A breakthrough novel that pits young kingpins against a Mexican drug cartel, "Savages "is a provocative, sexy, and sharply funny thrill ride throug...
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May 28, 2011
Stephen
rated it: 
If these two wordsmithing masters of dialogue, tone and hip colloquialisms ever had a literary LOVE CHILD…..it would DON WINSLOW.
I loved, loved, loved every single page of this thrilltastic story. Don Winslow has instantly become an author whose next book I will buy sight unseen. His writing, his tone, his slick as shit story-telling are all intelligent, original, hiply sparse and kick-ass coolio.
The basic plot is very simple (though the execution of it is anythi More...
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Jan 17, 2012
Lou
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“Something they don’t teach you at Harvard Business School.More...
‘Savages, How to Deal With.’
Savagely.”
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly an infamous trio the three amigos and the three stooges funny trios. When it comes to threesome there are many one trio you will soon be taking note of are the likes of Ben, Chon and the wonderful O or her real name Ophelia, in this Drug cartel solid thriller from Don Winslow.
The story is about lucrative money making with a specially brewed
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Mar 28, 2011
Kemper
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Ben and Chon are the oddest of odd couples. Ben is a brilliant botanist and liberal do-gooder who spends his spare time in third world countries setting up clinics and schools. Chon (a nickname based on his real name, John) is an ex-Navy SEAL and Afghanistan veteran with a bad attitude and sincere belief that most people are just pretending to be civilized. Despite their differences, the two men are best friends and even knowingly share a girlfriend, Ophelia (also known as O.), who loves sex
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Jul 20, 2010
Rachel
rated it: 
Um, we're not squeamish, right book club? No one minds that I recommended a book whose opening chapter includes graphic sex, decapitation, and quasi-free verse prose poetry? Look, I DIDN'T KNOW.
First of all: Ooooh. Don Winslow also wrote The Death and Life of Bobby Z. Hence, the stiking similarities in tone, setting and subject matter.
Secondly: glad I read this for book club-- I mean, aside form subjecting your sweet little eyes to to such vulgarities, my dears-- because More...
First of all: Ooooh. Don Winslow also wrote The Death and Life of Bobby Z. Hence, the stiking similarities in tone, setting and subject matter.
Secondly: glad I read this for book club-- I mean, aside form subjecting your sweet little eyes to to such vulgarities, my dears-- because More...
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Aug 12, 2011
Jeffrey
rated it:
An awesome book with great dialogue written with verve and panache about bad guys and bigger bad guys, who are all savages in the end.
Ben and Chon are high end drug dealers who sell hydro, chronic, a/k/a marijuana in California. They use specially imported plants from Afghanistan to make the best dope people can buy. Ben,uses the money to finance a variety of green projects around the world. Chon, an ex seal enforces the B & C brand with his gun. Both guys are involved with Ophelia More...
Ben and Chon are high end drug dealers who sell hydro, chronic, a/k/a marijuana in California. They use specially imported plants from Afghanistan to make the best dope people can buy. Ben,uses the money to finance a variety of green projects around the world. Chon, an ex seal enforces the B & C brand with his gun. Both guys are involved with Ophelia More...
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Feb 04, 2012
Jim
rated it:
"Winslow's stripped down prose is a revelation", says Stephen King on the dust jacket blurb of this book. True. The revelation is that Winslow shouldn't have bothered. God save us from crime writers who have visions of writing some sort of literature. James Ellroy take note. In the same way that I thought I'd never read another noir thriller that came close to Ellroy's "Black Dahlia", I finished Winslow's "The Power of the Dog" thinking I'd never have to read anothe
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Oct 19, 2011
Mike
rated it:
Savages by Don Winslow is nothing if not explicit. Explicitly violent, explicitly sexual and explicitly, one of the most entertaining books I’ve read this year. While some writers use words like paint on a canvas, dabbing on a color here and another there and layering in thicker textures where needed, Winslow sculpts books, using words as the raw material to create fiction that is not only a treat for the imagination, but a feast for the eyes. From the two words that comprise chapter one “***k y
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Oct 19, 2011
Ian
rated it:
The Power of the Dog is one of my favourite books, so I had high expectations for Savages. I was not disappointed. It has the in your face, impassive narrative of gruesome violence and explicit sex in a pacey present-tense style that is the Winslow trademark. The story portrays two laid-back, but quite differently motivated characters, Ben and Chon, whose wealthy lifestyles as successful marijuana producers is threatened by an invading Baja cartel. Avoiding confrontation becomes impossible after
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May 29, 2011
Amanda
rated it: 
My favorite kind of movies during the summer are ones with hot guys shooting big guns through giant explosions. What can I say? I'm sort of a mix between a 15 year old boy and a 30 year old woman. Now apparently I enjoy books like this. I watched "The Death and Life of Bobby Z" on Netflix instant view a few weeks ago and I strangely enjoyed it. I did some research and found out it was a book first, written by a guy who has written a bunch of other stuff, including "Savages"
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Mar 28, 2011
James
rated it:
Don Winslow scores again with Savages. Two Laguna Beach buddies, Ben and Chon, operate a top-of-the-line marijuana business. Ben is a laid-back environmentalist and philanthropist; Chon is an ex-Navy Seal and former mercenary. They grow their own product, which is much desired, and they have a loyal and exclusive clientele. Both Ben and Chon are in love with the beautiful Ophelia, a spoiled local rich girl who loves both of them in return.
There have been occasional minor threats to More...
There have been occasional minor threats to More...
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Jan 22, 2011
Bruce
rated it:
Review title: What a Waste(land)!
I enjoyed three of the author’s previous Southern California-based mysteries, The Dawn Patrol, The Winter of Frankie Machine and California Fire and Life. There are similarities between those books and his newest offering, Savages, and there are major differences between Savages and those three stories, too. Savages has a panache—the marks of a writer finding his style. Sometimes it’s irritating, like with his frequent use of acronyms. Although, p More...
I enjoyed three of the author’s previous Southern California-based mysteries, The Dawn Patrol, The Winter of Frankie Machine and California Fire and Life. There are similarities between those books and his newest offering, Savages, and there are major differences between Savages and those three stories, too. Savages has a panache—the marks of a writer finding his style. Sometimes it’s irritating, like with his frequent use of acronyms. Although, p More...
Dec 31, 2010
Kyle
rated it: 
Read a lot of good reviews of this, heard Oliver Stone was adapting it, made some best-of-crime-fiction year-end lists...
And I don't get it. I will say that pages 175-250 were good, insofar as things actually happened. And quickly. The rest of it...
Don Winslow inserts his (or the narrator's) voice between the reader and the character, as a character of its own. But that character is indistinct. That character thinks he is incredibly clever and funny. And after he makes More...
And I don't get it. I will say that pages 175-250 were good, insofar as things actually happened. And quickly. The rest of it...
Don Winslow inserts his (or the narrator's) voice between the reader and the character, as a character of its own. But that character is indistinct. That character thinks he is incredibly clever and funny. And after he makes More...
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Aug 16, 2010
Dave
rated it:
Several years ago I was lucky enough to interview acclaimed writer/artist Howard Chaykin for the first time and one of the things we got to chatting about was our mutual love of crime fiction. He recommended an author named Don Winslow to me and I’m glad he did. I picked up Winslow’s latest book at the time “The Power of the Dog” and was blown away by it. To this day it remains one of my favorite books I ever read.
So needles to say I quickly devoured any other Winslow novels I could More...
So needles to say I quickly devoured any other Winslow novels I could More...
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Aug 12, 2010
Tim
rated it:
Ben and Chon are partners in a drug growing operation in Southern California and couldn't be further apart philosophically: Ben is a peace and love pseudo Buddhist while Chon is a lock 'n' load ex Navy Seal. Tying them together and sealing their friendship is O, a wild and voracious young woman who loves them both. When a Mexican drug cartel tries to take over their growing operation by hostile means and show them they mean business by kidnapping O, the men have to do whatever it takes to get he
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Aug 10, 2010
Tony
rated it:
Winslow, Don. SAVAGES. (2010). ***. Winslow wrote several excellent books in the beginning of his career. This one is billed as a breakthrough novel, which implies that there have been some dogs in between. Maybe. This novel, written in the style of comic book narrative – staccato prose a la Walter Winchell in e. e. cummings format of meandering print – is a shoot-em-up mindless rip-off of hundreds of stories that you might have read in pulp magazines. Ben, a botony major and part-time p
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Aug 08, 2010
Hood
rated it:
Bound: Bloody Pulp - SunPost Weekly July 22, 2010
http://bit.ly/c8qHLs
Don Winslow's Savage Savages
John Hood
Fucking dirty Don Winslow stole my opening line. Really. Crept into my numb skull and ripped it right from my imagination. The bastard. Of course I've had it kicking around in there for quite some time, and by rights it's anybody's for the taking. But hell, I didn't think anybody else had the nerve to come out swingin' with such venom. Guess that's what I get fo More...
http://bit.ly/c8qHLs
Don Winslow's Savage Savages
John Hood
Fucking dirty Don Winslow stole my opening line. Really. Crept into my numb skull and ripped it right from my imagination. The bastard. Of course I've had it kicking around in there for quite some time, and by rights it's anybody's for the taking. But hell, I didn't think anybody else had the nerve to come out swingin' with such venom. Guess that's what I get fo More...
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Aug 07, 2010
K
rated it:
A third of the way through, had to force myself to slow down so I could prolong the thrill of reading this as long as possible. Distills the themes, cultural preoccupations, and style of Power of the Dog into something more surface brash and cool and deepdown critical and nihilistic. The drug war between Mexico's Tijuana Cartel and the US federal government is again the context, only this story takes place in the almost immediate present, post-Obama election and deep during the recession. Not th
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Jul 28, 2010
Brett
rated it:
This violent state of mind,
This violent state of mine!
I can sum up your decision to read or not to read this novel in six words: YOU NEED TO READ THIS NOVEL!
As a avid reader and collector of books, I know Don Winslow is near the top for crime fiction. I own a few of his other popular novels "The Power of the Dog", "Dawn Patrol", but I just haven't found the urge to read them yet. "Savages" beckoned to me from the new release rack last More...
This violent state of mine!
I can sum up your decision to read or not to read this novel in six words: YOU NEED TO READ THIS NOVEL!
As a avid reader and collector of books, I know Don Winslow is near the top for crime fiction. I own a few of his other popular novels "The Power of the Dog", "Dawn Patrol", but I just haven't found the urge to read them yet. "Savages" beckoned to me from the new release rack last More...
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Oct 26, 2011
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Feb 26, 2011
Patty
rated it: 
I am still trying to figure out what I thought of this book. I am not sure if I would have finished this if it had not been such a quick read. There were 290 chapters in 302 pages and lots of white space - so very quick.
I have never read Don Winslow before so I don't know if this book is typical of his writing. I wish I knew more about his style because World Cat labels this book humorous fiction and I found nothing humorous in a book where there is so much blood shed. Some of th More...
I have never read Don Winslow before so I don't know if this book is typical of his writing. I wish I knew more about his style because World Cat labels this book humorous fiction and I found nothing humorous in a book where there is so much blood shed. Some of th More...
Jan 23, 2011
David
rated it:
It is so hard to get the dialogue driven novel right, yet Don Winslow has nailed it perfectly with Savages. Two young pot dealers in Laguna beach, a humanitarian and an ex- Navy Seal, have been doing quite for themselves bringing in the money but are beginning to get bored. The Mexican drug business is fracturing and the cartels are looking for new markets in Southern California. So they send a delightful little video to our two heroes showing them the decapitation of the last competitors who di
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Jan 26, 2011
Ginny
rated it:
Kyle HATED this book. So I was surprised when it ended up on this year's TOURNAMENT OF BOOKS shortlist. Needless to say, I picked it up out of our pile of "things to sell back to Amazon" and started reading...
....so now I'm going to review it as I did that horrible Jacob de Zoet novel, by reading some about people who liked it and counterpointing. Because people really do LOVE this novel about as much as I HATE this novel.
The NYT says: “Savages” is his 13th and More...
....so now I'm going to review it as I did that horrible Jacob de Zoet novel, by reading some about people who liked it and counterpointing. Because people really do LOVE this novel about as much as I HATE this novel.
The NYT says: “Savages” is his 13th and More...
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Jan 10, 2012
Tfitoby
rated it:
F*ck you.
That is the entire first chpater of this book. And the baditude doesn't let up for a moment.
I really had no idea what to expect with this book. It's been recommended to me for months by Goodreads as something similar to James Ellroy but if that is the case then it is a stripped back raw Ellroy for the 21st Century. The closest comparison I had was Nobody Move which had the same urgent feel and post Tarantino dialogue to it but none of the subtleties that leaves Savages as More...
That is the entire first chpater of this book. And the baditude doesn't let up for a moment.
I really had no idea what to expect with this book. It's been recommended to me for months by Goodreads as something similar to James Ellroy but if that is the case then it is a stripped back raw Ellroy for the 21st Century. The closest comparison I had was Nobody Move which had the same urgent feel and post Tarantino dialogue to it but none of the subtleties that leaves Savages as More...
Jan 03, 2011
Michael
rated it:
3 1/2 stars.
Ex-mercenary Chon and his friend Ben have a profitable marijuana operation in the Laguna Beach area. They are informed that the Mexican Baja Cartel wants to take over the marijuana operation in the area. The cartel wants them to stay in business but to sell their product to the cartel so they can make most of the profit.
The partners tell the cartel that they're not interested. However, the leader of the cartel tells them that 'no' isn't acceptable, then to sho More...
Ex-mercenary Chon and his friend Ben have a profitable marijuana operation in the Laguna Beach area. They are informed that the Mexican Baja Cartel wants to take over the marijuana operation in the area. The cartel wants them to stay in business but to sell their product to the cartel so they can make most of the profit.
The partners tell the cartel that they're not interested. However, the leader of the cartel tells them that 'no' isn't acceptable, then to sho More...
Aug 17, 2010
Steve
rated it:
If you've never read Don Winslow before, Savages is NOT the place to start.
The protagonists (We can't really call them "good guys" here because they're drug dealers) are Ben and Chon (John), a business genius with philanthropic tendencies, and an ex-military man who still loves to shoot things. They both sleep with Ophelia, who prefers to call herself "O" (her friends call her Multiple O because she's so orgasmic) and calls her mom--with whom she has serious iss More...
The protagonists (We can't really call them "good guys" here because they're drug dealers) are Ben and Chon (John), a business genius with philanthropic tendencies, and an ex-military man who still loves to shoot things. They both sleep with Ophelia, who prefers to call herself "O" (her friends call her Multiple O because she's so orgasmic) and calls her mom--with whom she has serious iss More...
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Aug 08, 2011
Christian
rated it:
You read Robopocalypse yet? Don't. It's a movie pitch - printed and bound rather than sold over lunch to a producer, but still a pitch not a novel - all fast cuts and thin characters, plot chasms clingfilmed over with noise and colour - one careless critical edge and you'll cut through, down and out.
Novels which want to be films more than they want to be novels - not a fan. Which is why I should be annoyed with Savages - Oliver Stone has The Rights, and that nice Taylor Kitsch (me More...
Novels which want to be films more than they want to be novels - not a fan. Which is why I should be annoyed with Savages - Oliver Stone has The Rights, and that nice Taylor Kitsch (me More...
Sep 19, 2010
Trish
rated it:
The writing in this reminds me so clearly of an old high school friend of mine that I almost broke years of silence to send it to him with a note that I was thinking of him. I may still do it.
At some point in this novel the story of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is pointed to. There are indeed many similarities: outlaws with hearts of gold who go to the ends of the earth for the love of a woman. The men intend to change, but circumstances conspire against them. They do not ask f More...
At some point in this novel the story of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is pointed to. There are indeed many similarities: outlaws with hearts of gold who go to the ends of the earth for the love of a woman. The men intend to change, but circumstances conspire against them. They do not ask f More...
Aug 02, 2010
Richard
rated it:
OK, it's great. Yes, candy. Kind of like the first chocolate covered cherry with cognac you ever had. Sex, drugs, rock&roll ultra violence. The Mexican drug wars ignite in Laguna. No heroes - bad bad guys and good bad guys, but the good bad guys (and truly terrific bad girl) are so nice, lovable even, even altruistic if not a little naive, that I couldn't help but want them as friends. The bad guys are the Baja Cartel, dripping in blood and deceit. Bad, bad guys. And the prose...eccentri
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Apr 17, 2011
Johnny
rated it:
I usually don't go for books where the style overshadows the substance, but when a book has this much style it's really hard to resist. Does the book move? And how. Here's a fun tally: the book has 302 pages and 290 chapters, including what has become a very infamous two-word Chapter 1.
It's hard to believe that this is the same author that wrote THE POWER OF THE DOG, one of the great crime novels of the last twenty years. Both are meditations on the border, but while THE POWER OF T More...
It's hard to believe that this is the same author that wrote THE POWER OF THE DOG, one of the great crime novels of the last twenty years. Both are meditations on the border, but while THE POWER OF T More...
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Jul 11, 2011
Ed
rated it:
Savages was a great read, fast and fun it was very unlike other Don Winslow books I have read. The story is that of three people Ben,Chon and "O" who are involved in the Southern California marijuana trade. The most mellow drug trade ever just got a whole lot less mellow when the Baja Cartel, a mexican drug cartel, moves in to take over. Ben and Chon are of a mind to leave the trade but, it turns out, the Baja Cartel would rather them stay. To that end, the Cartel kidnaps "O"
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