My last blog was a review of City on Fire by Don Winslow, I was that enthralled by that book I went on to finish the series by reading the next two books back to back.
I can’t remember the last time I read a trilogy back to back, and that is a testimony to how good these books are.
The first book saw the end of a peaceful period where the two main gangs in Province, Rhode Island, lived in relative peace.
The gangs, the Irish and the Italians have the docks and surrounding areas sewn up with Unions rules, extortion rackets, prostitution and drugs, and neither gang encroaches onto the others business.
That was until one of the Irish gang got inappropriate with the girlfriend of one of the Italian gang.
What followed was a bloody war in which both sides lost people, money, territory and business, with the power swinging between both gangs.
The Italians called in Mafia families from across America, while the Irish called on the help of the IRA.
The explosive end to that book was not a cliff hanger but it did leave me wanting to know what happened to the main character, Danny Ryan.
City of Dreams
In City of Dreams Danny is on the run in the aftermath of events at the end of the previous book the Irish gang is in disarray. Danny is being hunted by the Italians and the FBI
I don’t really want to say why one particular high ranking FBI agent is determined to hunt Ryan down, because it would give a huge spoiler for the first book, but needless to say she has a real bee in her bonnet and won’t rest until he’s either dead or behind bars, preferably dead.
Staying low profile should be his priority but he finds himself in LA, amongst the film industry.
Some of his crew have travelled with him and using their new found wealth, again no spoilers, set about causing havoc in the film industry.
Danny almost manages to go into legitimate business but his past is quickly catching up on him.
Where Danny was a bit player in the gangs at the start of the first book he is seen to be the Head of the Irish in this one and although he is trying to keep out of trouble it manages to find him at every turn.
Of the three books this one is the weakest but I still found it enthralling.
City In Ruins
Las Vegas and the casinos had to make an appearances in these books. Danny has started to build a legitimate empire amongst the big boys on the strip.
His visions for a new style hotel and gaming facility are revolutionary.
His past is still catching up with him.
His money for his investments has largely come from his mother’s fortune, a great side story which runs through the trilogy, but he also has some dirty money of his own invested.
One of the older Vegas crowd is determined to run Danny out of the city and ruin him in the process.
Gang allegiances are just as prevalent in Vegas as they were in Provence and soon Danny and his foe are reaching out to elders of their respective gangs brotherhoods to finance their businesses.
Meat while Province in a mosh pit of crime and people on the Irish side are calling for Danny to come home and sort it out.
The end of the book brings everything to a timely end, maybe not a happy ending, but a line is drawn that ends the story nicely.
The Series
The series is fast paced and very gritty.
It examines not just gang allegiances but family ties. Most dramatically it looks at how the family ties and gang allegiances can conflict, and the aftermath that leaves.
There are violent scenes and some sexual scenes which a quiet graphic, but they are always in context and never gratuitous.
If I’m honest I wouldn’t have read the others if City of Dreams was the first. I found it a bit tame compared to the other two, but it has to be read to put all of the story in to context.
I wound highly recommend the series, and for those people that look for a good long read on their holidays treat yourself and read this as one long story. It’s epic, but it’s great.
nigeladamsbookworm 