This is pure storytelling at it's best. With the FBI, the Mafia and drug cartels it makes a action filled thriller. The second book in the series and Danny is on the run and what I think makes it even more exciting and dangerous is he has his young son with him.

I only finished City on Fire a week or so ago and was eager to jump straight into the follow-up. The sequel starts immediately after 'Fire' ends even though a very brief Prologue teases us as to how this one will finish up. Ryan is escaping Providence with his crew seeking to disappear and heads to California. But he lacks funds having disposed of the heroin at the end of 'Fire' and there's only so long they can all survive on the meagre rewards of occasional jobs.

The story lacks the intensity of the first book and is more of a character-driven one exploring Ryan, his choices and desires to 'go straight' to protect his young son and give him a future. We spend a bit of time with Kevin Coombs and Sean South, the Alter Boys, in this novel. I really don't like Coombs as he's the classic young hard man with his misogynistic, boozing ways which I simply tired of. Certain aspects of the stories, for example, the strong sex scenes lose their impact and I question whether we really need another one.

The story takes some surprising twists, investments in a Hollywood movie, observing the making of a movie and the final pages ends a little too weird and leaves us uncertain as to what the final instalment is going to involve.

I enjoyed the exploration of Danny Ryan. He makes some surprising choices but I can understand them and Winslow shows us that the hero can be very flawed and make some poor decisions that really don't match his character. But, this is a very human trait: making inconsistent choices that can both surprise and significantly impact our lives and also those we love.

We see many flawed people, as we all are ... perhaps some are a little 'cliched' like Coombs and even Diane Carson, but such characters are still very evident in our society.

I wish we saw more of Ryan's mum, Madeleine, as I enjoyed her role in 'Fire'. I hope we see more of her character in the final instalment.

Now we wait for the final episode and I hope it's big like 'Fire'.

I was fortunate to be able to read an ARC of the story, provided by the publisher, on the Net Galley app, but this had no bearing on my review.

City of Dreams by Don Winslow is the second book in a trilogy. Not having read the first book, I think put me at a disadvantage. The story is complicated and there are many, many characters that are sometimes difficult to keep track of - maybe reading the first in the series would have lessened complexity.

Lots of violence with murders frequently happening! Gangsters behaving like gangsters! While on the run from nearly everyone, Danny Ryan doesn’t always fit the mould and shows great reluctance to exact the revenge that others expect of him.

An interesting but gruesome read!


This review is based on a complimentary copy from HarperCollins Publisher Australia via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

#CityofDreams #Netgalley

I love this trilogy!! Danny is such an empathetic character, even when I don't like what he's doing or how he's behaving. The names do get a bit confusing as there are many first names that start with P or J and tons of last names that start with M. The new setting of the west coast is mesmerizing. I loved the Hollywood and film industry details. I can't wait for the last instalment to be published and wish it could be more than just 3 books. I'll be recommending this one to everyone. (But start with City on Fire.)

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

City of Dreams is the second book in the Danny Ryan trilogy, following the wild ride of tense highs and heartbreaking lows of a modern day gangster who has just enough cunning to keep himself and his crew a step ahead of his murderous enemies.

The story begins a mere few hours after the events of City On Fire took place and Danny Ryan is on the run, trying to evade the coming wrath of the Italian mob. He and the Irish had lost the gang war and he has decided it’s time to take himself and the remainder of his family out of Providence before it’s too late.

With the feds and the Italian mob both hot on his trail, it’s the government that makes first contact with Danny. He’s made an offer to help the government in taking down a Mexican cartel in such a way that it would be worth millions to Danny and the slate would be wiped clean.

It’s a deal that is difficult to pass up, particularly when the fed contact suggests that the lives of all of his Irish friends and family would be in serious jeopardy should he refuse.

Not quite the epic gangster story as the earlier City On Fire, this one chronicles the aftermath and the way in which members from both sides of the gang war have coped. While Danny heads west, his counterpart in Providence, Peter Moretti stays and plots his revenge.

It’s set largely in Arizona, Nevada and California and moves at a frantic pace. Through it all, Danny has a helluva price on his head and everyone is keen to cash it in. The problem for Danny is that there are eyes everywhere and laying low is not quite as easy as it should be.

This very much feels as though it’s a transitional book, a much more sedately paced story chronicling life on the run of a former gangster. There’s a great deal of character development going on, something that Don Winslow is highly adept at crafting. This helps us to become more attuned to Danny and his crew along with the changing of the guard in Providence.

While we’re treated to a few short bouts of the violence you’d expect after reading the first book in the trilogy, the majority of the book deals with the Irish fugitives' ideas of laying low. Somehow getting involved in the Hollywood movie scene can not be considered the wisest move, but at least it was an entertaining prelude to what promises to be a cataclysmic showdown to come.

Rather than providing the in-your-face high energy that we became accustomed to in City On Fire, City Of Dreams has a more brooding atmosphere. There is danger coming, you can feel it building and this volume is merely the calm before the storm.

It’s book 2 of a trilogy, it’s meant to be read as part of a 3 volume set so you’re definitely going to get more out of it by reading the first volume before cracking this one open.

My thanks to William Morrow and Netgalley for my ARC to allow me to read, enjoy and write this review.

Don Winslow follows up his crime family saga City on Fire with City of Dreams. Once again, there a loose allusions in the plot to Greek tragedy. While City on Fire riffed on the Trojan war and the stories of the Illiad, City of Dreams digs into stories based on the aftermath of that conflict.
While the narrative ranges across a number of points of view, the centre of the action is once again Danny Ryan. When the City of Dreams opens Danny is on the run from a double cross involving a drug shipment but also from the FBI. With him are his father who is suffering from dementia, his young son and a few loyal followers. They end up in San Diego but they cannot hide for ever and in order to secure some more government protection he agrees to robbing a major Mexican drug dealer to put him out of commission. As a result of the actions of his henchmen, and using the stolen money, Danny becomes involved in the production of a movie based on the events in City on Fire and in a very public relationship with its star, a situation which brings with it a whole range of new problems.
City of Dreams continues in the same vein as City on Fire. Full of profane, violent wise guys constantly on the make, looking for the next woman or the next big score, often putting greed or desire ahead of common sense. Underneath it all is the vein of Greek tragedy, with the violent story of Agamemnon (in this case Peter Moretti) and his family after the Trojan Wars playing out in Rhode Island and hints of the Odyssey playing out in Danny’s story. The Hollywood section of this book is the most enjoyable but also the most meta with real life gangsters meeting the people playing them, and Danny running foul of the organised crime families that either run the studios or skim off them.
Winslow has an easy yet heightened style. Much like the Greek tragedies they are based on, his characters are more archetypes than real people, but they are fascinating as much for what they represent and the things they do as for who they are. This project trilogy has now moved from Rhode Island to California, with one book to go and the Chicago mob still looming it will be fun to see where Winslow goes for the finale.