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Sunday, 15 August 2010
THE DAWN PATROL
By Don Winslow
303 pages
(Arrow Books / William Heinemann / Random House)
For anyone out there who loves well-written crime fiction, Don Winslow’s novels are a revelation. Each has well drawn characters, sinuous plots and dialogue driven narratives. All involve page-turning nights in the spare bedroom – so my one and only can get her rest.
I was pointed towards Don Winslow a few years ago. First to his Mexican narco wars masterwork The Power Of The Dog. I was instantly hooked. And hooked again when Winslow’s interest in surfing raised its head in The Winter Of Frankie Machine. Here, Frankie is an ex mob hit man trying to live the quiet life, selling bait and catching waves. But, you guessed it, the quiet life soon gets real busy.
This book is a beauty. Lead character, Boone Daniels, is a private investigator who would rather be surfing, especially when forecasts predict an epic swell is on the way. For we ocean lovers, the sea, waves and surfing are as much characters in this novel as the other members of Boone’s dawn patrol buddies, Hang Twelve (dreadlocked, twelve-toed office boy), Johnny Banzai (wave-charging cop), Dave The Love God (dope smuggling, chick magnet lifesaver) and Sunny (leggy, big wave riding former girlfriend) et al. Long passages are devoted to surfing lore, wave riding and descriptive drives up SoCal’s Highway 101 (the old Pacific Coast Highway that seems barely changed from 40 years ago when I spent a winter at the Hippy Motel in Leucadia).
With big waves on the way, Boone is reluctant to take on a case. But hot English lawyer Petra Hall is insistent. She needs to find a missing nightclub dancer, quickly, and was told Boone is the go-to man. He is dubious but needs the money. A missing dancer can easily become a body when she’s due to give evidence against sleazy nightclub owner, Dan Silver; something Boone knows. And a body is more easily found.
But things are never easy in Boone’s world. Bodies pile up. Illegal Mexicans keep appearing; some are young, too young, and big business. The dawn patrol becomes involved. Friends must choose. Petra must choose. The sea takes and saves lives. It changes people. It is ever present. And the giant swell is still coming. Boone may even miss it. Worse, he may not survive that long.
Don Winslow is a great storyteller. Up there with Ian Rankin, Henning Mankell, James Lee Burke, Michael Connelly and other greats of the modern crime novel. His books are not to be missed. If you want to dip the toes, The Dawn Patrol is a great place to start.
– Greg Crooks
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