The Power of the Dog (Power of the Dog, #1)

by Don Winslow

The lost, the lonely, the bicultural misfits with a foot in two worlds and a place in neither. And you were perfect for them—smart, street-tough, ambitious. You looked white but you fought brown. All you needed was the polish, and they gave you that.

You don’t let them knock you out, you make them knock you out. You make them break their fucking hands knocking you out, you let them know that they’ve been in a fight, you give them something to remember you by every time they look in a mirror.

“Learning to deal with disappointment is part of becoming a man,”

“In America, everything is about systems,” Barrera said. “In Mexico, everything is about personal relationships.”

“Christ is with the poor.” They work so hard, young Adán observed—in the fields, in the kitchens and the laundry rooms, and they have so many kids, but when the adults come back from work they always seem to have time to hold the children, bounce them on knees, play games and jokes.

“God bless you.” “I don’t believe in God,” Art says. “Doesn’t matter,” Parada says. “He believes in you.”

the most dangerous place on earth— Is where you’re safe.

It’s the smell of death. Unimaginable if you’ve never smelled it, unforgettable once you have.

He starts with the magic words, What if. The two most powerful words in any language.

“There’s money and the lack of money, and there’s power and the lack of power. And that’s all there is.”

A professional liar knows that the key is not to make his lies look like the truth, but to make his truth look like lies.

He still doesn’t know if he believes in God, but he has hope of a God.