueren pues te han matado a ti. Solo decir si acaba “bien� o “mal� sería igualmente chungo.
Bueno, que no me enrollo mucho: si habéis leído los otros dos, leeréis este y no os defraudará. Si no habéis leído esos dos primeros ni se os ocurra acercaros a este.
La impresión que me dejo “El poder del perro� tampoco la ha superado esta tercera entrega, pero las cuatro estrellas ya dicen que no decepciona.
P.D: Ya sabéis que los nombres de jefes de cártel no son reales pero todos sabemos de quien habla. Jajajaja, y el presidente tuitero que sale en la novela y que quiere construir un muro con México tampoco es muy difícil de adivinar, no.
April 15, 2019
What a disappointment. Completely confusing plot. Side stories that go nowhere. Characters introduced that go nowhere and tie into nothing. Lots of preaching. A total muddle of a book. Bad pacing. What a waste of time. His other books were so good that it’s hard to figure out what happened to his writing skills.
March 10, 2019
B-R-U-T-A-L
March 12, 2019
I thankfully discovered Don Winslow several years ago when the second leg of his now complete The Cartel trilogy, was released. I picked up the audiobook and was captured immediately, taken deep into the world of drugs and its traffickers, and the accompanying violence and corruption. Winslow writes in a compelling almost journalistic style, turning the intrigue of the narcotic trade into a page turner extraordinaire.
Last year, Winslow announced the release of the final chapter in the story of DEA agent Art Keller and I quickly got myself a copy of The Power of the Dog, the pilot episode in this epic story of Keller and his obsession with Adán Barrera, the patron and head of the Sinaloa Cartel. In the final chapter, however, Winslow had his aim clearly on the current U.S. administration, teasing early on that the reckless behaviour and policies of Trump and his cronies would be subject to scrutiny, aptly titling the novel The Border.
Ambitious in scope, written with gusto, pleasing to those lovers of crime fiction or political thrillers, Winslow delivers a fittingly brilliant conclusion to the trilogy that speaks to so many of the most pressing issues of the political moment.
After Keller had killed Barrera at the conclusion of The Cartel, he is recruited to head up the DEA as the Sinaloa drug empire falls into chaos and powerful players seek to replace Adan as the patron of the cartel. At times this can be messy, as many different families and alliances assert themselves and then quickly are defeated or fade. But Winslow does his best to bring the readers up to speed and allows them to get a grasp of the chaos that Barrera's death has caused.
While the Mexican forces battle for supremacy, the 2016 Presidential election takes centre stage, as a fictionalized Donald Trump, aka John Dennison, enters the race eager to scapegoat Mexican migrants for the ills of American society. At times Dennison feels cartoonish, but only because Winslow takes Trump's rhetoric verbatim when scripting Dennison's speeches, which says more about Trump's own unbelievable villainy than Winslow's writing. Dennison's son-in-law (Jared in disguise) gets roped into the drug world in the midst of the election, procuring a massive loan from cartel affiliated forces to fund a tower project that Dennison has a direct financial interest in. Keller, concerned with the fortunes of American democracy at the hands of Dennison, turns his attention to this laundering scheme and must face the inevitable backlash when Dennison surprisingly wins the election.
I must admit I was concerned with how this plot device would work. Winslow, who is very active with his views on Twitter, spends significant time challenging the Trump administrations ties to Russia and whether financial dealings between the Russian government and Trump compromise the latter's fealty to the United States. Although the Trump administration may raise such concerns, there is nothing inherently foreign about its actions nor about the thirty years of aggressive bipartisan neoliberal governance, Trump being its latest, most extreme, incarnation. Stressing Russian influence is often a substitute for looking deeply into the core rot of the American system that Trump is merely a symptom, otherizing the causes of the mess we are currently in. Thankfully, Winslow avoids this and if anything uses cartel influence of the Dennison regime to emphasize American complicity in the drug crisis. In terms of the narrative, the Dennison-drug money ties actually works quite well, allowing Winslow to delve into the realm of political thriller that does in fact deliver compelling plot points.
More powerful, however, are the vignettes into the lives of Central American migrants, often escaping civil wars or drug gangs that the United States market has encouraged. Winslow tells the story of two Guatemalan children, Nico and Flor, who flee local unrest, only to be repeatedly victimized either by criminal players or state actors, pushing them into lives of exploitation and crime. In many ways these sections are the most forceful rebuke of the Trump obsession with his wall, painting a picture of chaos and suffering that the American state has played a direct hand in causing and the very human face of those Trump eagerly dismisses as 'bad hombres' and criminals. If there are monsters in the midst, Trump and by association the United States has no one to blame but themselves for creating them.
In the end, Winslow concludes with a very explicit and bludgeoning take down of the War on Drugs. Keller, confronted by political circumstances keen on destroying him, must come to terms with his own actions and the consequences they had on innocent parties. He is forced to question whether his four decade hunt of the drug cartels was the right war to be fighting, a question whose answer is unequivocally negative.
Without a doubt, Winslow is one of the premier crime writers of our times. His research is impeccable, his story telling engrossing. He peppers the historical context with the brutal violence that colours it, and he is able to capture his readers eager to find out how this epic saga ends. If you haven't picked up Winslow, do it now, go get yourself a copy of The Power of the Dog, The Cartel and The Border and don't look back, just read and disappear into the story of the new American century.
Last year, Winslow announced the release of the final chapter in the story of DEA agent Art Keller and I quickly got myself a copy of The Power of the Dog, the pilot episode in this epic story of Keller and his obsession with Adán Barrera, the patron and head of the Sinaloa Cartel. In the final chapter, however, Winslow had his aim clearly on the current U.S. administration, teasing early on that the reckless behaviour and policies of Trump and his cronies would be subject to scrutiny, aptly titling the novel The Border.
Ambitious in scope, written with gusto, pleasing to those lovers of crime fiction or political thrillers, Winslow delivers a fittingly brilliant conclusion to the trilogy that speaks to so many of the most pressing issues of the political moment.
After Keller had killed Barrera at the conclusion of The Cartel, he is recruited to head up the DEA as the Sinaloa drug empire falls into chaos and powerful players seek to replace Adan as the patron of the cartel. At times this can be messy, as many different families and alliances assert themselves and then quickly are defeated or fade. But Winslow does his best to bring the readers up to speed and allows them to get a grasp of the chaos that Barrera's death has caused.
While the Mexican forces battle for supremacy, the 2016 Presidential election takes centre stage, as a fictionalized Donald Trump, aka John Dennison, enters the race eager to scapegoat Mexican migrants for the ills of American society. At times Dennison feels cartoonish, but only because Winslow takes Trump's rhetoric verbatim when scripting Dennison's speeches, which says more about Trump's own unbelievable villainy than Winslow's writing. Dennison's son-in-law (Jared in disguise) gets roped into the drug world in the midst of the election, procuring a massive loan from cartel affiliated forces to fund a tower project that Dennison has a direct financial interest in. Keller, concerned with the fortunes of American democracy at the hands of Dennison, turns his attention to this laundering scheme and must face the inevitable backlash when Dennison surprisingly wins the election.
I must admit I was concerned with how this plot device would work. Winslow, who is very active with his views on Twitter, spends significant time challenging the Trump administrations ties to Russia and whether financial dealings between the Russian government and Trump compromise the latter's fealty to the United States. Although the Trump administration may raise such concerns, there is nothing inherently foreign about its actions nor about the thirty years of aggressive bipartisan neoliberal governance, Trump being its latest, most extreme, incarnation. Stressing Russian influence is often a substitute for looking deeply into the core rot of the American system that Trump is merely a symptom, otherizing the causes of the mess we are currently in. Thankfully, Winslow avoids this and if anything uses cartel influence of the Dennison regime to emphasize American complicity in the drug crisis. In terms of the narrative, the Dennison-drug money ties actually works quite well, allowing Winslow to delve into the realm of political thriller that does in fact deliver compelling plot points.
More powerful, however, are the vignettes into the lives of Central American migrants, often escaping civil wars or drug gangs that the United States market has encouraged. Winslow tells the story of two Guatemalan children, Nico and Flor, who flee local unrest, only to be repeatedly victimized either by criminal players or state actors, pushing them into lives of exploitation and crime. In many ways these sections are the most forceful rebuke of the Trump obsession with his wall, painting a picture of chaos and suffering that the American state has played a direct hand in causing and the very human face of those Trump eagerly dismisses as 'bad hombres' and criminals. If there are monsters in the midst, Trump and by association the United States has no one to blame but themselves for creating them.
In the end, Winslow concludes with a very explicit and bludgeoning take down of the War on Drugs. Keller, confronted by political circumstances keen on destroying him, must come to terms with his own actions and the consequences they had on innocent parties. He is forced to question whether his four decade hunt of the drug cartels was the right war to be fighting, a question whose answer is unequivocally negative.
Without a doubt, Winslow is one of the premier crime writers of our times. His research is impeccable, his story telling engrossing. He peppers the historical context with the brutal violence that colours it, and he is able to capture his readers eager to find out how this epic saga ends. If you haven't picked up Winslow, do it now, go get yourself a copy of The Power of the Dog, The Cartel and The Border and don't look back, just read and disappear into the story of the new American century.
October 16, 2019
Winslow’s capstone to his drug cartel trilogy is brilliant and deeply depressing. Winslow’s story is dark—immersing the reader into the world of fear and chaos reflective of the drug trade. The author started this trilogy 14 years ago and conducted exhaustive research of the drug war fought on the US’s southern border. Some of the brutal events depicted in this tale seemed too implausible to his editors—that is, until Winslow told them that they actually happened.
The Border begins in 2012 when Adan Barrera, the cartel kingpin, is murdered. Unfortunately, his demise unleashes murderous competition for his succession. Art Keller follows the carnage from his new role as the head of the DEA. But his primary goal is to stop the heroin/fentanyl traffic into the United States. [Marijuana no longer provides sufficient profitability due to legalization trends.] Roughly 95% of illicit drugs come through the 52 legal points of entry. The spectacular profit the drug trade generates corrupts everyone associated with it. Indeed, the money even finds its way to financial institutions via money laundering.
The heavy moral burden that undercover police officers have to bear is difficult reading. Winslow points out the immense risks these men endure as they put their lives on the line to obtain hard evidence to prosecute the key players.
The author also highlights the plight of poor children in broken Latin American countries that are forced to join gangs at ages as young as 10-years-old and then head north to escape them. The fate of children caught by the border patrol and institutionalized is truly depressing. It is a system that is sorely in need of reform.
Winslow’s border has both physical and moral barriers. Recommend this powerful gritty novel. Of note, this can be read on its own without reading the two previous offerings in the series.
The Border begins in 2012 when Adan Barrera, the cartel kingpin, is murdered. Unfortunately, his demise unleashes murderous competition for his succession. Art Keller follows the carnage from his new role as the head of the DEA. But his primary goal is to stop the heroin/fentanyl traffic into the United States. [Marijuana no longer provides sufficient profitability due to legalization trends.] Roughly 95% of illicit drugs come through the 52 legal points of entry. The spectacular profit the drug trade generates corrupts everyone associated with it. Indeed, the money even finds its way to financial institutions via money laundering.
The heavy moral burden that undercover police officers have to bear is difficult reading. Winslow points out the immense risks these men endure as they put their lives on the line to obtain hard evidence to prosecute the key players.
The author also highlights the plight of poor children in broken Latin American countries that are forced to join gangs at ages as young as 10-years-old and then head north to escape them. The fate of children caught by the border patrol and institutionalized is truly depressing. It is a system that is sorely in need of reform.
Winslow’s border has both physical and moral barriers. Recommend this powerful gritty novel. Of note, this can be read on its own without reading the two previous offerings in the series.
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