The Dawn Patrol

I have read all of Don Winslow's novels. Some like his Border trilogy are (while excellent) pretty grim, and so I have only read once. Others like The Winter Of Frankie Machine, The Life and Death Of Bobby Z, The Dawn Patrol, The Gentlemen's Hour, etc, I have read numerous times. I find them very entertaining. Good storylines, usually involving the very cool Californian surfing community, humorous, sometimes sad, but the good guys usually win.The Dawn Patrol and it's sequel The Gentlemen's Hour revolves around ex cop Boone Daniels and his group of surfing buddies. Boone is at a crossroads in his life, unable to recover from a former child abduction case, drifting away from his closest friend and lover, lured into investigating a missing persons case by a smart sassy (and very attractive) female lawyer.His natural talent in unravelling the web of vice and corruption that even ensnares his closest friends brings events to a head. Wrongs must be righted. No one escapes unscathed in the end. But through it all Boone has some constants in his life. Some things will never change, friendships strained but never broken...If you've never read Don Winslow before then this book is a great place to start. Fans of Elmore Leonard or George Pelecanos will especially appreciate the witty way in which quite often inept or unusual characters interplay. Well recommended...

Ein sehr solides Buch mit dichtem und kohärentem Spannungsbogen.Ich habe mich sehr gut unterhalten und amüsiert.(Ich bin mittlerweile ein Fan von Don Winslow.)

Up until last week, I'd never read anything by Don Winslow, or even heard of him for that matter. Another book reviewer recommended him to me, suggesting that I start with either Winslow's newest novel, The Dawn Patrol, or his book, California Fire and Life. What I did was buy both of them, along with Winslow's The Winter of Frankie Machine, which is being turned into a major motion picture by Robert DeNiro. I got them last weekend and quickly read The Dawn Patrol, thinking that it was going to be hard to get into because Southern California surfing is a major part of the book, and I've never been a big fan of surfing in general. I ended up falling head over heels in love with the novel and devoured it in two days. Now, I'm in the middle of Frankie Machine, praying the DeNiro will finish the movie adaptation of it and that the film will be out within the next year or two.The Dawn Patrol refers to Boone Daniels and the small group of people that meet him every morning to surf the waves of Pacific Beach in San Diego. It also refers to the men who pick-up little girls every morning further up the coast so that they can sexually abuse them for the day. Daniels, who is now a private investigator after having served on the San Diego Police Department for three years, gets hired for a case that has him tracking down a female witness, who saw members of the Mob burning down a warehouse. The men who instigated the arson want the woman killed and in up murdering the wrong person by mistake. Daniels therefore has to find the real witness before the killers do and this inadvertently leads him to child sex ring operation and the evil people behind it. When Daniels was a police officer, he lost his job by doing the right thing and it led to a missing child never being found again. Daniels blames himself for that and still searches for the little girl during his spare time. Because of that, he won't allow any child to be abused if it's within his power to do something about it. The people behind the sex ring are going to have their hands full when Daniels starts hunting them with extreme prejudice, sensing that this is one way he can atone for his past mistake, even if it means his own death in the process.I can't say enough good things about Don Winslow and The Dawn Patrol. I'm totally lost as to why this author isn't hitting the New York Times Bestseller list with every new novel that comes out. The Dawn Patrol is written with clear, sharp prose that brings to life Southern California and the surfing community, the city of San Diego, and the vast array of unusual and bizarre characters that inhabit this intense journey into the darkness of man's soul. Though quite serious at times, the novel is also funny in parts with Daniel's laid-back attitude about life and his close friends...that is until he begins the hunt for retribution. This is also the type of novel that you pray will eventually have a sequel to it. I don't know what Winslow is writing right now, but I hope Boone Daniels is definitely in it. This is a character that you quickly learn to care about and to root for as he takes out the bad guys. It's also important to note that the members of the surfing Dawn Patrol are also clearly portrayed as full and interesting characters, with each one playing an important part in the story. Highly recommended to those who love the PI genre and are looking for something slightly different, but that is well written with great characters, unbelievable suspense, and an ending you'll never see coming.

Break out your Surfbonics-to-English Dictionary and chill with Don Winslow in "Dawn Patrol", a slick novel of SoCal's surf culture cleverly wrapped in an engaging mystery.Boone Daniels is the ultimate California surfer stereotype: lean and athletic, laid back, unflappable, and not ready to let trivial "civilian" interests like job, family, or typical responsibilities associated with adulthood interfere with mother ocean and the perfect wave. With his colorful "dawn patrol" posse of Dave "the God to Women", kid "Hang Twelve", the massive Samoan "High Tide", San Diego cop Johnny Banzai, and his female alter ego and sometimes sex partner Sunny Day, Boone and the crew are in the surf each morning at daybreak passing time - like compiling lists of the best things in life - while waiting for the next big ride. Boone is a former SDPD cop himself with some demons of his own lurking beneath his chill exterior - now a private investigator of sorts, content with working enough to only keep him in adequately stocked in fish tacos and board wax. When the foxy but uptight aspiring lawyer Petra shows up with an insurance company gig, Boone is conflicted: he could use the "jangle", but an underwater disturbance in the Aleutians is sending a freight train of monster waves to the Southern Cal coast unlike anything that's been seen in decades, and certainly not an event that a hardcore surfer like Boone would even consider missing. But Petra is persistent, not to mention alluring in an annoyingly buttoned down way, and Boone agrees to find the stripper pivotal in catching San Diego's sex sleaze king in an insurance scam.Nobody can capture Southern California's beaches and bimbos better than the talented Don Winslow, and "Dawn Patrol" is a terrific example of the artist at his most righteous. Winslow's seemingly mismatched cast of characters is brilliant - he captures a credible cast in staccato chapters shredding across the pages in dialog that is authentic, witty and cynically funny - all of Carl Hiaasen's black humor, but where Hiaasen has a tendency to dis his denizens of south Florida, Winslow's playful barbs reflects a deep and sincere passion for those still carrying the torch of the original California surfing subculture. Indeed, the Boone/Winslow chapter which detours down Route 101, the famous Pacific Coast Highway, is a short, poignant, and illuminating slice of American culture too often capsulized only in the 60's music of the Beach Boys.But aside from surfing and surfer culture, "Dawn Patrol" is a serious and thoughtful crime novel, and at a deeper level, an insightful coming of age story - albeit an atypically late passage from adolescence to adulthood. As a second "dawn patrol" emerges, the story takes a despicably sinister turn, and while the climax is mostly predictable, it takes nothing away from a engaging storyline. But make no mistake: the plot is secondarly here, as Winslow's real stars are his characters and their banter, set against a vivid and authoritative SoCal backdrop. Winslow is the real deal, and if you haven't got to know him yet, this is a great place to start. If you do, I'm sure you'll be back for "California Fire and Life", "The Winter of Franky Machine", "The Death and Life of Bobby Z", and Winslow's epic masterpiece, "The Power of the Dog."So great stuff, Mr. Winslow - keep 'em coming. And for those of you - like me - bummed with Lee Child's disappointing "Nothing to Lose", you'll find some instant redemption right here.

von don winslow habe ich mir mehr erwartet als diese klischeehafte san diego küstenbeschreibung mit merkwürdiger Überleitung zu kindsmissbrauch und surferwettbewerb mit weiblichem Superstar; entäuschend